The sun was shining bright as the first people walked onto the grounds of the 41st Paléo Festival, glad to be back for another year of music and more at l'Asse. After the 40th edition last year, Tuesday saw another important milestone, with the 6 millionth visitor awaited on the site !
The first concerts of the day launched the festivities with a bang and packed tents, first under the Club Tent where the Swiss rockers from Antipods delivered their pop-rock riffs. Slightly later on, it was another Swiss band, Anach Cuan, who played their own "valaisan" version of Celtic music to a crowd overflowing from the Dôme. The massive turnout - especially for a concert this early on and in the Village du Monde, where the crowds tend to be slightly scarcer, shows to the popularity of the band and the capacity that Celtic music has of bringing people together !
A moment of microscopic poetry
In such a huge festival, it was nice to escape for 20 minutes of pure magic and poetry at the Ruche (the area of the site dedicated to street theatre, at the end of the Quartier des Alpes) with Mister Alambic and his circus fleas. From the librarian flea who read books and made origami, to the acrobatic act of the teeterboard duo, this show, which takes place right in front of your eyes (as such, each performance is limited to small number of people,but they play several times during the day), makes you forget the hustle and bustle of the crowd as you get carried away on the back of a somersaulting flea. Mister Alambic, 5th generation flea tamer, performs every day at la Ruche.
Big names and big crowds
American folk band the Lumineers played to an enthusiastic crowd on the main stage, everyone clapping and singing along to their upbeat folk songs. They delighted the crowd with all of their favourite songs, throwing in a Bob Dylan cover and a walk through the crowd for the lead singer. Light and catchy, their performance was the perfect sunny open air concert.
As the day continued, the sun went down to the relief of many, the temperatures cooling just enough for it to be enjoyable summer's evening. As a nearly full moon started rising over the huge crowd gathered in front of the main stage, Muse made their entrance. Their concert was the main highlight of the evening, and their well oiled performance didn't disappoint. Powerful rock anthems, punctuated by the odd calm ballad and accompanied by an efficient video show made up for a certain lack in originality or freshness, despite a few interactions with the crowd. Playing all their big hits, they had the crowd jumping and chanting along, and finished off the concert with a shower of confetti and colourful paper streamers shot straight over the crowd. A good solid concert, and a fine way to start the week, if maybe not as inspired by the eponymous muses as one could hope for.
Wednesday evening is dedicated to metal music, and should see some serious head-banging and a lot of mosh-pit action with as stars of the night, alongside Swiss folk-metal band Eluveitie and crazy Scottish band Red Hot Chilli Pipers. Get ready for some serious dancing !