Gwendoline, La Cigale 23/01/2025
OK, so let us try to do things differently this year. More succinct form, I hope.
Context: Introduced to them by Jed last year (while chatting before/at the Dream Wife gig, I think), I liked what I heard, and liked their new album very much too. So it was a no brainer for me to try and see a French band headlining, maybe a first for me!
External review: Benzine Mag.
Photos: N/A
YouTube: the whole gig is here!
Company: Jed.
Pre-gig: not bothered with the support, Jed and I agreed to meet at the Coq and Bulldog pub nearby (owned by no other than Sacha of Bombardier fame), very nice place, with clearly a lot of regulars. I decided I was well enough and could face a drink or two before the return to indoor footie the next day. So I had just a Guinness, declined a second, keeping myself the possibility of a drink at the venue later. Getting weirdly lost at the start, we made it to the venue only shortly before 9pm, enough time to order a round of lager and take our position on the stairs by the front on the left, right on time for the actual start at 9 on the dot.
Crowds: a fair spectrum of age, but I would say mostly 30s-40s, not that young. Mostly men I’d say but really a mix. Nearly exclusively white, though not as much as for Royel Otis (and definitely not the same type of crowds), I did spot maybe a handful of black guys but no more. Plenty of Bretons? I suspect so. Probably far less Brits and English-speakers than at my average gig, very logically. In fact at the end of the gig, a girl came to us and asked if we spoke French, and so she ended up asking Jed if he could understand all the lyrics or something.
Standing location: see just above. Decent view of the front of the stage as thankfully all the action was very much at the front, no musicians at the back, but our position (the venue was clearly obviously totally packed when we arrived) meant we couldn’t see the projections on the screen at the back. Maybe that avoided distraction, mind. We also missed some of the ever-moving frontman’s action on that side, but no big deal, it felt like a good enough view. Prime view on his drinks so the pastis (as in the ‘Chevalier Ricard’ song…) was clearly seen.
Support: N/A
Setlist: with only two albums to their name, plus a few singles, probably far less than two hours of released music, no surprise, they played the best bits, nearly everything in fact but not quite, and the whole thing was still less than 75 minutes, encore included. There could be no disappointment. Not much talking between songs, a few ‘merci’ here and there if that, and the odd ”Ca va La Cigale?’ or two. The surprise, for me, is that they didn’t start with the new album’s opener, but in fact with the first album’s closer (so La Fin du Monde was le début du set). Not just because it’s usual, but because I thought Conspire was a great opening track in every way. As it is, they played it pretty much in the middle of the set, but it was still an hypnotic moment and one of the highlights. Most of the lighting was dark tonight, but during this one, it felt like it was just illuminating the front of the crowd in a stroboscopic way, showing transfixed faces in black and white. The other highlights were the expected ones (Chevalier Ricard, Chèques Vacances (especially for Jed), the fantastic double of Pinata+Rock 2000, and obviously the evening’s finale with Audi RTT), but even the lesser tracks that sound sometimes too repetitive on record (Merci La Ville, that closed the main set, and Parce que j’ai rêvé d’être riche that started the encore) sounded less repetitive for some reason. Another one was Héros National, that sounded even more anthemic live. Speaking of which, beyond the music that you may or may not enjoy (I enjoy it very much), full of keyboards and just occasional guitars (on top of the main duo tonight were two other musicians, one on guitar, one on keys, no drummer), it’s the easy-to-bellow choruses that make their songs so effective. Any surprise? Well neither of us knew ‘Start-up nationale’ or ‘1 new 2pc’, so we assumed there were new songs ( both quite dark in sound), but now I know they were in fact on a single released between albums.
The main set lasted just an hour. They came back for the encore incredibly quickly (far less than 2 minutes), even more surprising as the encore only consisted of two songs, and it was all over by ten past ten.
Post-gig: soooo. During the gig, Jed went for another round, but inspired by us discussing Ricard when we saw the drinks on the stage, he said he was going to get a pastis if they had any. As I felt well and sober enough, I decided that if they only had beer, that was me done, but if ever they had pastis, I’d join him in that. And so he came back with two pastis. As the gig finished early, and we said we’d meet Romain (Romain has newly joined Corcoran’s Football team, and spotted Jed during the gig), I thought having a final pastis while they were serving at the bar would make sense. While we were drinking, the moustachioed singer popped briefly and rushingly into the bar, and so I managed to congratulate/thank him for the gig….in English first before I realised it was an absurd thing to do so added a few words in French. We finally saw Romain just outside, had a little chat. I found out the guys are playing their next match not far from my place on Monday evening so I’ll probably go and see them play if it’s not pouring down. Jed went back to the Coq and Bulldog, but I went home, got there a minute after midnight, and was very fine to play football the next day. So a very good start to the gig year, an excellent evening. It probably won’t be in my top 5 gigs this year judging by the previous few years, but it’s one I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to miss.
The Veils, Point Ephémère 26/1/2025
Context: well, I very much enjoyed their gig a couple of years ago, so when I saw they were playing again, I thought it would be well worth my time. As it is, they had a new album out just two days before the gig, that I found a little too monotonous and uniform in the ballads’ stake, while not at all unpleasant. The bonus was that a week or two before the gig, I learnt that Ale and JC would be coming too, and so if nothing else, it would be a good evening.
External review: Benzine Mag with the goods again.
Photos: N/A
YouTube: indiegilles was there, but shockingly I’m not seeing videos from him. Either he was not in a good enough spot, or something is delaying his uploads.
So for now, the only source I can find doesn’t have a very clean sound, but you can still have Not Yet.
Company: Ale and JC
Pre-gig: the timing of the meeting was decided very much at the last minute, and so 8pm (doors time) at the venue was the plan. JC was already there in the queue when I arrived (thankfully always easy to spot), while Ale was a few minutes late as he’d realised once down six flights of stairs that he had forgotten his mobile (and that has the Dice ticket if nothing else), but still joined us before we went in, so no time lost. We got straight to the room then, and that was already filling up quickly. JC gave the gig money to Ale…who decided to pay a round for everyone with it. That was the only drink for us tonight. Cheers Ale!
Support: Leah Rye, from Amsterdam. One woman, with her piano, or a guitar for a couple of songs. Mostly all quiet, but an excellent voice, you could see there that the support was fitting in with the Veils, and I enjoyed her performance very much. I will check her album, would have been tempted to buy her nicely coloured vinyl in fact if I’d been on my own with time after the gig. Started at 8.15 perhaps? Finished shortly before 9, but I wasn’t really checking the time.
Crowds: not very young, as was to be expected, mixed in genres, I didn’t particularly pay attention to colours tonight though I suspect that was a mostly white one, but I’d say very much a no surprise crowd.
Standing location: not ideal. Just in front of the pillar nearest the merch stall. There were already people on the steps there so we couldn’t chose the merch stall vantage point itself. The view should have been pretty good, but a giant (Dutch or not), popped up not long before The Veils started (intro music at 9.20pm), and so I had to check on the side at various points. When Finn was standing and playing guitar, the view was good, when he was sitting at the piano, it was a bit of a struggle at times.
Setlist: Overall, I have to say, nowhere near as good as in 2023 for me. Well, Finn Andrews did a fair bit of context setting, announcing straight away that they would start with a few numbers from the new album, and so we got treated to four new songs at once (and no, that didn’t start with the opening one from the album), the last two being the only two I had marked on a first listen (the album may or may not grow on me, but that was the first impression). And so the first highlight came just after, when Finn stood up to pick his guitar and they started with Swimming With The Crocodiles. In fact, the next three songs were played in the exact same order as in 2023 there, not sure that’s a great thing, but Here Come the Dead and the excellent Birds (‘the next one is a song about, er, birds’) were played next. And then, well, the next two songs were also the next two in Petit Bain last time around, just in the reverse order. It’s not exactly a good sign of setlists renewal. And having been there before, it felt less engaging too. Finn looked touched and happy to be there, no big discourse or anything, just many expressions of gratitude and focusing on his music. Asphodels, the title and opening track from the new album brought us back to the present, before one of the highlights from the previous album, No Limit of Stars, that was very good, but somehow didn’t have the same effect on me as one and a half year earlier. Whether it was the version, my emotional state, the view or the fact that the setlist made everything a little more dull, I don’t know. The main set finished with Nux Vomica, the title track from the second album, same thing as last time, though again a good performance. But about 70 minutes of main set was very satisfying. While I wasn’t as taken as last time, I definitely didn’t feel I was ever getting bored, so it was a decent gig. What would the encore hold, I did wonder. Finn came back on his own, sat at the piano, and said he would play something from the first album, as it had been neglected so far. As they hadn’t played anything at all from it last time, I thought maybe what I’d been waiting all along was happening. However, The Tide That Left And Never Came Back was not what I had in mind. Musically, it felt like it occupied exactly the same space as Someday My Love Will Come that was the first song of the encore at Petit Bain, but somehow, I don’t think it’s as good. And then he seemed to ask for requests, lots of shouts for Lavinia, he asked ‘so are you more of a Lavinia crowd or….’? And he decided to play it. Not sure how improvised it was, as it had also been the second song of the encore at the first gig (this was the second night of the tour, as he himself announced), it drew a great response, and yes, that’s one of the very good songs from that first album. But that’s still not The Leavers Dance or Vicious Traditions. So I’ll probably never hear either. The violonist came back for the last song, just him, not the full band and….at last I heard a song I wanted to hear and wasn’t played last time: Axolotl. Very good interpretation, even if it’s not on the ’emotional’ side of Finn’s song spectrum. Only thing I regret is no mention of David Lynch who’d just passed away the previous week, as that song was performed by The Veils at the Road House in the third season of Twin Peaks. Oh well. Gig over, and I came out of it with very mixed feeling.
Post-gig: straight back, no transport problems, Ale was taking Line 2 (Eastwards), I took line 5 as it was JC’s way in the same direction, both lines being pretty similar to me to reach Gare du Nord. Home at 11.30pm I think, sober, having spent a pleasant evening, but, I have to say, not so happy with the gig itself.
