3rd edition of Palmarosa in Montpellier: from its first evening, the festival blew everyone away!

The Hives: without a doubt, the most euphoric and dazzling performance of the first evening! J.BE

The Hives, Phoenix, The Inspector Cluzo, Loons… The first evening of the 3rd edition of the Palmarosa festival, at the Domaine de Grammont, in Montpellier, was rich in amazing, not to say crazy, performances. But this Friday was also an opportunity to judge the progress of the organization, and better: to appreciate it!

When you love, you don't count? But yes, three times yes, three nights yes! However, it will be necessary, but later, but after. The sustainability of a festival like Palmarosa which launched its 3rd edition on Friday at the Domaine de Grammont in Montpellier, depends essentially on its attendance, and on the consumption of it on site, the time will inevitably come to count. But for now, it is only that of loving. So noted. Let's love.

Comfort zone

Let's start with what used to seem incidental, even absurd, in a rock festival (watch the film about Woodstock again, you'll see, it'll calm you down) but which, let's not exaggerate, has proven to be essential for some time now: comfort. Having heard the criticisms that were addressed to it last summer on this point, the Palmarosa team has clearly taken care of the quality of its reception.

Surface area more than doubled, development of a second stage to eliminate the waiting time at the change of sets, misting corridor, multiplication of water points, shaded areas, refreshment bars and catering offers. Of course, for the latter, we still had to queue up, but we conducted our little investigation and found the culprit: our stomach, which, this donkey, started to cry (neigh) famine at the same time as all its fellow creatures!

In short, at least it allowed us to see that there were people for the first of the three evenings of the festival. No, once again, we didn't count him, but he was there, the one who counts, the one we love, the world, the beautiful, the joyful, the marvelous, we checked, we smiled at him and maybe even blushed a little. Others did better: they multi-colored him. Among the various stands, the makeup stand allowed many to enhance their natural beauty (we insist but we can't help but notice how pleasure makes you beautiful!) with glitter for the coolest effect.

Snap at the snack time

But enough festival experience, let's talk music, let's talk rock! Right away, a little slap in the face: at snack time, Loons sends the mash, and we feast! Formed by Elio Richardeau, Antoine Bay and Axel Sirodeau, 20 years old on average, the Montpellier trio is at home on the small Rosa stage. It's still early (and warm), the crowd is small but Loons is in his element, and shows an authority that is a pleasure to see, and especially to hear. Antoine on bass and Elio on guitar alternate at the microphone, shouting, singing, while Axel on drums holds the house (while breaking it; which is no small feat).

On the borders of noise, hardcore and shoegaze, his rock has its source in the 90s but well and truly gushes into the present time, a matter of sincerity and alacrity. At the end of a quicksilver, quicksilver and furious set, Elio goes down into the crowd to offer everyone a chance to grab his guitar (a Rumble, designed and made by his luthier father, Bertrand Richardeau), class!

A star and a dog

No time to make fools of ourselves on this sumptuous six-string, Silly Boy Blue begins his set on the big Palma stage. Supported by three excellent musicians dressed all in white, the singer from Nantes, whose real name is Ana Benabdelkarim, appears in a black top and shorts printed with the sky, and shines from the outset with her charming naturalness. Even if, what cracks shortly after, is the technique: it is still so hot that the bike that his drummer is driving gives up; an incident that Silly Boy Blue manages with a smile by offering a little piano-voice moment, further brightened by the intrusion on stage… of a dog!

Without hesitation, the singer asks for its adoption. To avoid the ownership conflict (one can imagine), the system has the good idea of ​​relaunching itself. The group can therefore give the full power of its modern pop to the massive, compressed sound, which evokes a cross between Billie Eilish and Lana del Rey. Dynamic, cheerful but square, the quartet delivers a performance full of freshness and brilliance!

Down to earth

We change completely with The Inspector Cluzo, pride of the Landes de Gascogne: from the surroundings of Mont-de-Marsan, where half the year he takes care of his farm Lou Casse (organic and permaculture), the guitar-drums duo has been sending the pâté (goose, in this case) around the world for almost twenty years, and he is not a little proud of it. Also, his set alternates between a big burst of energy and a little philosophy lesson. Even the titles of their songs scream it at us: Act local think global, A man outstanding in his field, Running a family farm is more rock than playing rock’n roll, The armchair activist… The style swings like a rocking chair on the terrace of an Oklahoma village, between hard rock to the bone and country-blues to the muscle, with a nervous groove background so that the swinging never stops.

Always so classy behind his drums (or on them), Mathieu bangs his drums with an impressive mix of science and savagery, while Laurent switches to singing with disconcerting ease from the angry banter of Bon Scott to the falsetto of Curtis Mayfield, all the while abusing his Gibson SG Standard. By the way, given the rascals, we can't help but interpret the total absence of solos politically: if this exercise to which Laurent is accustomed (this left hand!) highlights individual brilliance, the rhythm is a generous gesture towards the collective… and the enjoyable. Besides, he shouts it: “Put your hands in the air for Inspector Cluzo!” before insisting: “Hey, we're not at Printemps de Bourges, or Rock en Seine, we're in the south, like at home, so let's go!”His invitation to blow up is heard: the pit goes haywire with joy in the first moshpit of the evening.

