Robert Plant; Seasick Steve, Rock Oz'Arènes 3rd August 2016

Writing a review in the train to the next show. But these two shows are almost my only days off this month and I am still working on my way (and writing reviews)

If you scroll back a few years you'll notice I have already been to this festival. It's one of the prettiest towns in the country, known for Roman ruins, and the festival actually takes place inside the Roman amphitheatre. I got there right in time to meet a friend and to start queuing, no one else was there so that was fairly stress less, and there was shade which was really wonderful. As we got to the barrier, there were maybe five people joining us in the six o'clock sun, still rather hot but ok. In fact I ended up having the mark of my socks on my calves which is very rare for me as I normally avoid the sun.

But as usual it's really worth being in the front : perfect view and the extra support is nice. Finally a festival where you can see most of the stage, well, the view to our left was a bit blocked but nothing major.

I was really happy to see Seasick Steve again. He got “rid” of the bass player (some will get who I mean) and things are even simpler, yet still so powerful. These two guys can do more with a drum kit and some two stringed guitars, than a lot of others. And there are always new contraptions and weird Steampunk guitars. 

He apparently played some new songs, if you go by his comments, which means there is a new album on the way! It included a great protest song, brought by by the recent news that some people had a certain fondness for a far away island.

In the same vein, there was a little jab towards the empty VIP seats to the right of the arena. People have no idea what they miss, as usual the VIP's have no interest in music, so why bother? In contrast the “cheap seats” as Steve called them to the other side of the arena were all taken.

As usual he also invited a young girl up on stage, great choice this time as she had a wonderful singing voice and joined Steve in the chorus. I bet that will make for an unforgettable memory, what a nice gesture really.

After the usual finale of semi-demolishing the drum kit it was time to wait a little bit for the next act.

The background curtain went up, showing the old feather symbol in a new design, no more spiral shell.

I will never tire of this band, if anything I get more and more addicted to them. Still so uplifting, I can't help it but to dance along, I realised recently that about half of all humans are not simply “hearing” music, they take it in on many other levels especially when it's live music. I definitely do, and combined with the synaesthesia I have, that lets me see images, shapes and colours with music. It's probably a bit like taking mind altering substances. I will go so far by saying it's actually better than that, though I can't really tell. I may blog about this on my art blog, the post has been sitting in the drafts for a few weeks now.

I wish I knew who is in charge of lights, probably the same people as have been for at least a decade now, I would love to thank them for all the inspiration over the years, the amazing colour show is so perfectly complementing the music, it never fails to get me in the “zone”. This time the image that sticks with me is one in blue tones, and some discreet yellow highlights.

Musically the set list doesn't change that much, a song here and there, and as usual at festivals there is a majority of Led Zeppelin tunes, re-worked and re-arranged to fit this band. I've said several times that I prefer the band's actual songs, but the arrangements are fun and interwoven with other, older classics. And the intro to “Immigrant Song” was rather impressive in this setting.

What else to say without repeating what I said in numerous other reviews... technically the sound was good, but a bit “high up”. I mean I complained last month about the new set up of most festivals I went to, with the really obnoxious bass speakers under the stage. Here there was almost no bass at all, it felt like the sound waves were traveling above us and not “into” us as is the most fun. At least the rest of the sound was really good.

Apparently, management is really against photos, so I didn't take any, not that I am that motivated anyway, but a few for illustration would have been nice.

Writing a review in the train to the next show. But these two shows are almost my only days off this month and I am still working on my way (and writing reviews)

If you scroll back a few years you'll notice I have already been to this festival. It's one of the prettiest towns in the country, known for Roman ruins, and the festival actually takes place inside the Roman amphitheatre. I got there right in time to meet a friend and to start queuing, no one else was there so that was fairly stress less, and there was shade which was really wonderful. As we got to the barrier, there were maybe five people joining us in the six o'clock sun, still rather hot but ok. In fact I ended up having the mark of my socks on my calves which is very rare for me as I normally avoid the sun.

But as usual it's really worth being in the front : perfect view and the extra support is nice. Finally a festival where you can see most of the stage, well, the view to our left was a bit blocked but nothing major.

I was really happy to see Seasick Steve again. He got “rid” of the bass player (some will get who I mean) and things are even simpler, yet still so powerful. These two guys can do more with a drum kit and some two stringed guitars, than a lot of others. And there are always new contraptions and weird Steampunk guitars.

He apparently played some new songs, if you go by his comments, which means there is a new album on the way! It included a great protest song, brought by by the recent news that some people had a certain fondness for a far away island.

In the same vein, there was a little jab towards the empty VIP seats to the right of the arena. People have no idea what they miss, as usual the VIP's have no interest in music, so why bother? In contrast the “cheap seats” as Steve called them to the other side of the arena were all taken.

As usual he also invited a young girl up on stage, great choice this time as she had a wonderful singing voice and joined Steve in the chorus. I bet that will make for an unforgettable memory, what a nice gesture really.

After the usual finale of semi-demolishing the drum kit it was time to wait a little bit for the next act.

The background curtain went up, showing the old feather symbol in a new design, no more spiral shell.

I will never tire of this band, if anything I get more and more addicted to them. Still so uplifting, I can't help it but to dance along, I realised recently that about half of all humans are not simply “hearing” music, they take it in on many other levels especially when it's live music. I definitely do, and combined with the synaesthesia I have, that lets me see images, shapes and colours with music. It's probably a bit like taking mind altering substances. I will go so far by saying it's actually better than that, though I can't really tell. I may blog about this on my art blog, the post has been sitting in the drafts for a few weeks now.

I wish I knew who is in charge of lights, probably the same people as have been for at least a decade now, I would love to thank them for all the inspiration over the years, the amazing colour show is so perfectly complementing the music, it never fails to get me in the “zone”. This time the image that sticks with me is one in blue tones, and some discreet yellow highlights.

Musically the set list doesn't change that much, a song here and there, and as usual at festivals there is a majority of Led Zeppelin tunes, re-worked and re-arranged to fit this band. I've said several times that I prefer the band's actual songs, but the arrangements are fun and interwoven with other, older classics. And the intro to “Immigrant Song” was rather impressive in this setting.

What else to say without repeating what I said in numerous other reviews... technically the sound was good, but a bit “high up”. I mean I complained last month about the new set up of most festivals I went to, with the really obnoxious bass speakers under the stage. Here there was almost no bass at all, it felt like the sound waves were traveling above us and not “into” us as is the most fun. At least the rest of the sound was really good.

Apparently, management is really against photos, so I didn't take any, not that I am that motivated anyway, but a few for illustration would have been nice.