Test Plan+Library Card, Supersonic, 7/2/2025
Context: Well this was announced only a few weeks, maybe a month before it happened. Two of the bands I enjoyed the most at the Supersonic Block Party on 1/6 last year were invited to play on the occasion of Supersonic celebrating nine years of existence. And it was all for free. So I didn’t have any hesitation, and while a work trip had to be organised that week, thankfully, I was back the previous night so was well up for that one. After a sensible January, this, on a Friday, looked like a good occasion to celebrate good music and the weekend with a few drinks and friends too. The ‘top’ band on the bill however were The 113, and I had not taken the time to check them. Three good bands may have been too much anyway.
External review: can’t find one yet, but, as there were several people from SOV, I suspect one will appear within the next week or so. It is here now, and includes the setlist for Test Plan (hopefully accurate)
Photos: Laëtitia from SOV was there, but didn’t post any photos from Library Card there (oddly as she definitely took a few, and I know they are not within the scope defined by SOV, but I’m sure in festival types of events that doesn’t stop the exception), but ones from the Test Plan set are available. Perhaps I’ll find the LC ones elsewhere if she publishes them.. Robert Gil was seen popping into next door’s Supersonic Records before the gig, for what seemed like a private party for the Supersonic Birthday, but he didn’t show up into the main club, so no photos from him!
YouTube: annoyingly, I can’t find anything at all. Sure, Test Plan and Library Card are not easy searches as common names, but perhaps I’ll find via the 113? Nope, nothing. Either way, plenty of snippets published as reels on Instagram (those annoying things that have a limited lifespan), but that’s all I saw.
Company: Jed and Nick.
Pre-gig: well, what’s pre-gig when the concerts is basically in a bar? Just meet there. Timings were uncertain. No need to be in there early normally, but someone had told me it might be busy with these good bands playing on a Friday that is the Supersonic Birthday. So I thought maybe straight at 7pm or not long after. As it is, 7.15pm seemed OK, I was the first on the scene of the crime at 7.10pm. Jed messaged me but he was having a kebab around the corner (I had decided to have food before leaving) that took longer than expected as he had to wait 10 or 15 minutes for chips (I know!), and so Nick actually turned up first just before 7.30pm. No queue at all so no need to show our ‘coupe-file’ passes (valid only until 8pm), there was a small queue when I’d arrived but only at Supersonic Records that seemed to be guest-list only. Library Card walked past me just a few seconds before Nick showed up in fact, and we got into the place straight as we knew Jed was being delayed; it was pretty much empty as we ordered a first round. I got upstairs for a wee, and on exiting there bumped into the drummer/singer from Test Plan, which I clumsily greeted with ‘Mr Test Plan!’ I told him how much I’d enjoyed the gig last year and was really looking forward to tonight. And he told me ‘see you in the moshpit later, yeah?’ so that was a good start. I was a bit restless, considering whether to actually use the cloakroom as I had too many heavy layers for such a gig and thought maybe because of the nature of the place, there’d be no queue after. As it is, it was the right decision as there were queues later, but also the wrong decision for an unforeseen factor (see the post-gig/aftermath section). Jed arrived not long after, just as the guitarist from Test Plan was walking past us to go upstairs. I saw Laëtitia arrive to take her place at the front ready to snap the gigs, so greeted her briefly. She seemed to be there nearly against her will, as she was meant to go to the Katy J Pearson gig, but that was postponed to the end of April (I’m not going as I was a little disappointed by her most recent album and have decided I’d be more reasonable this year). Jed had a heavy-ish day of drinking behind him already (hence the kebab). Anyway, not sure what time the gig started, I really didn’t do much conscious time checking. Maybe not before 8.30pm though!
Support: N/A, not because I didn’t see them, but in a way, the bands I came to see WERE the support for The 113, which I didn’t actually see (but heard, a bit).
Crowds: it’s the Supersonic, you get all sorts, pretty much independently of the gigs.
Standing location: near ‘the’ pillar (handy for putting down your beers as there is a small ledge) for Library Card essentially, great view, going to get a round between bands was not ideal as some people sneaked in. Namely one Arne Slot-looking guy with two girls, who were quite annoying at the start of the Test Plan set, chatting between them a lot (sure you couldn’t hear them, but I found that irritating, especially as I wanted to get even closer). Thankfully, one of the girls after one song and a half decided that it really wasn’t her cup of tea, so they all fucked off to the back, and everything became a lot more enjoyable and easier. Until the (equally enjoyable) mayhem started, see next section.
Setlist: N/A unfortunately though not that surprising. But perhaps this gives an indication for Test Plan, can’t have been much different, I think the end was the same anyway. Library Card setlist may be like that one? Edit (16/2) : test plan setlist now appears in the SOV review linked above (and is indeed as expected barring an extra song at the start not played yesterday?), while the Library Card one was published by the band on Instagram. And is indeed very much the same as linked above, except this time with an EXTRA song in second : Sisyphus. Interestingly also, those two bands don’t even have a LP out between them. Library Card have an EP or two and a few singles, and Test Plan’s recorded output, as far as I can see, consists of only three singles, incredibly. But anyway, I’ll use that section for the actual, vague, gig review as usual. Same people on stage as usual for Library Card, though the bass player’s look was slightly different. Don’t ask me what they started with, especially as I didn’t rehearse (but yes, it was Cognitive Dissonance after all), I think I saw them announce they would play some new songs, but essentially it was kind of the same type of set as last year, with the difference that I knew some/most of the songs now. I thought it slightly underwhelming at the start, perhaps, the different sense of anticipation, this being, once more, the first band, but not at 4pm to kick off an amazing afternoon with a great surprise, and despite the bigger crowds, I think it never really properly got going. But I’d say they’d constructed their set well (including some new songs), because the end was the climax. So the singer got to the floor like last year for Local Newspaper, and the finale was the still excellent Well, Actually, that got more people dancing, and you feel moshing was on the edge of starting, though in the end it didn’t. So while at some point I thought ‘maybe you should never go and see again a band you didn’t know and surprisingly enjoyed the first time – a stupid thing to say, I’ve had more counter-examples than examples, I think)’, at the end I felt suitably pleased. Oh, and I thought the drummer was very impressive again. Apparently it was Library Card’s third gig here (as in ‘the Supersonic’ as well as Paris) and they said how much they enjoyed it. Jed looked like he was falling asleep at some point during this set, in real need of perking up, and so when he went to order the next round, he wisely decided to go for a Cuba Libre rather than stick with beer (I stuck to Lager, Nick to Pale Ale).
And then, after whatever time, Test Plan set up their gear, and when they started, it was immediately again ‘wow!’. There was no doubt that near top gear was hit from the start, and as I’d warned the others, this would be absolutely relentless. So yeah, first second I was already ‘forget what I thought about going to see a band the second time’. Again, I’m not sure of all song titles, but once more my drummer friend was absolutely on top form, guitarist all smiles and fun producing some incredible sounds, and Rory on bass was a pile of energy again. The crowds were moving, but there was no real moshing/pogo to speak of for the first half or two-thirds of the gig. The drummer rose from his stool and stood tall before doing a short trip into the crowd at the start of a song mid-set. And then, the guitarist asked if we were ready to dance, before they launched into Walking in a Vacuum, their excellent single released on my Birthday last year. That is kind of stop/start at times, and then I think at the last section when it really kicks off again, well….it kicked off in the moshpit too. Rather than coming from right at the front of the stage, the movement seemed to start just from my left, and proper mayhem ensued. Pogo galore, not stopping until the end of the gig more or less, as first Vacuum morphed into the still truly incredible So Bored At Your Squat Rave where everyone went fucking mental. I think the guitarist was laughing by then, and then they finished with It’s Not Enough, which may be, by a little, the least exciting of the three singles on record, but you wouldn’t know live, when it continued the fun! Rory made a foray into the crowds, going halfway through the room and back, before they finished the song while he was trashing his bass or nearly. So yes, same as last time, another ‘claque’. If anything, it was even better, because the venue itself was less confined so your ears were not destroyed at the end, and also there was no moshing last time. Needless to say, Jed joined in too and was well perked up by the end of this set!
Post-gig: well, there was a lot of post-gig, especially as there was still another gig. But we’d decided beforehand that we’d retire to the upstairs area for the last gig, as none of us actually knew the band. Not necessarily an ideal choice music-wise, but probably actually a…. wise choice. I’d seen some of Library Card on the merch stand corner just after Test Plan, but they were probably packing their stuff, and I saw nothing on sale even if I was in the mood for buying T-shirts. On the way up, I bumped into the Test Plan drummer again, so told him how great this was again, and we got sort of more ‘formally introduced’. ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Ollie’. ‘I’m Max, nice to meet you!’. I asked if they had some merch, but unfortunately not, though he mentioned some tote bags upstairs, but they were probably not officially on sale then. I’m guessing the whole Brexit shit also makes carrying merch around more difficult, especially if here they were not exactly on a normal tour, just a one-off gig. We had a couple more rounds upstairs (Jed improvised the last one by ordering a pastis for both him and me, which was nice, I think we might have reminisced earlier about how this had worked for the Gwendoline gig), while The 113 were playing. A word on them: while to us tonight they were background music, I have to say it sounded excellent. You could see why they would ‘headline’ tonight as definitely more accessible than the other two bands (and maybe they have more songs out –though having checked now, they have six singles or so, but no album either!), but still musically enticing. After that, Nick suggested we should go and see Duncan in the Black Sheep rather than stick here (I’m the one who had insisted on having one extra round here first), but in the end, that was not necessarily the best, or at least the most enjoyable option. I mean, it was cool, I had a Guinness there, but it was a bit empty compared to the buzz of the Supersonic, But before we moved out, as we went down the stairs, we saw some of the band come back up so I shouted ‘Rory, that was amazing!’ as we stepped past him. He acknowledged and happily thanked, while Nick had a quick chat with the guitarist. I wouldn’t have minded staying there perhaps bumping into random people and having more fun with the start of the club night/good music being played. Perhaps one day I should do the whole Supersonic experience. Incredibly, when we exited the place (don’t ask me for the time then!) there was a big queue outside. And that’s despite the fact that you actually have to pay to get in there after 11pm (I think, not midnight). I had decided from the start that time wouldn’t be an issue and that I’d catch a late metro home rather than have the pressure of trying to catch the last RER, and so after a single pint (I think again, not totally sure) at the Black Sheep, I took line 1 then 4, and then the half hour walk from Bagneux (that I could have done without especially after midday footie, but my achilles while in some pain are no longer in agony), and so I got home at about half past two, after an excellent night. Can’t complain really!
