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Here's my review of this years festival
First night, got to venue, L'Periscope, around 7 for opening ceremonies, just round corner from train station with lots of small hotels in area. The venue is tiny, probably holds no more than 100 with a small bar and seats on the street, all standing, which was ok given the 2nd and 3rd bands but hope for seats today at L'Abbatoir. First up were John Greaves & Annie Barbazza. Annie started with 2 Crimson covers, Epitaph & Moonchild, on acoustic guitar. The rest of the set was mainly John on piano and one or both on vocals. Sounded like an edgy lounge act, not bad. Next was Poil playing a set mainly off the new album, fast, frenetic, high energy, spin on a dime stuff, utterly brilliant, big silly grin on my face all set. Lastly was Mange Ferraile, instrumental guitar, drums and keys/bass, minimalist drum drive noise rock, drummer reminded me of Tony Conrads Dream Syndicate with 4 or 5 note repeated patterns going on and on, don't think i saw the guitarist play a chord all night, mainly just making it screech or using flat fingers across a fret, fun live if a little repetitive without interesting changes or layers, doubt I'd ever buy it.
Day 2 was outstanding as expected, moved from Lyon to Bourgoin-jallieu and the Abbatoir venue, big old building with great sound plenty of seats and a sunken standing area in front of the stage that avoids obstructing seated sight lines, found the best sound was seated as a bit muddy up front. First up Schnellertollermeier, Swiss minimalist heavy jazz rock, tight as hell and sounding excellent. Second was the return of a.P.a.T.t bonkers Caberet rock with a punky tinge and masses of energy, loads of fun. Lastly the utterly sublime full-on crushingly heavy Koenji Hyakkei, an outstanding set that left the audience breathless and awestruck. Superb day.
Day 3 was the first early start at 3pm with The Watts (Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson, Yumi Hara) 45 minutes of avant improv, I can take or leave this stuff that often sounds formless, worked well, i was in the mood. For their encore Geoff Leigh and Keith Macksoud joined them for a very groovy Isle Of Everywhere (Gong) cover. Second was Piniol doing pretty much the same set as last year, grooves and pounds along joyfully. We then had a 2 hour dinner break until John Greaves, Annie Barbazza & the North Sea Radio Orchestra. They started with 2 Blegvad tracks, some Wyatt & Costello's Shipbuilding before performing the whole of Rock Bottom. Very moving and really nice arrangements, excellent. The event closed with Present featuring new guitarist Francois Mignot of Ni and featuring two new tracks. Was a bit chaotic between tracks with some long pauses but while playing were very good and i enjoyed the new material.
Overall a really good weekend with the line-up of bands particularly impressive, well done to the organizers for getting the new locations organized. There were some old friends missing due to the schedule changes and other circumstances (Debi, Helaine, Marc, Thomas, Klaus, Lutz notably) but most of the rest of the gang were there. The Periscope in Lyon is too small and hot, maybe 100 max fitted in all standing. The Abbatoir is a better venue with good sound ( though muddy at the front), good sight lines, nice standing area at the front, the main 'seats' were very uncomfortable and I couldn't use them unless at the back wall to support my back. Food was average to poor, basic with little selection. Security was bonkers, walking through the auditorium during sets, confiscating water at the gate, not letting people back into the auditorium after leaving midset, not letting people back on site after a cut off time. The could have done with more outdoor cover given that was the main area to congregate between sets and it rained quite a bit. All the outdoor seating was soaked as a result.
Had a great time, hung with a bunch of friends old and new and enjoyed great performances. Will certainly be back next year.
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Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/
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