One of the attractions of Paléo is that the music programming is designed to appeal to all ages and to all styles of music. Thursday and Friday night's concerts were a good case in point with Thursday's music choices ranging from the rhythm and blues sound of "The Excitements" from Barcelona to the pop and rock of British legend Elton John or the electro swing of "The Parov Stelar Band" from Austria who performed late into the night. Each concert on the different days attracted very varied crowds and created different atmospheres amongst all age groups.
Friday evening at Paléo kicked off with the laid back and lyrical songs of French singer George Moustaki, while later over in the Club tent, the place reverberated to the beatbox sound of Swiss musician "KoQa Cyclic Oscillation". It was evident that the crowds knew all the lyrics to Moustaki's songs and it was the same with Elton John's concert on the Thursday night. There was plenty of collective singing along with both artists.
Above - Collective singing (and phone waving) at the Elton John concert.
Whereas the audience watching "The Excitements" on Thursday probably weren't that aware of their music , but it didn't matter, the sheer electric energy provided by the band and the power house of its lead singer Koko-Jean Davis got the whole crowd dancing. Koko-Jean is a consummate performer and engaged magnificently with the audience and is definitely a name to watch. On Friday it was a completely different crowd in the Club tent listening to the talented "Koqa Cyclic Oscillation", but essentially everyone there was there for the music, the atmosphere, the food and (unfortunately on Friday - the mud). No doubt it will be a different crowd again on the L'Asse grounds on Saturday waiting to hear James Blunt and at the same time there will be a totally different group of music fans waiting in front of the other stages ready to hear and experience a new band or artist - that is the beauty of Paléo.
Photos below Various artists and images from Thursday and Friday night at Paléo. All photos Catherine Nelson-Pollard
Photo above - Koko-Jean Davis of "The Excitements"
Photo below - Georges Moustaki in concert
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Photo below - KoQa Cyclic Oscillation
All photos on this page C. Nelson-Pollard