Aftermath: OK, one bad thing, entirely my doing. Before leaving home, as I felt my eyes a bit dry following the post-footie shower early afternoon, I thought maybe I should take a lens case and my glasses just in case I feel too bad later and can’t focus. But I did find some old product to moisturise the lenses a bit so used that anyway and I was fine forever after. But while I put keys in an outside zipped pocket, I put these in a small case (the regular one is too big and hard) in my inside pocket on the jacket I was wearing. And I didn’t find that case the next morning. Now, I mentioned being tempted by the cloackroom, but in the end, I tied my jacket around my waist, and then also my hoodie, because it was way too hot. Managing to keep both tied there during the moshing was not so easy but I succeeded. However, I guess at some point the case got out. It’s not completely impossible that it went out when putting the coat back on or later than during the mêlée but if it’s the latter, no doubt as the case was not very hard that they got smashed into pieces. Interestingly, my cheap ‘reading’ glasses, in the other inside pocket but without a case stayed where they were. Oh well. Edit 16/2: well I e-mailed Supersonic on the Sunday, and they replied during the week that they had found the case. So last night, I went to fetch it and the glasses were in one piece. I suspect they must have fallen later than I thought, as even the case was pristine, it had not been trampled on.
CMAT, Le Trabendo, 9/2/2025
Context: A slight case of ‘more in hope than expectation’ this time perhaps. Well, I fairly enjoyed the previous year’s concert, but there was no new material since (apart from a single that is OK but not overwhelmingly excellent as far as I am concerned), so I was still quite keen to go, and maybe hope that she would play ‘Phone Me’ this time. Sunday evening gig, I was going to stay sober after Friday’s exertions, and also I was flying to Stockholm the next day, so it was not greatly timed in the end.
External review: the good thing about me reviewing this late (as the week away had made it complicated) is the SOV review is here at the time of writing. Slightly concerned that it is by AD again, who’s often right, but his style really gets on my tits. Though the Supersonic review for the previous Friday was actually not irritating for once.
Photos: Here, from SOV.
YouTube: a little choice, but has to be the encore, fully featured here, good work!
Company: none, just me this time.
Pre-gig: well, having had a cursory listen to the support, I was totally uninterested, so with tiredness and a suspected classic starting time of 9pm, I aimed to arrive at around 8.30pm (by which time obviously the place was fairly full).
Support: Mickey Callisto. I still managed to catch his last song, and yeah meh. See above, so I’m not qualified to comment on the live performance.
Crowds: this was just after Ireland beat Wales at the rugby, but I’m not sure it played a part in crowd drunkenness. It wasn’t mentioned either. Fairly varied crowd, a fair amount of gay people (she has a big gay following), and, predictably, an enormous lot of Irish people (which made some of the comments about Parisians maybe not as welcome as they could have been since the crowd’s mostly not local….)
Standing location: managed to squeeze in pretty much in front of the mixing desk. Couple of people could possibly hamper my view, but not so much in the end, as they were not arseholes and were spatially aware, so I had a fairly good view in fact, and pretty central.
Setlist: N/A on the usual site, but it’s actually included in the SOV review, see above. Anyway, it was the exact same as Brussels so I’m linking it the usual way (also shows some artists really don’t improvise as much as you’d like). In fact, it is scarily similar to the set played in Petit Bain pretty much exactly a year ago. In the same order. Only differences were Nashville as intro, that ‘new” 2024 single, the absence of No More Virgos (but it was a (most welcome) one-off last time), and an extra acoustic start at the end of the encore. So what can I say? I was slightly concerned, before the concert, as last year was maybe as much about the show as it was about the music, that the anecdotes and tricks would be too similar or identical. But I was quickly reassured on that front (and so now with the setlists comparison this was even more needed). No French intro music this time, straight to the musicians appearing on stage, in uniform or nearly. All wearing a white shirt or blouse, a blue light scarf (apart from CMAT herself, I think), and four of them (out of six) wearing shades (they didn’t drop them at the same time, in fact, all did at different times, CMAT being the last one, and later on the shades got back on, but not for her). Not sure I recognised all the musicians, though the keyboardist, bass player and drummeuse were definitely the same. Was there a pedal steel player last time? I can’t really remember. But yeah, no intro music and straight to business with Nashville, followed by the excellent California. And so, as there is no surprise to be gleaned from the setlist before the encore, it is only the show that is to be talked about, the variations in anecdotes. Although one trick was re-used from last time, the ‘band collapse’ with everyone on the floor, though it came very early in the set, think it was much later last year. Thankfully, no other part of the show was the same. Because really, even more than last time given the unchanged setlist, it was all about the show. She proudly announced early on that it was the last gig of their tour, but I’m not sure it brought a lot of ‘special’ to the proceedings. Lots of ‘oh matron’ moments, especially once someone threw a ‘bra’ at the stage (another bra arrived late in the encore). Oh yes, one similar pronouncement was the ‘my French is rubbish’ bit, but it was not dressed in the same anecdotes as last year so fair enough. We got some context about a new album being recorded (or just having been finished) in Paris, fuelled by French cheese (a piece of said cheese was proffered for our admiration), and yet, despite that new album being mentioned several times, absolutely and disappointingly no new song. Vincent Kompany got introduced differently. It started with CMAT narrating a very ’embarrassing’ moment, her coming to Paris to try to attend the Jane Birkin tribute gig despite not having a ticket, and ending up not being able to get in at all, having wasted the day/night there, before she announced ‘another thing that I am embarrassed with, I have written a song about a French-speaking man, but he is Belgian’. ‘Où sont les homosexuels’ (in a small speech in French) drew a sizable reaction (see ‘Crowds’ section), and then someone threw a red/orange beret at her. She asked the guy ‘I hope you are French at least’, but nope, he was another Irish, from Wicklow, which drew a fair amount of derision from her and from the crowd. There was a bit of gaelic banter with people from her neck of the woods, and yeah, in all that, there were a few moments when the music felt average and lost in the middle of the ‘show’. Which is fine for some, but still not so much for me who is into music much more than into shows. But fair play, it was a good show. You could argue though, that, even more than at Petit Bain, the keyboard player was making things maybe a little too ‘camp’. I suppose it goes with the crowds, but it did lack subtlety. Anyway, can’t remember if it was during the encore or before, but another thing she did was, with the speakers being how they are at Trabendo, lie down at the start of a song, while having an Irish flag draped over her (‘pretending I’m dead’), see lots of small stuff, some that worked well, some not so much. The main set ended after about an hour with Where Are Your Kids tonight? And then…..what would be the encore? Well, it was actually the better part, and I think better than at Petit Bain. Just CMAT with her acoustic guitar to start with (after a fairly long speech: she reminded us – some line I think she already used last time- that the French ‘like depression’, so this is the sad part of the show), and that was actually quite nice and beautiful, first with Such A Miranda, and then with Rent, which sounded stunning before the band joined her for the second part of the song (and unfortunately it meant the music became ‘by the numbers’ again, far less engaging or interesting). She told us she saw Parisians as cats (video checks suggests that was earlier though, in the main set), which was kind of cute and funny, but as I have mentioned probably didn’t even concern half the crowd tonight. Time for the classic I Wanna Be A Cowboy Baby, accompanied with the ‘Dunboyne, County Meath, two-step’ shuffle(I think that’s the full name). And while there was no joke to be made about the boat being able to stand it this time, my position and view made it easier at least for me to execute, and it was actually a very enjoyable bit of communal singing/dancing, not the forced call and response that can irritate me (we got that a little for initial shouts during band members intro). That was stopped/temporarily modified when she announced that because it was the last night of the tour, they would do something special….which turned out to be the band presentation, made differently indeed with the ‘sexy police/ambulance/air force’ etc, coming for each band member, each one being introduced by a sound/gimmick before showing off their skills on their respective instrument (and voice for the keyboardist/ main backing vocalist). No ‘French-style’ nicknames this time, but all rather good fun and well done. Whether it was truly ‘special’ or similar to other nights, I shall never know. Anyway so that was with the ‘cowboy’ music playing like a theme in the background, and so the song resumed for a finish with more joyous two-step shuffling, with Mickey Callisto as guest. Time for one last song, the more dynamic and rapturously received Stay For Something, to conclude the gig on a bright note (with it being the same as last time, I am not sure the end at Petit Bain had been extended spontaneously after all, unlike what I thought at the time, although, we did have No More Virgos as a bonus at the end of the main set). Hell, at the end, she was even bouncing as she shouted ‘Scotland!’ when someone offered a…Saltire for her to play with. Guess there’s a celtic connection between Scotland and Ireland. So….I am having a hard time figuring out how much I liked the gig or not. I think it was a slightly better show than at Petit Bain in some ways, but not as good in others, with the show taking too much of a main part occasionally this time. But then, given the far too similar setlist, there was no other way this could work. She still didn’t play Phone Me (not sure why, is it just because it was the same tour, and so not much musical variation, just the show), so unless the third album is truly excellent again, I might not bother next time. It was a feelgood/happy gig, but I think not entirely satisfying for me as a second time around, ultimately.
Post-gig: straight home, and with no public transport issue, so there before 11.30pm.
Hak Baker, FGO Barbara 21/2/2025
Context: Note that I am writing this a week and a half later. Initial delay due to being out in London then lazy, and the accident happening on the day I was meant to finally write the review. So memories are a little less vivid now. Anyway. So yes, an album I enjoyed in 2023, a decent EP in 2024, this sounded very interesting and also a second time at FGO Barbara. So not much hesitation. Night before a big day out with Jez at the Arsenal, so decided I would essentially stay sober.
External review: this would potentially be inside the SOV scope, but rather predictably, nothing can be found here or anywhere.
Photos: N/A, nope, can’t find either, well I put some shitty ones on my instagram.
YouTube: sadly and annoyingly I can’t find anything.
Company: on my own for the gig, but….
