Jonas Parson reviews Thursday night at Paléo.
As I have mentioned in earlier articles, this week is quite a special one for me at Paléo as I’m working as a circus performer with the L’Elastique Citrique on top of writing for Living In Nyon and enjoying the festival.
L’Elastique Citrique is Nyon’s local circus school, created and run for the past eighteen years by François and Nini Pythoud, with about 350 children coming in every week for regular circus lessons. A circus troop, made from the more enthusiastic and committed of the people who come and practice at the circus, regularly creates shows and performs in Nyon. Up until now, most shows were indoor, but this time the Cie L’Elastique Citrique has decided to step out onto the street for a project closer to street theatre.
Twenty performers – the youngest being only about 11 and the oldest 54 years old, go out and explore the grounds, sometimes travelling as procession of 9 giraffe unicycles, sometimes on foot, making human pyramids and dancing to the sound of an accordion. Clad in red, and ready to make people smile, laugh, or just spend a poetic moment, don’t miss us on the grounds!
The Ruche area at Paléo – Lots of street theatre for everyone
The Ruche area-the area dedicated to street theatre is worth checking out; this year, The Etablissement Dynamogène have set up their early 20th century “factory” there, with 16 workers dressed in blue overalls. The universe they have created- part nostalgic, part poetic, part hilarious- is great, and you can (once you have passed through the factory gates and “punching in” at the time clock), go and discover the different old shacks and bizarre structures manned by strange characters.
Check out “Chez Cocotte”, from Cie Carabosse, who lit up the Quartier des Alpes for six years with their great fire contraptions. They are back with a one hour show this time, fully powered by steam! Made of about 50 pressure cookers, it’s a wonderful fantasy, creating different pictures with a hiss of steam and the bang! of an odd explosion.
But the Ruche also has another valuable asset: its bar, which serves delicious mead, and Barbar, a honey flavoured beer really worth checking out!
As mentioned in the previous post on this site, Caravan Palace kick-started the day yesterday with a great show. People watching the concert might even have seen about twenty strange people dressed completely in red dancing right through the crowd. This is the second time they have come to Paléo and the singer looked really pleased to be back (just as much as the crowd!) Caravan Palace has reinvented a genre, giving swing jazz a makeover by adding electronic samples to the music, and the result is really nice and- something getting rare these days- original.
Last night was the traditional reggae(-ish) night at Paléo, with Californian band Groundation playing under the Chapiteau. With rhythms slightly more complex than normal reggae, Groundation have made that music theirs, and they play their own type Californian reggae. Listening to the lead singer’s extraordinary voice, rocked by the rhythm, watching the stage from a haze of smoke- not all of it tobacco- you could at times imagine yourself in a trench-town in Jamaica.
Chocolate from a local confectioners to be recommended
My sweet tooth pulling me towards the stall held by students training at Rapp’s (the local chocolate confectioner) at the end of the concert, I got myself a “doigt de fée” (fairy’s finger), which is not, as the name might make you think, a light and delicate dessert but a rich delicious eclair-type patisserie, my favorite being the one filled with carac (chocolate ganache). And for you chocolate lovers out there, you can even ask for extra melted chocolate on top. The stall is situated in the Latin quarter, just next to the Détour. You can find a map of all the food stalls here
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp was playing there, so I headed over, licking my chocolate coated fingers at the same time. Made of a violinist (and singer), a guitarist, someone on the double bass and a xylophonist, their music – quite impossible to define, lives up to the awesome name of the band, and they truly have something of the curious experimental attitude of the Dada movement.
Meanwhile on the main stage ..
On the main stage, a not very lively Stephan Eicher was playing- I heard an unsatisfied fan saying that he sounded more awake on his cds than on stage!
The highlight of the evening-nay, of the week was Sting‘s concert. Talking in impeccable French to a delighted crowd, humble and funny, Sting gave a hell of a concert. Backed by some really talented musicians, including a legendary drummer, Vinnie Colauita who has played for many famous musicians like Frank Zappa or Joni Mitchell. Playing some of his most famous hits, including a great version of Roxanne, with a definite reggae take on the song, and finishing off with Every breath you take, before three encores, Sting’s concert definitely lived up to everyone’s expectations.