Update 11:00 Tuesday There is a now a rain contingency plan in place for those intending to go to Paléo by car -see end of this post.
The weather maybe a little unsettled right now (and it's set to stay that way for the next few days), but hopefully Paléo will be injecting a little bit of a Caribbean atmosphere to the festival with its Village du Monde themed area. Tropical fish, tropical colours, a beach area, all representing a giant coral reef, with soul food and music are on the agenda for its visitors. Paléo starts today the 19th July and the line up includes Jack Johnson, The National, Cali, Zaz, Bomba Estero and more. See site for the 6 day programme here.
At yesterday's press conference there were new attractions on show, including massive water mattresses for the public to lie on. These are called the "Les Galets Bleus". They have been put together by Nyon artist Bernard Garo, Pierre-André Getaz, a designer, and Thierry Moreillon, an architect, (see previous interview with artist Garo here on this site). The colours of the matresses will change as night falls!
These mattresses replace the Carabosse fires and installations that have featured at Paléo in previous years. Also new for 2011, is a different layout to the staging in the Dome tent. Instead of raised seating, there will now be a more relaxed area with tables and chairs, this is to create a more open atmosphere and to encourage more dancing!
This year, the charity partner of Paléo Festival is Médecins sans Frontierès , an NGO that is celebrating 40 years of assistance and support throughout the world. The organisation will be presenting its aid programme for Haiti.
Other news - there is now a "Paléo Buddy" phone app that is downloadable for free, This lets you know the news as it is happening , you can log your tent pitch and/ or car parking space on the Festival map with the GPS function!
Also new - Paléo have produced a printed plan of the food stalls this year. With 113 food stalls to choose from, this should be a real help deciding what to eat at the festival. The plan not only gives the location of each stall but also tells you what specialities are on offer.
There will be more photos and reporting from Paléo every day here on this site. Not got tickets for this festival? There are 1500 that are sold each morning at 09:00 for every day of the festival online at Paléo and at Ticket Corner outlets. For full information on traffic/ access/ public transport options all practical info - see Paléo.
Photo above - The new style seating in the Dome tent
Photo below - The sunflower field at Paléo - an annual tradition
Photo below - The new blue mattresses.
Photo above - winching down the speakers on the big stage, below last minute prep to the lights.
THE RAIN CONTINGENCY PLAN IS PARTIALLY EFFECTIVE - In view of the heavy rainfall forecast, the rain contingency plan «Diluvio» is now effective. Some car parks around the Festival are unusable and therefore partially closed. Part of the motorists will be directed to parking in the city of Nyon where the free shuttle bus service will be strengthened. In all events, we would ask everyone to kindly follow the directions now in place and behave with patience and courtesy. Use public transport and share cars! Festivalgoers are strongly encouraged by the organisation to use the public transport system, a reliable way to reach the Festival site. Paléo would like to take this opportunity of reminding the public that the public transport system now in place serves all of Western Switzerland. In the Lake Geneva area, special trains run at night towards Geneva and Lausanne, then Fribourg and Montreux. In the Nyon district, buses run between the site and numerous localities. Finally, the special TCS bus network covers the rest of Western Switzerland. See Paléo for more details