Pre-gig: …Jack White was playing at La Cigale that day, and Nick and Patrice were going. As timings managed to be agreed (I had no interest in getting pissed, or in seeing whoever was supporting and was not announced anywhere, so when Nick told me they were already in the designated bar at 5.30pm or something, halfway between the venues, I thought it might not happen), we all met in La Binouze (recommended for drinks, expensive though for these lovely craft beers) at about 7.30pm. I found Patrice and Nick at a table with Guillermo and Santiago they’d just met in the bar, who travelled from Germany to see Jack White (but the next day at the nearby Trianon). Just had one beer, wisely, while we also waited for them to have food (quite amusing slow service including sardines selection), good chat, good fun and I made my way to FGO Barbara. Now I remember reading about the dodgy area last time, but hadn’t noticed. However, this time coming from the Anvers side rather than Gare du Nord, yeah, not the same scenery, I certainly didn’t stop on the way. I still like the bar at FGO, so decided to order a….half-pint, no, really. Kind of regretted not having a full one as I was feeling good, and it is actually much cheaper here than in any other venue in Paris. Had to save myself for the next day though, so OK. Just the gig called for more drinks….see later.
Support: no idea, but I arrived just to catch this guy with a keyboard or some mixing machine, just some music playing and him MCing over or not even. It was the last tune anyway, he asked if we were looking forward to Hak Baker (in French? Yeah, I think so, think he was French). When I arrived, the room wasn’t full, so as usual here, you could very much be at the front though I took one step back as often in these circumstances.
Crowds: now that’s an odd one. Hak is a black artist, but mostly he is a Londoner (East London originally, think I’ve seen pictures of him in an Arsenal shirt though), and does music that mixes genres and style. And so a very mixed composition of crowds in genres and colours (perhaps less black people that you could expect), but also that very strange thing: the crowds appeared incredibly homogeneous in age, probably mostly late-twenties/early/mid-thirties I’d say. I felt like I might truly be the oldest person here, which is relatively rare. And yet, the average age felt a lot higher than at gigs like Aurora, Royel Otis or Sarah Kinsley for instance. Just not a big spread.
Standing location: pretty much perfect, front but with room and not too close, perfect view as the stage in there is wisely high enough too.
Setlist: well, perhaps I should have stopped the guy who got it from Hak and asked him if I could take a picture, because I can’t find it anywhere! Hak came onstage at 8.45pm or so, wearing an interesting colourful jumper (or cardigan as he called it) and just his acoustic guitar and a bottle of tequila (provided by the venue it seems). And rather than straight away start a song he, did a lengthy chat about this and that, and introducing the song (Wonderland) with context, explaining it was his favourite (he may have a few favourites) and how it was about him and a mate staying at his brother’s while he was working and essentially getting pissed. The acoustic nature of the gig meant he couldn’t really play tunes that were shouted for and some of my favourites like Telephone For Eyes and Doolally. As he said himself, these require the full band, so hopefully another time. And so we got treated to a wonderful performance. I’m not sure how many tunes I recognised, the excellent Boys X Girls from the Nostalgia Death EP was one, and he had more material I hadn’t yet heard about from before 2023 (the excellent Quasar in particular stood out). With the distance of ten days, I feel maybe a bit too far or too lazy to recount everything, but the music was great, and, more than anything else Hak himself both fun and endearing. Also getting progressively more pissed as the gig progressed (he had to get the setlist from the floor as he couldn’t read it from the distance of his height anymore). So yes, anecdotes and talks of his past life as a misfit, having done jail time etc. He mentions the dodgy area around the venue, how he was walking around being offered drugs and ‘wooaah’. He sounds like such a good guy who did a lot of mischief that could have got him all wrong (and did at points in fact), but never with a mean heart behind. He liberally distributes shots of tequila to the audience (I am tempted but just decide to stay back), invites a loud Irish guy (called Liam) on stage for a drink at some point, does some fuck the police shouts and enjoins us to not give in to all the shit around (I summarise with the wrong word, I feel too lazy to write this well, but he makes good points about good people and making this world a better place). When the tequila runs out, probably wisely the venue does not bring another bottle. But as we reach the end of the main set with the excellent and classic Windrush Baby (another highlight I was indeed hoping for), he stays on stage (no point in going off and back on on his own) and considers what to do (it’s still early, really, maybe not even 10 pm) and says he could do with another drink. And so a girl at the front just goes to the bar and brings him a pint, which is cool. He asks what he should do with it, cue lots of shouts of ‘cul-sec’, that is then explained to him as ‘down in one’. And so as a challenge (can’t remember what the challenge was : play another song if he downs it in less than 6 seconds?), he invites someone on stage to time him with their phone, takes his guitar off (wise move) and downs the pint in less than 5 seconds. He says we could go on until 1am, or perhaps 2am. 3am? Etc, and so the final song is one of his earliest. 7am and an excellent way to finish. He still stays onstage a little bit afterwards, unsure what to do, there’s more heckling for Telephone For Eyes, he even seems to somehow consider it so I am starting to wonder about an interesting acoustic version of it (sure he must have done the initial version so), but after considering time (still not late) and practicality decides against it and exits the stage. As I exit the room and he is slowly making his way on the same path too (to get to the back of the bar where they have set up a small area for him to sell LPs and such), I managed to thank the big man and we hug (I’m not the only one, obviously!) before he gets there. Despite my intention and given the early time, I do strongly consider staying a bit, getting another beer and maybe chatting to strangers later, but decide that no, it was perfect as it was and I’d still save myself for the next day. Regrets? Not really, I’ve been there before and at least the next day I was in good shape and, ignoring the actual football, had a great day out though I got way too pissed in fact to the point of forgetfulness in the end (the return was a blur). But tonight, I’ve spent a happy moment. Hak Baker made a whole room laugh (despite him proclaiming he was not a stand-up comedian) and smile and feel good. Little did I know it would be my last gig in a while as this wasn’t the plan, but I very much enjoyed it and will be back for more, band or solo again.
Post-gig: RER home, got an express, didn’t have to wait, it’s distant now, but I think I was home before 11pm. And extremely drunk the next day.
The Buoys, Supersonic 28/2/2025
Context: Aussie band had a great album last year. Free gig at Supersonic on a Friday night, what’s not to love? But having ruptured my right Achilles on the Tuesday, well this was the first cancellation. I got operated on midday and all went fine.
External review: none that I can see.
Photos: N/A
YouTube: ooooh, (8/4): the whole gig is available now. And it’s truly excellent, I really missed a fantastic gig.
Setlist: here!
Heartworms, Petit Bain 1/3/2025
Context: I missed her last time around at Point Ephémère (can’t remember why, if it was just tiredness, or if I genuinely couldn’t go), so was first to get a ticket there. Nick followed a long time after. The album’s been out but due to the circumstances, knowing I couldn’t now go, I hadn’t taken the time to listen to it. Thankfully, Patrice got convinced to go by Nick, and as he managed to get an extra ticket just before they sold out on the day, I could transfer him mine so that he and Estelle went. Looks like it was (unsurprisingly) a great gig, and the short snippets I heard tell me so. So yeah, it’s one of the probably two I was most gutted to miss, but at least the ticket went to a good place. Next time, hopefully, but I’ll have to pray she hasn’t upgraded to bigger venues by then, which seems unlikely.
External review: SOV has it. Well it looks like Laëtitia did the review and the photos, so you can check some photos on the site too.
Photos: Since our friend Robert Gil was back to one of ‘my’ gigs, here are his.
YouTube: Thought there would be more, but have the wonderful Jacked anyway.
Setlist: yes you can have it.
Hinds, La Bellevilloise 7/3/2025
Context: One of those I wouldn’t necessarily had gone to on my own, but Nick was up for it, and I thought their recent album was actually quite good and upbeat and this could be a fun and happy gig. The fun of Hinds after the intensity of Heartworms. Well that is probably what happened, but obviously not for me, just the third gig I had to miss. Patrice was the happy recipient of my ticket again, having not gone to a different gig he had a ticket for earlier that week as nobody he knew was going.
External review: N/A
Photos: N/A
YouTube: I managed to find a single video for it, so have it.
Setlist: it finally appeared!
Kelly Lee Owens + yunè pinku, Le Trabendo 18/3/2025
Context: I enjoyed KLO’s album from last year very very much. I wasn’t sure how this could translate into a gig though, but curious, having missed out on Romy the year before. Still, it’s only when yunè pinku was added as support that I decided that I really really fancied this, as yunè’s got some cracking tunes (I’ve seen her describe her own output as ‘music for introverted ravers’, and I like that idea too). So it was one I was really looking forward to. However, yeah, I’m probably still about a month from going to gigs, certainly at Le Trabendo! In the end, and based on the YT below, it’s probably one that would still have felt bizarre for me to be at, with music I love moving or dancing to, but that perhaps doesn’t require a stage presence. (note that my ticket didn’t find a taker for this one)
External review: N/A
Photos: N/A
YouTube: Well, I did find a small compilation from Kelly Lee Owen’s set, so there you are. Sounds good.
Setlist: N/A
Fat Dog, Trabendo 4/4/2025
Context: I’d heard great things about them live, got hold of their last album (and latest single later), thought ‘yeah, I can see that’. Jed who had been to their gig a year or so before was coming to that one, so it was on my list. And on a Friday too. But hey-ho, still in a boot and on crutches so no. Patrice, once more, got my ticket, so another happy customer.
External review: bit surprised I can’t see one, or at least yet, maybe later on SOV? And indeed, it finally appeared.
Photos: N/A, meaning review may be unlikely after all. If there is a review on SOV, there are always photos.
YouTube: thought there would be a few, but I am only finding this one (so indiegilles only took one)
Setlist: available.
Panchiko, Point Ephémère 5/4/2025
Context: well, last time around I had another gig when they were playing, so I thought I’d give it ago, convinced I wouldn’t be on my own. An early preview of a single hadn’t inspired me, and the just released album I didn’t even bother with on a preview. And as it turned out that I would have been on my own, it was one I was fairly happy to miss out on for once. There are a few songs and singles I liked from their early stuff, but remember, with their story, that was stuff from 20 years ago or so after all. And while none of our group got my ticket, it was sold out, so thanks to DICE it was actually an easy face-value resell. For once, the fact I couldn’t make it was kind of a blessing.
External review: doubt it.
