Finally, a post.
We went to Rock en Seine last Friday. This is a 3 day festival at Parc Saint-Cloud, Saint Cloud being a lovely little town on the end of the Paris Metro. I thought I’d write a brief report on the first day of the event. This was my third time at Rock en Seine. The first time I loved it, on the bill that year were MGMT (whom I’d just discovered) and the Prodigy. Last time we went, 2011, it was Mike Skinner, Interpol, the Arctic Monkeys and Étienne de Crécy, it was enjoyable and I thought Interpol were awesome but it rained. (Having moved away from the North West of England to France, I appear to have become quite averse to rain when there’s an event on.) 2012 and 2013 so far have been massive gig-going years for us. We were undecided about Rock en Seine as the line up wasn’t totally inspiring us, so we just thought we’d leave it til the weekend before to see what the weather was going to be like. (This is a very middle-aged, first world problem thought, I know, but as per my earlier statement, I’ve spent most of my formative years in the UK and in quite a lot of rain. I’ve also been to enough festivals and outdoor gigs in the UK and in the rain, to be allowed to want good weather.) Friday was the best day for weather and thought that indulging in a bit of nostalgia with Johnny Marr and Franz Ferdinand, as they were on the bill would be fun. I also wanted to check out Belle and Sebastian, Alt J, Tame Impala and Kendrick Lamar.
Our first disappointment was that we only caught the end of Belle and Sebastian. What we did catch sounded really great so we were a little gutted with that. Our timings on getting there were off with finishing work and the train and tram. What a bummer!
We had to give Tame Impala a miss as they were on a the same time as Johnny Marr. Perhaps we should have watched Tame Impala, I do quite like their stuff but I really did want to see Monsieur Marr.
Johnny Marr: I’d seen him before in Manchester with the Healers a number of years ago. That night, he was fantastic. This was before I’d ever seen Morrissey live. At Rock en Seine Johnny and his band performed a mix of his own stuff, The Smiths and an unexpected cover of The Crickets track, ‘I fought the law’. I had only ever known it by The Clash actually. I’m afraid that although Johnny Marr is technically a magnificent guitar player, musician, song writer and obviously instrumental to The Smiths’ wonderful catalogue of records, he’s just not got Morrissey’s voice. I just think those songs do miss his incredible voice. The Smiths’ tracks did work with the crowd, musically they sounded great and the atmosphere was joyous. Elements of the crowd seemed like they were in heaven. Johnny did have some banter with the crowd which was welcome. ‘How soon is now?’ (slightly frightening that this is nearly 30 years old) and ‘There is a light that never goes out’ were standouts for me, quite exquisite. ‘The Messenger’ and ‘Generate! Generate!’ were also good. He has an excellent band, the set was great.
- The right thing the right thing
- Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before
- Upstarts
- Sun & Moon
- The Messenger
- Generate! Generate!
- Bigmouth strikes again
- New town velocity
- I fought the law
- How soon is now?
- There is a light that never goes out
Alt-J: I tried with Alt-J on the evening. I’ve being trying to be swayed by their music since they arrived on the scene. When they won the Mercury music awards I became convinced I was missing something and tried even harder to get it. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to embrace them, as they are by a the majority who were at Rock en Seine. I must be wrong. I think it’s his voice, Joe Newman? I have the same problem with Radiohead, I don’t always get them and I think it’s because I’m not a fan of Thom Yorke’s voice. Who am I though? They are obviously popular. It wouldn’t do for everyone to like everyone now would it? I did think that the music in the song ‘Fitzpleasure’ sounded awesome.
Franz Ferdinand: They totally exceeded expectations. A very excited crowd gathered at the stage, a wide mix of ages. People like me who were there when they started and youngster people. They arrived on stage and were exuding with confidence. Alex Kapranos endeared himself superbly with the crowd addressing us with a few bits of French, it wasn’t bad. I loved his accent! The band don’t appear to have aged at all, they look good and they had lots of energy. They went swiftly from one track to the next, really mixing it up with their accomplished old tracks which were delivered with such vehemence, they were perfect, and their new stuff which was exceptional. The new album had been available a few days before the festival for streaming so we knew some of it. The new single ‘Right action’ was really well received. It is very catchy and that’s in a good way. The younger festival goers knew a lot of the knew stuff and loved it. The band lapped up the crowd. They appear genuinely comfortable and happy together, seem to be enjoying themselves performing and delighted to be back. They were superb! They aren’t edgy, it isn’t difficult music and I sometimes struggle with bands like this and banish them to ‘Indie Landfill’. I actually expected this with them but I was wrong and I’d describe them as the band of the night. We had a great time watching them. The band played with such pleasure, love and energy and there was some playing around with their tunes. We got to hear a bit of Donna Summer ‘I feel love’ during ‘Can’t stop feeling’ which added to the love for music we were all feeling (or I was feeling anyway) and there were undertones of KLF’s ‘3am Eternal’ also. Rather magical. The end of the set group drum performance was stunning. Franz Ferdinand are still a band to be reckoned with. A sterling performance – wonderful!
Set:
- No you girls
- Right action
- The dark of the matinée
- Evil eye
- Do you want to
- Walk away
- Stand on the horizon
- Can’t stop feeling
- The fallen
- Bullet
- Michael
- This fire
- Take me out
- Love illumination
- Ulysses
- Outsiders
I enjoyed Kendrick Lamar – I don’t profess to know a lot of his stuff, I knew ‘Swimming Pool’ and ‘Backseat Freestyle’. He engaged with the crowd, he was funny. He’s talented, he put on a great show. I liked his style.
So – that’s my view of the first day of Rock en Seine – until next time – ‘RIGHT ACTION’
Franz Ferdinand – RIGHT ACTION
Suze en France 