There was a significant Cuban influence to the music at some of Thursday night's concerts at Paléo. Firstly, the group "Afrocubism" blended traditional Cuban sound with music from Mali to an audience in the Chapiteau tent. Later on, over in the "Dome", the very talented Raul Paz from Cuba played to a packed audience and to much applause. "One of the best concerts so far this year at Paléo" according to many fans.
Over in the Club tent the rythmn was Cajun/Zydeco/Blues/ Rock from Geneva band Mama Rosin. For this particular set, the talented trio had teamed up with UK rockabilly band Hipbone Slim and the Knee Tremblers.
A superb combination of music and styles with an energetic performance from them all. As this concert started at 17:00, (not long after the festival gates opened), the music and enthusiasm from the band got everyone dancing and kicked off the evening in style.
(The Living in Nyon editor has written about this band for other publications and predicted they would go far, it seems they have, with recent appearances in Glastonbury and on Later with Jules Holland).
The headline acts last night on the Grand Scene included Jean Louis Aubert, P. J Harvey and The Strokes, all them atracting big crowds. However the beauty of Paléo is that there are often smaller bands waiting to be discovered and are given the chance to perform at this festival.
The Detour is a tent that showcases up-and-coming Swiss bands and last night it was the turn of Lausanne based Proffesor Wouassa. With their mix of afrobeat, jazz, soul, funk and a range of different vocalists, their sound attracted many festival goers. Photos below vocalists from Proffesor Wouassa.
Many of these festival goers had simply been walking by the tent but ended up going inside to see who was playing and remained there through the entire set (some of them choosing to miss P. J Harvey who was playing at the same time on the main stage).
A reminder also to readers that Paléo is not just for adults, it's for children too, entrance is free for them up to the age of 12. There are various areas that cater for children and they are situated in the La Ruche area of the grounds. This area is a quieter area of the festival grounds where children and parents can watch circus and theatre acts and listen to their own kind of music away from the main stages.
For younger children, the Miel Melo is a designated area for children (no alcohol or smoking in here), and there are all sorts of games provided for entertainment, juggling, board games etc.
The mud was still around last night resulting in some interesting footwear being worn. See photos and other images below.
Apologies for slightly fuzzy quality of some of the above photos due to smoky atmosphere in some of the venues!