Photos: N/A
YouTube: well, there are actually more videos of this than I would have expected, even though single source. Also makes me think it might not have been a bad gig. Surprised it sold out to be fair, even if they are a ‘cult’ band in a way due to their history. Weird detail, the poster, while clearly French, put the date in an American format…..and got the month wrong, heh. Anyway, here’s Until I Know.
Setlist: N/A
Ride, Le Trianon, 22/4/2025
Context: I saw them two years ago with Nick and Steve on the World Cup Final Eve, at a kind of magical time, or hope of a magical time. It was a very good gig, and with the new album having enough excellent tunes, I was set to see them again. With Steve and Nick for an encore. In the end, it was still a little too early for me to go, especially with physio the next morning, and the idea of going through Gare Du Nord all the way to La Chapelle at busy times was a non-starter. Once more, my only ‘unusual’ activity for the next few weeks is going to be in London for a very temporary live music event if I manage it at all. Nick pulled out of this for whatever reason, so Steve went on his own. This time, I manage to cut-price sell my ticket to someone on SOV, so it wasn’t lost.
External review: we’ll see.
Photos: Some photos eventually appeared on SOV.
YouTube: Several to choose from, couple of sources too, but here’s Seagull.
A video of the full set has now appeared, better sound quality too. Just ignore the first ten minutes, though it gives you a good idea of what the venue’s like.
Support: The Healees. No idea, but Steve said they were very loud!
Setlist: Pretty good. Certainly good enough to make me feel regret, but not quite killing it to make me gutted.
Benefits, The Lexington, London 25/4/2025
Context: This had been decided on a long time ago as new tracks from Benefits filtered even before the album was released and I liked them a lot. So I had this idea, and it could, at the time even coincide with an Arsenal match at the weekend. I was going to delay buying tickets, but I asked Jez and news was it was selling out quickly so I went for it. The Arsenal match was first moved to an inconvenient time so transport was bought with that in mind with the idea of being back home before kick-off. In the end Crystal Palace qualified for the FA Cup semi so the match was moved to the midweek, and so a totally bad plan was avoided. But when all was booked, I had no idea what fitness would be. In the end, I thought it was well doable on one crutch, at least transport and going to the pub, and then we’d see the practicalities of the gig itself if I could last the distance. You’ll see later, but I got lucky and was glad I made it. Also Jez was initially meant to day trip but found a reasonable hotel so was staying overnight, which was great for post-gig!
External review: I don’t have an account with The Times, so I can’t actually read the review, but The Times reviewing it here is great in itself. But then there’s also another review, so you can read this one in any case.
Photos: There are some at the top of that second review above, or a lot more here.
YouTube: Unfortunately N/A, I have not found any.
Company: Jez, Mike, and their mate Jonathan.
Pre-gig: having checked into the hotel (no cab this time, I could take stairs, albeit slowly, and timings meant transport was not ridiculously busy, though crowds at the station were not very pleasant and sometimes very careless), as the gig was upstairs in a pub, we decided to meet at the pub. Jez had a look and could grab a table easily, so having checked my options to lessen the walk (I was definitely in a bit of pain already at this stage), tube+bus was the best. In fact, the bus dropped me just outside the pub, first random guy I bumped into noticed the Arsenal Art Deco logo on my sweatshirt so happily greeted me! Anyway, I had beers, just lager, and not drinking fast so I could skip a round. Jez was there, Mike arrived a little later (driving so on alcohol-free beers), and then Jonathan (who had to take an early flighy to the US the next day). Good times, good chat, about this and that, before we made our way….upstairs to the gig room. Stairs were negotiated safely, so it was fine. Once there, I ordered the drinks, moving to rum&coke in my case, and very wisely ordering just a single shot.
Support: was just starting or had just started when we got into the room. Hang Linton, just a black geezer with an acoustic guitar and some rhythm machine maybe? Good sounds really, I quite liked the show. There was a little interaction, I was sitting down in order to preserver energy for benefits, but I still had a decent-ish view most of the time as he was well placed for me where he was, and the stage is correctly elevated. A song about dogs or something (he is more of a dog person than a cat person), I can’t say if I’d remember a particular song, but I enjoyed this, so might try and investigate the discography.
Crowds: mostly old and mostly men, I think (but not only). In fact, I didn’t quite think about it (and the gig in Paris in 2023vcould be no indication really, given its location and circumstances in the middle of that Block Party), but maybe it is not a surprise. Although in a way, as I felt when it hit later in the gig, it was a worry/disappointment, because who is going to hear their message if it’s only us old cunts (and I wasn’t one of the oldest) here? The world may very well be fucked, though I didn’t have that ‘end of the world’ gig feeling, I am not sure why, it felt like one where I should have had it. Maybe I was not in that particular mental space then.
Standing location: Actually, that’s when I got very lucky. Padded bench at the back, and while I was sitting there during the support, at some point I realised that actually, rather than just sit or stand, for benefits I might try to put my right knee on the bench while resting on the crutch on the left, so practically I’d be at the back still, sure, but at standing height and without the weight on my right leg, so no fatigue or pain there. With the elevated stage, frankly, I had a near-perfect view, so given my limitations, while I’d have loved to be at the front if fit, it was a perfect arrangement. Very lucky, as I had no idea of the set-up when getting there.
Setlist: Hallelujah, it IS available. Soooo, the new benefits. The sound is obviously a lot different, more appeased, but the message is the same. The album was more or less played nearly in its entirety and in order, give or take a couple of tracks and a couple of inversion in the later parts of the album. And it all sounded brilliant, it all hit the right notes, while Kingsley’s voice, speaking or near-singing, fitted in perfectly. The colours were good too, and the highlights, well, were more or less the same as on the album. A quiet intro with Constant Noise followed by the stunningly excellent Land Of The Tyrants (which is definitely one of the tracks of the year, even though it was released last year), extended live? Don’t know, it just sounded absolutely superb. Blame also sounded great, while Shakk joined onstage for Divide which sounded even better and more convincing than on record. Kingsley announced they’d play some older tracks and indeed, Flag and the excellent Warhorse (which was one of the few slightly melodic songs on their debut, so not a huge suprised that it was more easily integrable) were played and still fitted seamlessly. Great work. An early finish was mooted and planned to cost cuts, etc, it is a great idea, and so we were treated by what felt like an unknown song with lyrics sounding like ‘Dream, baby, dream’, until suddently the beats from Born Slippy kicked in. So was it a cover, a reinterpretation? As the setlist mentions, it was kind of an Underworld cover, but with lyrics from Dream Baby Dream from Suicide it seems. Nice way to finish the set. Robbie took the mike to say that well, they didn’t know any more song to play before proclaiming : ‘Free Palestine!’. My own review being mercifully short for once, check that external one above, it is pretty much on point about the whole performance and Kingsley’s moves.
Post-gig: Mike and Jonathan had to leave, so Jez and I decided to have a last drink upstairs as the bar was still open, Jez correctly pointing out that it might be a little too busy downstairs for my comfort. So we had that before deciding we’d check the situation downstairs. A quick goodbye and thanks to Robbie who was still clearing the stage as we departed. Kingsley was busy in the merch booth so unfortunately no chance to speak to him. Downstairs wasn’t looking comfortable for seats so we decided to leave. Jez kindly suggested to walk me towards Angel to see if there was a pub on the way, and we found one not too far, The Castle. Smelt a bit of piss near where we sat, but beggars can’t be choosers, so we settled for a pint (back to the beer), before leaving. The pub was close enough to Angel for the walk to be (or feel) very short, while Jez had to go the other way back to his hotel. Tube journey was fine enough, and so I was in bed before midnight, having spent a great evening in great company, and witnessed a great gig. As Nick (who was at the gig in Nottz the night before) told me they’d be playing in Paris later this year, I’m looking forward to seeing them while fully fit again hopefully. Definitely no regret on having made that trip. I had to forsake the trip to Lyon for the Women’s Champions League semi-final on the Sunday, as it would have been totally unreasonable to do more efforts, and be in busy crowds, especially with local public transport issues, but if I had had to choose between this and that before, I’d have made the same choice, so I am very happy it worked out this way! [even if Arsenal played a masterclass]
Miki Berenyi Trio, FGO-Barbara, 29/4/2025
Context: Well, I’m a big fan of Lush, Miki’s book was also great, and their new music is good too, so I was looking forward to seeing them again. Add to that the fact that Lol Tolhurst was announced as support (had no idea what he would play), and that’s an unmissable gig. And I normally have no issue missing Arsenal match to go to gigs. But whether I felt up for this or not (after the past weekend, unlikely…and given the location I think I made the correct choice), Arsenal aren’t in the Champions League semi-final every season, and the powers that be have decided that the first leg would take place on the 29th not the 30th so…. yeah, I didn’t go. Also on one leg, the venue was not really made for me as there is nowhere to seat in the gig room and I’d have wanted to see the whole set for both support and main act. But that was an afterthought when I thought I was not going anyway, but just to say it wouldn’t have been as easy as the London gig at the weekend, oddly.
External review: I’m sure they will arrive, from SOV, perhaps? And indeed.
Photos: ditto. For Lol’s set too.
YouTube: indiegilles was there, only filmed a couple of songs, so here’s For Love.
There’s a guy who filmed most of the Lol Tolhurst songs, difficult to choose from, and the sound’s pretty decent. In the end I picked…All Cats Are Grey.
Support: Lol Tolhurst, with his son. And as I knew I was missing the gig and I saw someone post a video from the Colmar gig of the night before, so just ahead of the football kick-off, I started to look. Wow. So all old Cure songs from Faith Pornography and Seventeen seconds (+10.15 to conclude). Oliver from mb3 was playing on bass, Lol’s son, Gray, was on guitar and chant, and obviously Lol on drums, reprising his original role there. So it was kind of like a tribute band, but with the real drummer. It sure would have felt weird, in some ways it was more like my cousin playing Cure songs in front of L’Odéon for Fête de la Musique many years ago. Well, Grey’s voice is not that great so it’s always a bit odd without Robert singing, but I’d have loved that set. Miki even sang on A Strange Day, not badly at all (while Grey oddly fucks up a bit of the guitar part in the same place every time which would have annoyed me). Looks like Paris was exactly the same set, so yeah, it would have been great if strange. They also played that new song recorded with mb3 (but I’m not sure I’m such a huge fan of that one).
