RIO festival at Carmaux 18-20/09
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Topic: RIO festival at Carmaux 18-20/09
Posted By: Alucard
Subject: RIO festival at Carmaux 18-20/09
Date Posted: September 22 2009 at 10:51
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Friday 18th Changing trains in Toulouse and one hour later in Albi, sunny but some storm clouds moving in, if you have never been to Albi try to go there, RIO or not, one of the most beautiful cities I know, the entire center and most of the town is build of red bricks and the main point is the famous breathtaking cathedral.  One of my personal favorite is the walk on the of the river tarn… a beer and it’s time to take the shuttle bus to the festival site, the moment the bus starts it starts to rain heavily and unfortunately it didn’t stopped for the next three day! The whole south of
BTW Remi had a stand to present Miriodor and sell CD's and was hoping to convince festival boss Michel Besset to have Miriodor play on the next edition and his prayers were heard SCOOP: the third RIO edition is already planned in September 2010 featuring The Art Bears (with Carla Kihlstedt from SGM) and Miriodor so far (when everything goes fine, the financial situation of the festival is just even)
  So time for a little nap and off to the mains stage to attend the festival opener Electric Epic, featuring Magma bass player Phillip Bussonett who did two entire shows (EE& Magma) this evening, speaking about burning fingers. Great show and a perfect start for the festival.  Time to get some caffeine and next was Guapo meets GMEA (Groupe de Musique Electroacoustique d'Albi) a project that lasted for the entire festival, Guapo played their music on a stage in the middle of the small festival room and the GMEA spatialized the sound.
 The audience could move freely around the stage to experience the effect. I must say I didn’t really got it, the room was too small IMO and the sound was bouncing off the walls too quickly to appreciate the space effects, but maybe it was only my hearing going nuts and/or the long train journey. Time to say hello to the guys from Yugen (Marcello Marinone, Paolo Botta,and Franzesco Zago) who presented their AltrOck catalogue on the balcony of the lobby and….  Another coffee and time for Magma…I am not a huge Magma fan and I didn’t saw none of the 40th anniversary concert so far. The last time I saw Magma was two years ago here in Carmaux and I preferred this years show, rougher and edgier with a special mention for James Mc Graw for the best guitar sound of the festival, a Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty miked through a Fender Amp, that is how a guitar should sound and Yes he is a fantastic musician too, listen to his stuff with One Shot. As an encore Magma played Kobaïa and then yours truly just fall into bed….   
Saturday 19th After a good night’s sleep a coffee and some croissants the world looked better even so it rained heavily. The morning started with a conference by Aymeric Leroy (Monsieur Calyx) about the history of Prog with a special accent on Lunch with the Yugens and the Italian journalist Alessandro Achili; le plat du jour was Lasagne which I was the only one to eat (Pasta outside of Italy is a delicate topic for Italians!!!) but the plate earned a decent 5 out of 10 after being tested by the Yugens.    Coffee break and time for the Belgian band Aranis….I saw the band earlier this year at Le Triton and unfortunately they played for only 15 people back then while this time they deserved to play for a large and receptive audience with a new member the pianist
Ward DE VLEESCHHOUWER (the average attendance was about 400 this year, about the same as last years and the moment to say a big thanks to Rock Time the very professional festival organisaiation and the many benevolent people who made the festival happen!  Coffee break and another nice Guapo GMEA set… And back to the main stage for Combat Astronomy a project of UK bass player James Huggett with Elaine Di Franco (Thinking Plague) on vocals and Dave Willey (Hamster Theater) on keyboards, the less appreciated concert by most, I must say they had not an easy role to replace last quite late Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum and didn’t had much time to rehearse. The show lacked unity even so there were some nice moments. The major problem of this years festival was the soundboard and even so Magma and Koenji Hyakkei got a very good sound all other bands got problems especially with higher volumes, the worst being the leveling of the bass and drums during the Combat Astronomy concert, which drowned completely the rest of the band and it was just too loud, about a third of the audience left for this reason… Press conference of Combat Astronomy which should actually have been before the concert, the musicians could have explained the situation to the audience…  Another coffee and time for musical Nirvana, the absolute highlight of the festival Koenji Hyakkei …one hour and a half of pure energy and elegance, one of the moments where you know why you never became a fan of Britney Spears, the audience went wild and they came back for a real crowd-pleaser maybe the first Zeuhl hit single with audience participation: take it away Tatsuya! More frantic applause and when Tatsuya Yoshida appeared in the lobby to sell some CD’s he got another general ovation. If you have the occasion to see them …   The organization closed the door once the last CD sold by Tatsuya and the audience and musicians were finding themselves squeezed to the side of the building with a deluge coming down outside…unfortunately I missed the duets between Muffin drummer Paul Sears and Thomas, a very dedicated Prog fan with a beautiful voice, featuring among others songs At last I am free and Coming Into los Angeles by Arlo Guthrie (Paul offered him the next day a set of signed drumsticks) and a Hendrix impro by Michel Besset and Paul while your truly was already sound asleep…
Sunday 20th A shy sun came out for a couple of minutes just to be chased away by the rain …breakfast with the the Yugens, Udi Koomran (Present & Ahvak) and Yehuda Kollon (Ahvak) interesting discussion about music, non prog listening family members, private music rooms, and then drifting into politics, the state of the world in general and a little contest for the worst president and the best food ( in both cases Italy in top position) …early start this morning with French band Yolk…my least favorite band this year, nice ideas but not enough skill….
