Rock en Seine festival 22-24 August, Paris
Day 1:
I missed Cage the Elephant whose gig was rescheduled due to the cancellation of another band; damn
Saw
Mac DeMarco; the sound could have been better but the band was in a jolly mood and entertained their audience (Mac asking an audience member he had looked for from the beginning to join them onstage and do whatever he wanted - it turned out the party animal was not a complete moron and all went smoothly; crowdsurfing to the back row and back to the stage again on the last song - Still Together); enjoyable
Saw Arctic Monkeys; ok; I was far at the back, the festival takes place in a big park and all I could see were the big screens; so I watched television under an almost rainy sky
Day 2:
Giana Factory were ok
Thee Oh Sees unfortunately had a poor day; the sound was fucked, Dwyer was pissed; we couldn't hear his voice during the first half of the show; the old songs, these songs that were so good when played with Shoun-Dawson-Dammit! didn't deliver as much subtlety and fun; an exception: the new guys made Dead Energy their thing and it was as good as the sole new song (a heavy number) they played; still a disappointment
Cheveu; I didn't like them; they are or were hyped here; sounded like the new Philippe Katerine to me
Emilie Simon, French chanteuse, with an orchestra; I didn't expect much from her, I just came there to check on my friend's tastes, and I liked it; she played I Wanna Be Your Dog and made it her own, not trying to rock harder than she could
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcwURfkQUws (people talking during the clip)
Day 3:
Warpaint; I liked the rhythm section, but was nonplussed by the show; audience members being there for no particular reason, talking to one another all through the show, popping up completely drunk... pfff
Thurston Moore... that was really really great; the sound was good on that stage, and everything clicked; Deb Googe's great, and there was Steve... a really good moment
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks were just ok; the set was too short on the schedule
QOTSA; I hadn't planned to stay till the end as I was coming to pieces but I remained there; they look like they could play for hours; I've only listened to one of their albums; their live version of No One Knows was awesome...
***
Amsterdam, 25 August
The Melkweg
Thee Oh Sees
Traumahelikopter opened; a threesome local punk band that rocked, I digged their show
Thee Oh Sees...
The opposite of what had taken place in Paris: the sound was perfect, Dwyer was pleased to be there.
It was my first time in Amsterdam, therefore my first at the Melkweg, and it's a beautiful place; being 5 feet 3 in a giants country, I stood at the balcony and enjoyed a great show
They started with something that sounded new to me, carried on with Tidal Waves, The Dream, I Come from the Mountain, Lupine Dominus and Toe Cutter before getting into newer stuff
The new stuff sounds darker, heavier; the Dream was even more menacing
Lots of crowdsurfing in the pit, up to 3 people simulteanously flowing about
The best part was during Dead Energy (the new bass player's been incredible all through the show), when a beautiful girl in a striped t shirt was carried at arms lenght for a while, gracefully
The band were so happy Dwyer and his guys played a song they hadn't tried on public before
A great great show
Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch and Frans Hals were also great, but that was 17th century art at the Rijksmuseum
So nice all that