ROCK EN SEINE is yet to be heavily populated with a UK crowd and so with an air of mystery about them, the 120,000 spectators are an intriguing mix; however one thing’s for sure and that’s that the beer is cold and the sun is hot. Based in Paris and with a diverse line-up, this is an event that quickly became a must go-to on our European festival check list.
A quick history lesson for you, this is the festival Oasis were scheduled to play in 2009 and ultimately became the straw the broke the camels back, with Noel pulling out of the festival and the band. It launched in 2003 with two stage and ten bands, growing rapidly over the years. Over the past few years, the event can count highlights as Arctic Monkeys, The Prodigy, Lana Del Rey and Queens of the Stone Age to name but few.
Fast forward to the opening day of the 2015 event and an expected blow out performance from Catfish and the Bottlemen takes place as they give it their everything continuing on their busy tour of the festival circuit in pursuit of accumulating a large army of fans. Just as well then that the young frontman really turned it up for the French crowd, a small collection of whom sang along to every word. Playing a smaller stage nestled at the back of the rectangular shaped site, the band fired out tracks from their debut The Balcony with hits like ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Pacifier’ swimming through the crowd in a heavenly fashion all thanks to their catchy hooks and anthemic credentials.
Clashing in times but not in sound, FFS were heard from almost every corner of the site, with the crowd impressively sprawled up hills and off to the sides. The unique collaboration between our own Franz Ferdinand and American outfit Sparks, it became abundantly clear that this was a popular choice with the French audience. Ever since the news of this new band broke, we’ve seen tongues wagging, particularly during their recent Edinburgh Fringe show which resulted in a Twitter blow up with one word reviews like “wow”, “outstanding” and a more refined “best thing I’ve ever seen” populating the FFS hashtag. Let’s just say all of those fan-orientated synopsis’ work well to describe their RES performance too, especially as ‘Piss Off’ and ‘Take Me Out’ melt into the set list like hot butter on a summer’s day. Was it the year 2000? The penultimate Main Stage act on the opening day made it seem so as The Offspring unleashed the cheeky, juvenile charm that made them such a hit in the noughties. “Give it to me baby….” echoed through Saint Cloud in Paris and smiles were firmly placed on faces.
With a set list to melt the hearts of the diehard fans, Kasabian paraded Rock En Seine’s Main Stage like the heroic men Paris believed them to be. Throwing in mixes of The Doors ‘People Are Strange’ with Tom dedicating it to the late singer in the city that he sadly passed on, classics such as ‘Club Foot’, ‘Underdog’ and ‘Fire’ stood out alongside recent tracks like ‘Bumblebee’ from 48:13 that were belted out with just as much gusto as the solid aged offerings.
Finishing things off with a amped up performance of Vlad The Impaler and a heroic cover of Fatboy Slim’s ‘Praise You’; a full moon beamed light down on the crowd and as the stage lights went out, the band retreated backstage safe in the knowledge they truly are are the pinnacle of this rock generation.
Day two got underway with a mixed bag of performances from the likes of Ben Howard, Glass Animals, Mini Mansions and Jungle making way for a headline slot from The Libertines on the Main Stage. It must be said that Jungle’s recent rise to fame is proven time and time again with their energised and unique delivery of perfectly created pop tracks. With ‘Busy Earnin’ always a highlight of the set, their harmonies never let them down.
The little that’s said on The Libertines set the better, as an avid fan, flashbacks of my teenage years and even tears I’ve spent on this band were contradicted by a pretty flat performance that didn’t carry the right sound or flame that we know burns through them any other day. Just the night before the band had stormed The Leeds stage and were next off to Reading, Rock En Seine and their ample, relaxed crowd acting more as a buffer for the band. Still, ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ and ‘Glasgow Coma Scale Blues’ were strong and I still yearn for the new album. I’d just rather remember their recent gigs at T in the Park or The Barrowlands over this one.
The final day saw us catch suitably gigantic sets from Parquet Courts and Run The Jewels, this festival’s line-up this year a great reflection of the current scene. Fresh from announcing an arena tour back in the UK for the coming Autumn months, Alt-J brought their contrasting bag of tracks to the so-called second stage with a late evening slot. Fans of Alt-J would forgive critics for picking up on just how much their sound has changed, and true observers of their sound would recognise this as true growth and a talent that lies with the band who can pull off performance switch from the understated, moody and suppressed ‘Tessellate’ to the new funky, blues-ridden ‘Left Hand Free’.
The final showdown on the Main Stage – a stage that that was truly responsible for the most awe inspiring times of the weekend – came as The Chemical Brothers beamed lasers far into the crowd which shon proud against the dark night sky. What unfolded was a set with just the right amount of euphoric building moments and a visual feature film segmented into perfect parts. Their new track ‘Sometimes I Feel So Deserted’ giving a weighty feature in the set, the Paris crowd trying their very best to make the stable grass field shake.
As the curtain falls on 2015’s event, what’s left is a burning desire to come back once more in the hope that the Parisian crowd are just as cool and the sun shines just as hard.
