Caribana Night 1- From Pimms to Pirates, Crowd surfing to Caipirinhas

Photo above: "Skin" crowd surfing. Caribana began in fine style on Wednesday night on the first night of the four day festival. The weather stayed warm and dry and the emphasis of the music was on rock, heavy rock, grunge and rock, rock and roll. Kill it Kid from Bath in the UK began the evening on the lake stage, followed by Motorhead an hour later over at the Grande Scène. Lead singer "Lemmy" Kilmister of Motorhead set the pace by shouting out to the crowd, "Is it loud enough for you?" before ramping up the volume. There were some in the crowd you thought it could have been even louder and that Lemmy was a tad subdued, nevertheless the band went on to play old favourites: "Ace of Spades" , "Going to Brazil" and other tracks from their new album. "Occupy Taksim" sign in crowd There was a brief moment when protesters in the crowd brought out an " Occupy Taksim" sign (in reference to the recent unrest in Turkey) before they moved away from the crowd and to the side of the grounds. Photo below of Pierre-Edouard and Maria, two Motorhead fans from Geneva. It was Pierre-Edouard's 8th Motorhead concert!

After Motorhead, the rockers at the festival were there then left were in fine mood for Skunk Anansie who brought not only an impressive light show to their stage act, but an explosive energy to the Caribana grounds.  "Skin"  the charismatic lead singer is a consummate performer, and apart from a few technical issues at the start,  it was a good set, topped at the end by an impressive bit of  superb crowd surfing. What's new this year on the grounds?- Bar on the beach. Opportunity to buy tickets to V.I.P bar. There are the usual favourites this year at Caribana as in previous years - the Brazil bar with friendly staff serving Caipirinhas, the various other bars serving beer and wine. This year the theme and logo of the festival is "Pirate"s and  the beer glasses are emblazoned with pirate faces. There is also a Pimms stand in the centre of the eating and drinking area, so lots of choice for everyone.   There are the usual stalls selling  jewelry, hats and boots in case of bad weather. Note - this year false flooring has been placed around many areas on the grounds to prevent the ground turning into a quagmire. Also new this year, an  opportunity to buy categories of tickets to the festival, reduced, normal, golden and platinum. The latter two categories are more expensive  as they offer entrance tickets, 2 meals at the port of Crans, plus access to the VIP bar. See here for booking details-New to La Platforme bar this year are steps going right down to the beach and lake, a sort of mini Cannes at Caribana. This bar is for 18+ only. The bar early on in the evening was a haven of peace away from the crowds, see photo below, but it became busy later on. See some of the atmosphere of the first night in the photos below.  All photos C. Nelson-Pollard. Also new this year, Caribana has a team of writers who are also writing in English, so you can read their observations about the other bands and the music played  last night on the Scène du Lac stage on the Caribana website. On the line up tonight on Day 2  of Caribana - 77 Bombay St, Archive, Kaiser Chiefs, Take Me Home, Andy Burrows and The Heavy.  

Below -   The calm of the the Platform bar before the crowd arrived -  Steps leading down to the beach

Below - Pimms anyone?

Photo below Stall ready to serve lots of Caipirinhas

Boots in case of bad weather - thankfully the forecast is good for the next few days

 More photos of the evening from the lake stage - Kill it Kid, The Animen, The Coronas.