Setlist: Lol setlist, and mb3. The whole album was played, a few Lush songs (maybe not completely my favourites but some good ones), and a Piroshka one (again not my favourite but one of the few good ones).
Post-Gig: well I say post-gig, but that’s just to mention that Arsenal lost on the night. Still, it’s only the first leg. So I missed out on a great atmosphere in the stadium (though dubious result), on a great day of sunshine, due to my injury. And I missed out on an excellent gig including legendary support, on account of that match I couldn’t even go to. Yeah, I have regrets, yet I feel I didn’t have much choice and it would have felt like a weird gig. I’m genuineley not sure how I’d have felt seeing Lol and the gang play those songs. Not to mention the physical impairment that would have altered and probably lessen the enjoyment.
The Raveonettes, Petit Bain, 27/5/2025
Context: This was announced only in March, so post-injury but I thought I’d be well fine by then, and I’d been wanting to see The Raveonettes again for a long time. Unfortunately, my left foot compensation was catching up with me while the right was healing still too slowly, and while I had a weekend of rest that I thought had made me take a big step forward, after physio on the Monday and another shit night and a tough physical day at work, I felt I wasn’t quite ready to tackle this on my own in a venue where you can’t sit. So last minute miss, a pain in my heart on top of the physical one. But once this was decided, I noticed they played in London at the end of the year, a one-off show after their US tour, and there were still tickets. So I got that, and even if the venue is nearly twice bigger so may not be as great, I will most likely be in a much better condition to enjoy it. And it carries on the kind of tradition that seems to be taking place (well it will be the third time after 2022 and 2024) of London gigs in the first half of December, why not? As a bonus, I learnt through Ally that Mew, in fact, had a gig in London the next night, their last ever (initially was supposed to be in Denmark this week, which he is going to), there were tickets for that too, so fuck it, I’m going to make it a double Danish date, will need to take three days off but that’s OK. Note that there was no taker for my ticket (bought on pre-sale meaning I couldn’t simply resell on Dice) despite a long waiting list in general. A bit of a waste, if only I hadn’t bought that in pre-sale.
External review: I was kind of counting on benzinemag but seemingly not, and they are usually quick to publish. However, I found a review in French! This also made me realise that with the actual gig starting at 21.45 and still being over an hour and a half, I did well to swerve in my condition, because there would have been a lot of standing around waiting!
Photos: From Robert Gil. Here.
YouTube: now surely as it was sold out, some people filmed something? Nothing, highly bizarre.
Support: Paerish (no idea).
Setlist: Here. Only one tune from the last but one album, which may look odd but then it was sort of a 20 years of Pretty In Black tour. Slightly strange constructions with mostly sequences of tunes from the same album next to each other. You definitely can’t go wrong with a Raveonettes setlist though, so there’s a bit for everyone and reviews suggests it was excellent. Looking forward to London when I should be suffering a lot less!
Patrick Wolf, Trabendo: 28/5/2025
Context: After a new EP last year (or was it two years ago now?), Patrick Wolf is back with more new songs, and I was very much excited when this gig was announced and looking forward to it. But because of the location (Trabendo is the worst venue possible when not walking correctly and wanting to minimise stairs) and the Raveonettes the night before (or so I thought), I decided to give that one a miss already a few days earlier. And with no possible substitute gig this time. The fact the the album release had been delayed so I knew none of the new tunes, meant I could not be influenced in a (more) positive way either. This wasn’t sold out so no way to resell on Dice, and nobody I knew seemed interested.
External review: N/A
Photos: Robert Gil again.
YouTube: there’s a few, from a couple of sources, of new songs, unreleased ones and older ones. And they all make me think I missed a truly great gig. Here’s a couple of songs. An excellent duet I didn’t know (well it’s not been released and is not going to be on the new album), an older classic, and a new song that will be on the new album (from the few songs I heard, it could be another excellent one – I hesitated in my choice, but decided to go for the quiet song here to balance the selection, but Jupiter was another one that sounded ace).
Support: Quinquis. No idea.
Setlist: Here it is. A number of songs from the forthcoming album obviously, but a pretty balanced setlist overall, quite impressive, there’s definitely a few songs I’d have fancied hearing (if I were in a good state both physically and emotionally), so I hope I get to see him someday. Long set too? Could have been a great couple of evenings!
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The Flaming Lips, Le Trianon, 31/5/2025
Context: It should have been my third time seeing the Lips. But now, I’m still stuck at one, excellent, memorable time. To be honest, I’m kind of indifferent to their recent music, maybe anything after Yoshimi, but I quite fancied another slice of happiness with these live legends (all down to Wayne Coyne I guess). Now Trianon has seats, but this midweek I felt I was really in too much pain, and with being out at a family do earlier in the day, when going back home would involve just crossing a platform to get the next train, it felt like a detour I wasn’t sure about. I’d have definitely missed that gig if Arsenal had been in the Champions League final, a match I didn’t realise would be on the same evening. Unfortunately, Arsenal got beaten by PSG. And while I don’t know who will win, or if there will be extra time or penalties, in the context of everything, I felt like facing possibly huge crowds in various states of joy/anger/drunkenness on a busy Saturday evening (and with the temperatures promising to be hot on top of that) in Paris and in public transports was a little risky. I mean risk of being uncomfortable. It’s a bit of another kick in the teeth though as I am missing a third gig in a week of three excellent gigs I was looking forward to and was still hoping to make two or at least one just a week ago. Plus possibly a happy pre-summer atmosphere in Paris. Missing all the fun and joy, it’s a little depressing at the moment and I feel it, like quite a few months are being removed from my life, just as I felt I may be ready to live life a bit more again (but maybe I’m deluded). QSG won, emphatically, I’m actually glad I missed the mayhem. And I managed to resell this one on Dice a couple of days before the event.
External review: I found one! (and weirdly, I am only now realising that pretty much all the reviews I link to come from SOV so are also in French anyway, it’s not an exception, just feels bizarre because I write mine in English). Amusingly, two of the three videos tagged at the end are the ones I have already put below too. And reading it, yep, exactly what it says, I’m not surprised, and I am gutted. I might have been if it weren’t for the family do too. Oh well. Chances I won’t get again perhaps.
Photos: N/A, shockingly.
YouTube: the first source here has quite a few after all. Predictably looked like a brilliant, festive atmosphere like the Lips always conjure, some kind of magic. This week has been really really tough in terms of missing out on truly excellent gigs. That really wasn’t the plan. Anyway, here’s the fun Yeah Yeah Yeah Song and the finale with Race For The Prize.
Support: None.
Setlist: The planned Yoshimi album (probably their best) in full and more.
15/6/2025 Basia Bulat, Supersonic Records
Context: I lost my transport pass so didn’t go. But I found it later so it’s annoying just as I was looking forward to enjoying a low-key return to live music. No doubt the gig will have been nice, with Nick and Benoît. There is no setlist, no report and no video available.
Horsegirl, Petit Bain 18/6/2025
Context: Well, Nick had a mate in town who was willing to go, and I was kind of undecided about a midweek jaunt on a nice day. Part of me wanted to go knowing I was a little fitter and it would be relatively low-key on the stage (but overall not as low-key as BB as it was a bigger venue and sold out), but at the same time, a little rest was welcome, I like their music though not that hugely, and also had an ophtalmologist appointment the next day, so knew I’d also have to miss out on a balmy evening with drinking by the river even if I went, so I thought it wiser to let Nick’s mate have the ticket. So it wasn’t a total waste, and I did have a fairly productive and calm evening instead. Hopefully that’s the end of me missing out on gigs. I’ve only got a festival in a couple of weeks then nothing all summer anyway, for now.
External review: Benzinemag has it.
Photos: N/A
YouTube: a few coming up, there’s a video from IG already, but apparently someone is going to post within 5 days so I’ll wait for these. Either way, it did look like a nice gig, some Stereolab vibes though more guitar, less synths, but in the singing certainly. And well, even not used in a Robert Smith way, what’s not to love about a girl with a Fender VI?
Here’s Anti-Glory, the classic single from their first album.
Setlist: N/A
Levitation Festival, Angers, 27-28/6/2025 feat. Blonde Redhead, Boy Harsher, and mostly a catch-up session for Heartworms, Hinds, bdrmm,…!
Context: Well, when the line-up for this was announced, I liked it very much, with both headliners. And some of the biggest appeal was to catch up on gigs I had to miss during my injury layoff/recovery. So now fit (enough) for that sort of things, I was really looking forward to the weekend. Actually my first festival overnight stay ever, albeit in a hotel (more on that later). Actually, not true, Eurockéennes 1995, slept in the car, though we were really only there to see The Cure, so I don’t remember any other band, or if any other bands were actually watched over two days at all, probably not.
External review: competition from another festival in Nîmes (some of the same bands played) meant SOV weren’t there, but Benzinemag were. Both days are reviewed, fairly I think despite our differences in some tastes. Also, they missed Boy Harsher, the fools. Anyway. Day 1 here, and Day 2 there.
Photos: You’ll have to do with the ones on the review, at least there are some.
Company: On my own.
YouTube: IndieGilles has a big selection with sound of variable quality, though without covering everything. Unsurprisingly he’d left before Boy Harsher…
So here goes:
New Candys First.
You want the epic finale from DITZ, complete with singer throwing algae into the crowds? He has it!
The end of the show for Hinds too. A song in Spanish, but that’s an exception rather than the norm.
And a little bit of Blonde Redhead, with 23 (extended intro) to finish the day.
Day 2, with Heartworms playing Warplane.
And bdrmm, with Be Careful (unfortunately he didn’t film any of the new album’s songs).
Setlists: Kadavar, Blonde Redhead, Heartworms, bdrmm, Bryan’s Magic Tears, The Limiñanas, Boy Harsher.
Review: given the nature of the event, I’m going back to linear narrative for this. Read below.
