Two weeks ago some really great names had a rendezvous at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden. After having known the fame but also some difficulties, the festival made his big return in 2011. This year the lineup was more that attractive! See by yourselves: The Cure - The Stone Roses - The XX - Slash - Eagles Of Death Metal - Chase & Status - The Cardigans - Gorillaz Sound System - Justice - Kasabian -Marina and the Diamonds - Garbage - James Blake - The Kooks - M83 - Noah and the Whale - Frank Turner - Future Islands - Stay+ - Ewert and The Two Dragons - Ikonika -Fink...
Jeudi 14 Juin:
Beginning of the festival with Eagles Of Death Metal on the blue stage that were great, being a bit crazy and allowing the crowd to take part to the gig under the sun.
Next, direction the main stage called Green Stage for The Stones Roses’ big concert! With their recent and exceptional reformation this year, useless to say that they were expected! The 200 000 tickets for their 3 shows in Manchester at the beginning of July were bought so quickly that it made them the quickest sold-out concert of rock music history! From the first songs the atmosphere was at the rendezvous, thanks a bit to I Wanna Be Adored in 2nd position on their setlist!
Come back to the Blue Stage to see The Kooks and it was literally crazy! Somewhere between pushing, pogo, shouting and screaming, we had trouble breathing because of the dust flying! The audience sang in unison on almost every song.. She Moves In Her Own Way, Sofa Song, Always Where I Need To Be, Junk Of The Heart (Happy)... Many titles that were triumphantly welcomed, useless to say that Ooh La was a highlight!
The night was finally dropped, Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay took over the main stage to make all the festivalgoers dance with Justice. To see the Swedish all day with crosses painted on their skin or clothes stamped with a cross, Justice was one of the groups of the weekend they did not want to miss. This has been seen by the crowd that came to see them that night, one of the biggest of the festival! The French duo electrified the crowd with their brilliant titles. The scenic effects were beautiful to see, especially the rise of "organ".
Vendredi 15 Juin:
Launch of the day with the English men of Tribes under the small tent of the White Stage. Unfortunately we had to leave them before the end of their set because Bombay Bicycle Club was playing on the Blue Stage. The schedule wasn’t always optimum and choices had to be made but sometimes it wasn’t easy at all! Under a great sun, Jack Steadman’s band offered us joy and happiness with their sympathetic music that went well with the occasion. Charming and generous, they even invited the audience to hang out with them by the lake after their show. For the anecdote, as they were playing in front of the sun and because of their English nationality they were afraid of taking sunburns during the gig!
Then a cool small break with Fink and his aerial music on the White Stage to take some rest and prepare us to what was next: Kasabian.
Their show went so quickly! From the first notes of Days Are Forgotten it was crazy. The moshpit had risen to power and it was a pleasure to see. As usual, they literally set fire to the place, chaining hit after hit and ending with the electric Switchblade Smiles and Vlad The Impaler ! At the end, Tom has hummed the lyrics of the Beatles' She Loves You helped by the crowd.
Personally I wanted to see them again since their stop by the Zénith in Paris last November but I haven’t been completely satified. I would have love to see them 15 minutes more. Anyway, Kasabian has really become a band that we does not listen on CD but live, they are awesome !
Some time later in the evening occurred the English duo Alunageorge on a small stage. They delivered an minimal R&B, compelling and sexued by interpreting the titles from their EP such as Just A Touch and You Know You Like It.
Then occurred the legendary band of the 1980-1990 years, The Cure, fact that I would describe as almost historic! They are currently touring festivals (including France, the Eurockéennes this weekend). The band did not fail to his reputation and gave a long concert. They stayed on stage near 2h30, giving us a flock of songs!
Arrived at 1am, they left or rather the organization invited them to leave the scene at around 3.30am. It was pretty unreal especially since during the summer in Sweden the sun rises early, so at 3 o'clock you could see that the sun was going to rise soon. Of course, they performed their most famous songs like Lullaby, Friday I'm In Love or Boys Do not Cry. I have personally been affected by Pictures Of You and its long intro because it is one of my favorite songs. At the first encore we even had the right to The Top that had not been played since 1984! Despite the fatigue that was felt, this concert was pretty magical.
Samedi 16 Juin:
Exit the sun of yesterday, we woke up in the rain but this did not avoid us to enjoy the concerts of the day. First Fanfarlo on the White Stage, a great time although theband did not play I'm A Pilot to my disappointment. Simon Balthazar, the singer, had the advantage of being in his homeland which helped to establish a good relationship between the band and the audience.
At the same time was taking place the explosive concert of The Vaccines on the Blue Stage. They have unleashed the audience with their energetic tracks allowing the everybody to go wild in good and due form, particularly on Nørgaard ! Like the Kasabian concert, the one of The Vaccines went very quickly!
Then it was Marina & The Diamonds' turn to make her entry on the main stage but no luck, it rained showers. This did not discourage the spectators, who, dressed in poncho attended her concert. Still some have managed to find refuge in the White Stage tent where the Future Islands where playing. This allowed me to discover this band. Their music has pop and electronic accents. With J.Gerrit Welmers, the band leader and his many lopsided, the atmosphere was very warm! I was pleasantly surprised by their performance and I had a great time with them.
Brief stint on the Blue Stage to see Bat For Lashes who returns this year with a new album, The Haunted Man.
As we had to make choices, I have heard only from afar the concerts of The XX and The Magic Numbers who replaced Mumford & Sons. They have been forced to cancel their visit because Marcus broke his hand. Do not worry if youre going to see them soon, they are now organized with other musicians to continue their tour despite the worries.
Then came Garbage' s turn on the same stage. They assured the show by performing mostly old titles (Temptation Waits, Stupid Girl, Only Happy When It Rains, Queer, Why Do You Love Me...) and some songs from their latest album, Not Your Kind Of People (Blood For Poppies, Control...). I stayed a little on my hunger because I would have liked more songs from Bleed Like Me, but you know the song, "You can not always get what you want".
Still on this scene Noel Gallagher's High Birds Flying came and it was really great! He opened with (It's Good) To Be Free and then chained with the tracks of his album and some Oasis songs (Half The World Away, Little By Little, Talk Tonight and Do not Look Back In Anger). It was a pleasure to see him on stage and I can not wait to be at Rock en Seine on August 24th, hoping that he will play more that only 13 songs because I found it a bit short. If the atmosphere was good with an audience singing in unison throughout the concert, Noel did not seem to have fun on stage. What he has confirmed a few days later in his diary: "Did a show at that Hultsfred Festival. It was ok . . . nothing more. Think the crowd enjoyed it more than I did which really is all that matters innit? ". Nevertheless, he joked with the Swedish on the football match Sweden vs England by dedicating them Do not Look Back In Anger.
The end of the festival was placed under the sign of electric music since the last performers were other than Gorillaz Sound System, the French M83 and Jamie XX. The festival went very quickly but it's when you're having fun that you do not see the time passing, right?
A few words about the facilities at this festival. Nothing wrong at the campsite, showers and toilets (with a real flush!) were always clean and as it has not rained a lot, the conditions were ideal for camping. At the festival site, the scenes were good and well arranged between them. The only negative comment that I could make is concerning food. The choice wasn't big, the stalls were a bit redundant. I guess it's because the festival is not that big actually so, everything was proportional. Otherwise the site, located beside a lake in a forest was very pretty and unusual. What a change from the English festivals that I'm used to !
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