“Crazy Week!!!”, 3rd day, it’s rolling and rocking on the boards of Nice!
After a stage warm-up by The Kitchies, it was Mat and Mathias, the leaders of the bands Skip The Use and Dionysos, who got hands with calloused palms in the air. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, a rendezvous with the devil of musical styles, the one you mistake for the villain but who has the biggest heart, a rendezvous with rock ‘n’ roll!!!!
The festival started gently, with a flexible, gesticulating Mika making the crowd dance, seductive Brigitte captivating with charming sways, a matured and kohl-darkened Julien Doré, invigorating. But it was this Thursday night that the Crazy Week really went off the rails by inviting stage beasts that made the audience join in their madness, mobilizing the masses at will.
We started with Skip the Use who invited the many spectators present this evening to jointly step back to the end of the theater, then move all left, all right… While Dionysos invited them to come close to the stage to huddle and “stay warm,” as Mathias Malzieu said, even taking several crowd baths.
For the former, it was obviously during their famous “Ghost” that the climax happened, with lips singing in unison. But the entire concert was thrilling thanks to the very talented musicians and a charismatic Mat Bastard who played on transitions, making his fans and the new audience he encountered at the festival laugh with phrases like, “Raise your finger and keep it up. You’ll see, it’s tiring but it must be done. How do you think I have this athlete’s body? It’s because I raise my finger!“… Not forgetting to say, “we’d make you do anything!” ^^
We get drawn into the game, we don’t miss a beat; Skip The Use, a band worth knowing live!
As for Dionysos, there was no chance of pressing “Skip The Use” and missing the intro, since it’s the music associated with Dark Vador that starts before the band’s entrance on stage, with only green light beams like giant lightsabers directed toward the pit. A homage to the track that made them famous and is sure to be played: “Song for Jedi“, plus later in the night, “Dark Side“. Once a geek, always a geek;)
Dionysos has been around for a while. We wonder if with each album the little redhead with an overflowing brain of ideas and creativity will continue to deliver with this distinct universe and yes, once again, successful with “Bird’n’Roll”! We were already used to seeing this bird-like figure with ruffled feathers jumping around on stage corners, but now he performs with a “real” bird head for this latest album, almost soaring, indeed, carried by an admiring and wild audience. Always accompanied by a team of diverse personalities: the bear, the shy one, the focused one, the crazy one, and the siren. Playing the originality card, the stage setup even includes an electric drill solo, yes, electric, sliding over the strings instead of a bottleneck higher on the neck, making the Scene du Verdure vibrate with unexpected sounds. It’s nearing genius!
Another beautiful evening for a festival that’s growing and growing, and an upcoming night of madness with Last Leeway, Stuck in the Sound, and Shaka Ponk gathered for the penultimate date of the festival.
Photo credit: Flora Doin (www.flora-d.fr)