Day 1 : after a night that was not quite as good as I’d wished, but good enough, I set off to take the TGV to Angers on Friday midday. A quick coffee and sandwich bought at the station and off we go. Weather promises to be hot, so T-shirt and shorts only, shades at the ready, and cap if need be. I arrive in Angers just five minutes late, but knowing I have plenty of time to check into the hotel and get ready and even rest before going on location. Route studied, I set off to take Bus Line 4. I missed one by a matter of seconds and the next one is about 15 minutes away, but that’s fine, I can sit down at the stop.
Checked in, I get a bit of rest while listening to Mixes Of a Lost Word to be in a sort of party mood. Shower, study the access to the site and I am ready to go. I’m wondering whether to actually go for the first band or wait a bit, but I’m awake, sure it’s hot, sure it means I will likely be standing for a lot of time until the end of the evening, but a quick listen to their music tells me I might very much like them, and if not, I will just explore the site. So I set off to take Line 4 again, just a bit before 5pm. I already know that going back to the hotel will have to be a more or less long walk mostly using Google Maps. Going off the bus stop I’m not entirely sure which way to go, but find the path with a Levitation sign and I acess the site easily (not too much of a queue), just after the bit of lake where all the sunbathers/tourists are. The location looks swell really. And one of the first people I see is wearing a Dennis Bergkamp (albeit not Arsenal) T-shirt. A beer? Yes a beer, not particularly cheap but that will do the trick. No idea how it will work, but given there is only one stage and time between gigs, it seems like all can be managed easily without stress. And so I get near the stage (the place is practically empty) just in time for the start of The New Candys from Venezia at 5pm while I am sipping my pint. All wearing shades (and only the drummer will ditch them at some point), and black. In the heat. The music is quite good, not sure how to describe it (and sadly the memory is fading slightly a week on, I thought of something), dark rock? Maybe in the vein of BRMC? The set starts well, ends well, is a bit more monotonous in the middle, but I’m particularly enjoying the more upbeat/electronic(not really electronic but metronomic, very well driven by the drumming) numbers the most.
Time to fetch another pint for DITZ (and this time even have the time to drink it before the start of the set, hell I even found a spot to sit for a couple of minutes by the rig in the middle of the field), I’d read good things about them, and a quick listen suggested your archetypical ‘post-punk’ outfit. Was it more crowded? I think so, maybe, but again, there is absolutely no trouble getting close to the stage, at least not in the middle (and as proved later, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the middle for this one in particular!). Slight delay with the soundcheck, especially the drums, until the singer signals to walk off (I briefly wonder if he’s pissed off, but no, it’s just to say they are ready, they come back on nearly immediately). Big stare from the singer who is wearing a short skirt, before the music starts and he immediately gets over the crowd to crowdsurf as he starts singing. You know it’s going to be a bit mental. The music itself doesn’t really enthralls most of the time (though another demented drummer is appreciated, and the guitarist (replacement apparently, as the usual Jack injured his wrist apparently) is very good. Callum the singer repeats many times how it’s great here and he wants to go for a swim and in fact states he WILL go for a swim. He climbs up the rigs (safely) during one song, wows the crowds (there are some mad pogos at time, making me realise I’m glad to stay safely slightly to the side, and also a lot of circle dancing (with the hot and dry weather, a lot of dust is sent flying and quite a few people around have to wear something to protect their mouth). He adds the local cheery note by bigging up a shop around the corner in Angers where they (weirdly) buy some of their guitars, and then, during the last song, goes into the crowds again and…..all the way to the lake to dive in while the band merrily plays on! And when he climbs back on, he is partly covered in algae, which he promptly throws back into the crowd. Amazing! Just goes to show that the location is an important thing for such festival gigs, and that you can make it part of the concert. So a different, but excellent gig, more for the atmosphere than for the music, to be fair. Cal leaves us saying ‘apologies about Hinds later’. Sure, it will be a different vibe, but I don’t mind. The beauty of these festivals is that you can indulge in your own eclectic tastes. I read later someone else being surprised to have Hinds between DITZ and Kadavar, which amused me as my own take was that it was odd to have Kadavar between Hinds and Blonde Redhead.
Anyway, time for another beer and back to the front, maybe less people around? Not sure. A few Spanish people unsurprisingly, as Hinds now truly have some issues with the soundcheck and have to start a little late. The main singer (Ana) later said sorry as it meant they didn’t have as much time to speak between songs, but they still manage a fair bit, in French (big effort from Carlotta) or in English. The band is now basically a duo, with added tour drummer and bassist, but they all integrate well, the redhaired bass player seeming to have much fun in particular. It’s a genuinely feelgood set, so not sure why anyone would complain, I think they are one of the perfect festival bands. Another lot that seem very happy to be here, Carlotta saying they were very glad to be invited as there are not many guitar fests (really?). So yeah, Superstar is a hit, no Mala Vista today, unfortunately, but they finish with the other song in Spanish from the latest album: En Forma. Really, most songs are just fun, Ana even carries a still playing guitar Carlotta during that last song, and it’s all over too soon.
Once more, beer time (looks like I had six on each day even though I thought I only had five on the Friday…), before considering what to do/when to eat. One of the main attractions (for most, though one I least fancied) today was next, Kadavar. Ale had seen them recently in a small venue so I had asked him about them, he said they were OK, I had just a cursory listen, and thought, maybe, but not sure. I decided I’d watch the start of their set before taking a break to forage for food (and sample the loo….). And well, yeah, they are German (but with a French bass player who doesn’t speak at all during the gig as he doesn’t have a microphone), and do look very much from a time past. 70s? Oh yeah. Every single one of them. The leader/guitarist starts by geeing the crowds and telling us ‘if you want to hear noise, you’ve got to make some noise first’. The drummer looks, again, suitably mad. The leader with his viking haircut and bandana around the neck makes me wonder if he is German or more Nordic, plays with conviction and rages as one of his guitar seems to fail or something. And he sings like Robert Plant. Ish. The bass player is dressed as a 70s cowboy (maybe), strikes a lot of poses, looks menacing, grunts (we can see but not hear) and gurns impressively. While the far end guitarist is less remarkable but maybe that’s because he’s on the other side so I don’t pay as much attention. And I leave midset (or before, I think this is actually – as planned- the longest set of the festival), as I get slightly bored and this is not really my scene. Pretty much every review has them as the main highlight, but you know, I’m never a huge 70s fans, I can take it in small doses only. I do realise, however, that maybe, actually, in the mind of many, festivals equals 70s. So in fact they are perfectly fitting there, and the ‘perfect’ festival band. Their sound is thick, heavy, loud, but it just doesn’t do it for me, or not tonight anyway, despite my excellent mood. So I go for some overpriced food, some mexican-style pseudo hot-dog (still a bit of queue there despite the ongoing music), and then a beer as I have lots of time, sitting down in a ditch (but they’re pretty much made for that there, in the dry weather) to sip it.
And so to the headliners, not one of the (catch-up bands) but one I love and was very happy to see again after Rock en Seine the previous year. In a way, it turned out to be not quite as intense for me this time, maybe because it was the end of a long day and I was on my own, but it was still excellent, with mostly the same intemporal beauty in the sounds. Amedeo signalled he had some voice problems which meant a couple of songs he was meant to be singing on were removed from the final setlist (I have a photo of the original), but you know, Snowman, Spring and By Summer Fall, among others, can never not be a highlight. Before the last song of the main set, Kazu went off briefly, to come back donning a ‘Palestine Will Live Forever’ T-shirt, before dedicating Kiss Her Kiss Her to the people of Palestine currently suffering genocide. I can’t remember the exact words, but it was so touchingly made. I get other arguments, but I guess I’m feeling it a lot more this way than the way Bob Vylan did a few hundred miles away at Glasto (even if they had the right principles and words, especially afterwards, and I’m not against provocation, nobody was killed in that process either!). She thanked everyone, and in another neat turn of words, mentions that as they work with the production company Radical based in Angers, it is a bit of a ‘home’ gig for them. The encore is only one song then, seems a bit improvised (I don’t recognise the song, but if I believe setlist, it is entirely different from the original plan), with Amedeo dropping the guitar and joining on keyboard this time, Kazu still wearing the T-shirt, and, I think some random guy from the audience just standing there peacefully and proudly displaying his Palestinian flag until the end, just shouting ‘Free Palestine’ at the end once and folding the flag. No fuss, no excess, just a very dignified protest.
I stay in front of the stage for a few minutes while one of the bouncers hands out setlists, so I can take a picture of the guy next to me who grabs one. No need to hang around after that, there is a long walk back to the hotel. The start is in the dark, sort of in the woods, following tracks and people ahead, and I still managed to graze my knee over a low fence blocking car access. But cleverly I had thought of bringing a mini-torch with me which helped. Once reaching the main road, I used Maps (showed I’d gone a little too much left at the start), but still got a little lost when GPS got imprecise at a roundabout, meaning I probably lost about 5 minutes in total, so a 35 minutes walk that was most unwelcome. Glad to arrive and get to sleep though, ibuprofen for the pain that got worse (left even more than right, I think) and I didn’t sleep that badly. The hotel was in a very quiet location and the bed comfortable which helps.
Day 2: Got up, fortunately not in too much pain. Breakfast at the hotel. I got there shortly after 9am I think. Decent breakfast, not top of the range but enough choice, and enough to make me wonder whether eating lunch will be worth it, or if I have it, whether eating in the evening will make sense. As it is I did both, more through boredom and time available than necessity or hunger. It was going to be a very long day. But it started with a very pleasant surprise: while I was sipping my coffee, who turns up at breakfast but Simone Pace, the drummer from Blonde Redhead. So while going to get more food, I clumsily barely said hello but congratulated him on the gig from the previous night. Amedeo arrived shortly after, so I also congratulated him and he thanked me back, saying it had been really tough as he was losing his voice. I asked him if they had another gig lined up and he said they were going to Biarritz next. Long day ahead then, I wish them bon courage. Some of the crew seemed to be in the sofas at reception waiting, no sign of Kazu, but maybe she was staying somewhere else. Good, happy start to the day. Worth noting that at the time the Pace twins appeared, I actually had Spring and By Summer Fall in my head on loop, so it felt nearly too natural! 🙂
And then many hours to kill more or less. Despite the heat, a normal me would have gone to do some tourism in town, walk around the Château or something. But unfit me only went as far as the boulangerie near the supermarket close-by to grab a sandwich. Too impatient to consider eating it later and not having dinner on site, I wolfed it and then just tried to relax some more before heading towards the lake. The start was slightly earlier today, I was always going to miss the first band (locals, maybe good, but I’m not that interested), and possibly the second (HONESTY, a bit hyped, I was not so impressed by the album, although pre-festival relisten a few days ago, I thought, OK, maybe). But in the end, slight impatience and wanting to hear at least one band I hadn’t heard (and as they opened for bdrmm in Paris, they were sort of part of the catch-up too), I made it to the site on time for the start of that second band (5pm, that’s still half an hour earlier than the Friday). It was going to be even hotter than the day before, so I used the experience of the previous day to decide on attire. This time, shades would have to come with me. I lengthily debated whether to take the hat, but figured I’d not really suffered the day before. I didn’t really regret it, having taken into consideration that still having it after dark could be a pain and that I was also likely to sweat under it anyway. Maybe not a safe choice, but OK, I’m not big on caps.