Promising youth

A cloud of dust later, we are at the foot of the small Rosa stage to discover Bloody Jenny, the youngest and most fragile but very endearing group of the evening. Led by Jenny, a singer and guitarist with perfect body positivity, the Parisian quartet swings between heavy rock a little glam and garage punk a little hard. It's still a bit generic in writing, but the energy is there, the sincerity is everywhere (well yes, the audience too, think about it) and technically, the musicians are holding the road and tracing it together. In short, to follow closely!

The Swedish Moment

When the Funeral March begins (yes, you know, by the priceless Fredo Chopin), we do the opposite and launch into a joyous race: it's the signal for the Hives to enter the stage! Dressed like Satan's minions on a Día de los Muertos night in Mexico City (in black suits with phosphorescent white lightning-shaped inserts, if you prefer), the five Swedes logically start off at full speed by giving us their Bogus operandi and shortly after by tuning us into their Rigor mortis radio. Needless to say, their punk-rock loaded with vitamins and dopamine is absolutely deadly ?

Singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist is, for his part, hilarious: he never stops multiplying interventions in impeccably cracked French.“Are you ready to dance quickly ?”, he asks the crowd for the ultra-dense hit before Good Samaritan, sent at full speed.“It's fantastic, isn't it ? Now, we're going to make a song with a riff, maaaah!" Indeed, the one from Try it again is terrible! Then this statement: “My name is Pelle (pronounced “pele” Editor's note) and we are in Montpellier (which he pronounces, himself, “mont pele”). Montpellier it’s mine! Montpellier is mine!”He is so happy with his pun that he uses it several times during the set, we like it, we pass it to him.

Then “And now a historic riff, a classic, a golden riff!” before sending, we confirm, Hate to Say I Told You So with the friendly reinforcement of a member of Phoenix (dressed like his Scandinavian buddies for the occasion). The crowd then goes completely crazy, and it doesn't stop with the (good) madness. Bigger Hole to Fill, Countdown to Shutdown, Come On!, it cleans up hairy until the introduction of the musicians which gives us a specific and hilarious spiel for each of them, before a final version of Tick Tick Boom. During the song, Howlin' Pelle, an antidepressant made man who is now required to be reimbursed by European social security, manages to get the entire audience to sit down. Palmarosa is then on his ass. Literally, but not only. Mortel, we tell you !

The international class

We are then grateful to the Solidarity Mixers for allowing us to spend a little of our excess siphoning before the most Olympian group of the evening: Phoenix. Thomas Mars, Deck d’Arcy, Laurent Brancowitz, Christian Mazzalai, Thomas Hedlund and Jonathan Chavez attack in piquet and at the top (yes, at the same time) with the enormous LisztomaniaThe sound is monstrous, of astonishing density and width, while remaining surprisingly sophisticated, and the screen at the back of the stage provides our content of visual aids to the general dazzle. Entertainment, Lasso, Too young/Girlfriend… the setlist is solid.

Thomas Mars is still the cool and nice guy on the mic, but we find ourselves glued to Thomas Hedlund, the drummer, who beats his drums with an elegance that is only matched by his power: if Phoenix grooves in its own unique way, it's thanks to him! On Ti amo, a red heart lights up his bass drum, it's cute, and what's more, exactly what we want to say at this moment. For those who still doubted it, it was also around this time that it appeared that the group's presence alongside their Versailles buddies Air at the closing of the Olympic Games was pure logic: these guys sound worldwide without syruping mainstream ; absolute class!

Their class is all the more frightening because it is accompanied by coolness. Thus, at one moment, a mysterious and stiff carnival-goer from Venice, hidden under a mask and a long cape, invites himself onto their stage… who can't take it anymore, ends up revealing his identity with a severed head at the end of an arm (as long as the Olympics give this type of idea, well, it'll be fine, it'll be fine!) and a smile as wide as the Franco-Swedish friendship across the reel: but yes, it's still our friend Howlin' Pelle! After the irresistible 1901, Thomas Mars, so much more rock’n roll than some would like to believe, will go sing in the crowd on the ultimate  Identical. After that ? Nothing. Nothing matters anymore. We don't count, we've told you over and over again, we love it. And we're continuing this Saturday night. Expected fever!

Two more big nights!

Saturday 24th August
5-6pm: Calypso Valois (Scene Rosa)
6-7pm: Kazy Lambist (Scene Palma)
7-8pm: Bandit Bandit (Scene Rosa)
8 p.m.-9 p.m.: Kid Francescoli (Scène Palma)
9 p.m.-9:30 p.m.: Les Mixeuses Solidaires (Scène Rosa)
9:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m.: Gossip (Scène Palma) ène Palma)
10:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m.: Les Mixeuses Solidaires (Scène Rosa)
11:30 p.m.-11:30 a.m.: The Vaccines (Scène Palma)

Sunday 25 août
4:30 p.m.-5:15 p.m.: Crystal Murray (Scène Rosa)
5:30 p.m. -6:30 p.m.: Howlin Jaw (Scène Palma)
6:45 p.m.-7:30 p.m.: Please (Scène Rosa)
7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.: Tom Odell (Scène Palma)
8:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.: Les Mixeuses Solidaires (Scène Rosa)
9:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m.: The Kills (Scène Palma)
10:30 p.m.-11 p.m.: Les Mixeuses Solidaires (Scene Rosa)
11 p.m.-midnight: Soulwax (Scene Palma)