So yeah, same path, same process, beer to start the day, no Bergkamp T-shirt spotted but a Kiwi Jr. one (original!). In terms of T-shirts of bands actually at the festival, there weren’t ever that many, though a few BR ones were spotted on the second day (bought the first day no doubt), but of the day, Boy Harsher still (oddly?) seem to win. Also indirect links, like a guy wearing a David Lynch T-shirt (prompting me to grin an throw a thumb-up at him while exclaiming ‘David Lynch!’, he had to hear it twice as didn’t twig the first time). The most ‘popular’ bands of the day were the French ones I suspect, which is not too surprising considering we are in France, but again, they were the ones I was NOT there for, though I’ll have to admit later I made an operational mistake in deciding which one to miss out on completely….
On arrival I also notice that there’s a big group of people stationed more or less under the one big tree that is between the first bars and the stage. Everyone is looking for a bit of shadow or cool, but really I don’t mind, I can stand the heat when I don’t have to think too much. Also, truth be told, when you are very near the stage there is also a bit of shadow, so it’s not that bad. It makes for a strange scene, as there is a big empty gap between that group of people and the few in front of the stage.
Anyway, so, HONESTY. A bloke wearing a bob and smoking a fag (nah, a joint by the look of it) and sporting shades takes his spot behind his small synth-with-pads, while another one is more clearly manning the beats, and a third one is on guitar/keys. They start with what I think is one their best songs, Nightworld (or was it Measure Me? I can’t even remember despite being sober, just that it hit nicely), so not sure where they can go from there. They do reel in a guest singer for a couple of numbers that go down well, but somehow it all remains rather unconvincing. At times I try to work out if the hitting of the pad is actually live, as it is pretty much clear that the sound I thought was associated with every hit carries on a few times when he is not hitting them. So fuck knows. The lead man sometimes looks like a drugged up casualty from Madchester and he doesn’t exactly speak much either. The music itself is on and off but mostly off and so by the end of the relatively short set, I’m left nonplussed. The sound also was not very nicely filtered on the low frequencies that were a bit muffled.
Time for another beer before the serious stuff starts. Heartworms at last after missing out on a first small gig at Point Ephémère when I felt unable to go for mental fatigue reasons (if I remember well) a couple of years ago, and then the one this year for more obvious reasons. While waiting, I notice the good music even more than the previous day, we get treated to Siouxsie, Cure, Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, guess they thought it would go down well with Heartworms fans, and well they could not be wrong. Or maybe she picked her own pre-gig music.
Everything seems a lot more on time today, Jojo Orme does her soundcheck wearing a nice ‘Punk Rock was Invented By Girls’ T-shirt, accompanied with guitarist and drummer, and they are the only band who actually practically launch into full-instrumentation (vocals aside) snippets of songs: Jacked/May I Comply. She returns onstage for the set start (on time or even a little early?) wearing a magnificent full black robe/cape, majestic. The set itself, what can you say? There’s not enough songs yet for it not to cover everything you want to hear, so there is no room for disappointment, Jojo’s presence is superb (including the now classic bird pose ahead of Extroardinary Wings), her voice absolutely fantastic, and the music is also excellent. Slight damper on the sound quality again though, once more low frequencies sound a little too unclean. Probably also one I’d prefer seeing in a small venue than at a festival, but that does not deter from the performance and enjoyment. Watch her grow even further!
Usual beer stop before the next band, another big one to catch up with: bdrmm! One of my albums of the year so far. I did like some of the first album, I saw them supporting Mogwai, but then somehow I was disappointed with the second album. Not entirely sure if it was all down to content or timing in personal life, but I skipped the gig that year, and somehow re-listening a few days before this, I thought it was not that bad and remarked I had liked quite a few tracks (weirdly, I toned that back down after the event, this week, when I was re-underwhelmed, ish, it’s not bad but…). So earlier this year as a new album was announced, I didn’t book the gig straight away, but I was actually blown away by the new stuff. A lot of it is more electronic but it just works very well, there’s nary a weak tune in there. So I would have gone, but then I couldn’t so catching up here was a brilliant opportunity! And they didn’t disappoint. Even the sound seemed a lot better for this set!
But before that, a refreshing moment. I mentioned the dust during DITZ yesterday, so today, someone with a hose goes to spray a lot of water around, to avoid the same thing for the next gig or later. Given the heat, the demand for water is quite big so he also liberally hoses people who ask. The Jesus and Mary Chain play at that time (I mean on the PA, not live…), not Only Happy When It Rains though. However, the next song to come on is from DIIV, and as I ask for some of that lovely water, I get, quite literally…..Doused. Yes, that was the song that played, whether it was a deliberate choice or not, although I remarked on the amazing coincidence only a lot later. Either way, it was a very welcome cooler and I was still drenched at the end of the next concert.
Back to bdrmm now, opening straight up with the best tune from the first album (Push/Pull) before veering into more varied content. The lead man on the left, wearing shorts, shades and a half-open shirt brings cool vibes, mr guitarist in the middle remains unmistakenly unflappable and cool, while keyboard/bass player gees up the crowd (as I then remembered he did too before Mogwai). The more electronic bits mesh in nicely with the more guitary ones, they’ve really come a long way, and it makes for an excellent set in the late sunny afternoon. Proper good vibes, the lead singer mentions his happiness as seeing some moshing (I still can’t), John on the Ceiling, Infinity Peaking and Snares are some of the highlights that linger long in the head. If I were demanding I would say it’s a shame Clarkycat didn’t get played (my favourite, if only for its finale), but it’s a short festival set so you must make some choices (Port to finish is sort of a classic non-album single, but not quite up with the best for me). They are a big reason I am very pleased to be here this weekend/
And then. A big void. I mean, the next two (French) bands I’m not necessarily super-interested in so there’s like a four hour gap until my next focus. I check the first tune from Bryan Magic’s Tears and it sounds not bad at all actually. I mean, I’d seen them live supporting Ride two and a half year before, and I’d quite enjoyed them, the album I bought was OK though not spectacular, but I felt it was time for a food break so I skipped their set, essentially, which I kind of regretted later. I decided to go for the (still overpriced but slightly less than yesterday’s fare) pizza tonight. Simple Margherita. There was a 20 min wait. I said it was fine, so just gave my first name and be told to be back later. So yeah, nothing better than go and order a beer then. A girl remarks on my hair colour (which in the light she thought was pink like hers), it’s only in food/bar queues that I’ve exchanged words these few days really, the day before was a local who explained to me a bit the history of the festival, and asked who I came to see all the way from Paris. He also wondered about my HOTS T-shirt, having never heard of the band. So back sitting in the ditch sipping my beer. Another girl goes by while I’m there and throws a ‘bonne bière!’ comment, in an amused way. She says something else when she passes by the other way later, I can’t remember what. Pleasant but slightly strange. Having finished my beer in the right time, I go to collect my pizza, that was ready and I consume back in my ditch. It is actually delicious. While on my way to the loo, I bumped into a guy who I’d noticed earlier in the beer queue who was on crutches and wearing a protective boot, and so I go and tell him he is very brave to be here in that get-up, definitely braver than me, just back on two feet for gigs for the first time long after I’ve ditched the boot and crutches. Whatever his injury, it turns out he did it in the pogo during DITZ set. He does admit he nearly didn’t come today, but still, wow!
Anyway, time to head back towards the stage for the Limiñanas. I’d heard good things about them on the SOV forum notably, and I didn’t want to stray too far away before the final headliner (though obviously positioning wasn’t really an issue again that night), so I think I was there more or less for the start. And, well, I wasn’t blown away. Again, reviews seem to say they were great, blahblah, maybe, again, a festival band in the way most people see it, but I felt I was just being exposed to prog-rock shite that really does not appeal to me. Well, I endured the set, but if I had to make the choice again, I’d have stayed for Bryan’s Magic Tears more, and taken my break during this one. Thankfully, there is still Boy Harsher to look forward to so we don’t finish the weekend with an anticlimax.
I stay central near the front, notice the guy to my left showing his bdrmm setlist (I’m not very focused, just notice ‘Port’ at the bottom, and I briefly forgot they are pronounced bedroom not BDRMM), while the stage is being set-up. No classic instruments there, so just synths and beat machines for Augustus really and the microphone for Jae. We get treated to a show very high in colours and fantastic in dancing beats. Fate is the early highlight (that stays with me all the way back too), but the rest of the set is pure quality, the kind of stuff you want to finish your festival with, I’m glad I finally got to see them live after a missed gig in Paris maybe a couple of years ago. I am enjoying this immensely, the sounds and rhythms and lights, it is just great.
Timings were different today, with Boy Harsher on at midnight, and they finish slightly before 1am, time to leave again, I’m not lingering around on my own, my feet are suffering a lot already, and I find the way to the hotel a little better this time, shaving about 5 minutes from the walk, despite trying not to go too fast in my condition. Pain hits a little harder again during the night and my right foot is a little swollen again when I get back though.Nothing remarkable the next morning at brekkie, and an uneventful journey gets me home early afternoon after an excellent weekend of music and sunshine.
I’ll definitely have a look at the line-up again next year, and even if I hope it doesn’t have to be catch up, I might go even to see bands I’ve seen already. Hopefully I can rope in a few guys from our little gig-going community. It was well worth the experience, just missing company really.