Lunch break with the Spanish fan base, among them PA member Victor 77 and more interesting discussions and lots of laughter (my Spanish being more then basic the guys translated the jokes into English) and a chat with Klaus Grope from Germany, one of the most dedicated Prog fans I ever met and who offered me the excellent (German written) fanzine Bad Alchemy (more of this in another topic) And time for The Muffins, another highlight of the festival, and my favorite bass sound by Billy Swann (a Fender Fretless Jazz bass)
 And yet another coffee break and the first part of the festival ending trilogy 1.Present 2. UZ 3. Present &UZ. The great Present set was a little short with about 45 minutes and the band was just peaking when the show stopped… and unfortunately this was my last concert of the festival…I worked on Monday and had to take a night train back to Paris …
All in all a great time and personally I was really touched by the heartfelt atmosphere and the binding element of the music favored by the situation of the festival site and the close encounters between musicians, fans, journalists and the festival crew A special great thanks to Michel Besset, Gaël Pecho and Laetitia from Rocktime and the nice couple at L’auberge… Which brings le to a little nasty side note, as two years ago I had booked several rooms, this year one for me and one for Hugues (Sean Trane) under my name. Unfortunately Hugues had to cancel in the last moment, but when I arrived a couple had checked in under my name and I explained the situation to the astonished landlady, asked for the room number (218 BTW) and went up to see my “double”: no one there, so just before leaving the tenant informed me that my “double & female” had left without paying… So this is first embarrassing for the really nice and trustful couple of tenants, because they lost the money for the” free” room, and still they were so nice and didn’t made me pay the second room, seen that it was booked under my name! Secundo this is embarrassing for me and my credibility and my friends! So whenever YOU read this (maybe it’s just a misunderstanding and you thought the room had already been paid in advance, which was not the case!) So please send the money to the auberge… If you don’t, I’ll do everything possible to find out your name and make sure that you don’t stay again in the auberge (BTW the spouse remembers you both quite well) ------------- Tadpoles keep screaming in my ear "Hey there! Rotter's Club! Explain the meaning of this song and share it" |
...followed by a press-conference with the Muffins joined by their old friend and Cuneiform boss Steve Feigenbaum, who spoke in an emotionally charged atmosphere about the beginnings of the band and the legendary recording of their first record with lots of anecdotes shared with the audience! Keep on turning guys!
Replies:
Posted By: CPicard
Date Posted: September 22 2009 at 17:52
Great review. Yes, really: I'm raging not to have been able to go to this festival!  More seriously. I would have been curious to see the Guapo/GMEA sonorisation experience, even if I'm not interested in Guapo, just as I would have been enlightened to see the Univers Zero / Present orchestra! So, Hayward also played the piano a bit? I guess he needed to fill this big scene!  Too bad for Combat Astronomy. Did they plan concerts in the next future? |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: September 23 2009 at 04:11
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Alucard said:
I fully agree with Martin here!!!
It might just be that the indelicate people thought that the room was paid, but the least is that one can do is check it out..... simply by asking the clerks.
sooo in all likelyhood, the indelicate are indeedconscious of their behaviour and repair the ir deed or this'll be the lasdt time they'll come to an RIO fest in Carmeaux. ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: victor77
Date Posted: September 23 2009 at 05:13
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Great revew that I´m going to complete as best as I can
the main point is the famous breathtaking cathedral. Dedicated to Sainte Cecile, patron saint of the music. Maybe she inspired the whole thing
Yolk…my least favorite band this year, nice ideas but not enough skill…. I don´t really agree with it, they were quite surprising and their "space RIO" was quite interesting. Í won´t become a hardcore fan, but their music had some interesting points. OK, they´re not a first rate band, but they are more creative and imaginative than other bands with similar musical orientation. And they are quite young, so maybe in the future they will surprise us.
sorry, humour is difficult to translate sometimes
The Muffins, another highlight of the festival
The great Present set was a little short with about 45 minutes and the band was just peaking when the show stopped…
Unfortunately, their show wasn´t as superb as expected, but the general opinion is that they had rehearsed thinking about the concert with Univers Zero, and their part of the show lacked that effort. Strange faces in the audience when the show stopped in the middle of "Promenade...", but we´d have the answer some minutes later
After Present, Univers Zero appeared on stage and provided one of the best concerts I´ve ever seen, with a set list conceived for this special occasion, which included classic themes and a couple of their most elaborated tunes from their last records, for the great pleasure of the audience.
After a short break, it was time for history. I heard Pierre Chevalier had conceived te idea of joining both bands, so we must thank him for it. Twelve musicians on stage playing Jack the Ripper and the Grand Finale, in which they played the conclusion of "promenade.." where it had been stopped previously, that included a percussion duet between Dave Kerman and Daniel Denis. What a wonderful concert! I don´t know if musical history books will ever talk about it, but this show is really part of it.
If you´re interested, here are some other pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033775&id=1531744613&comments=#/album.php?aid=2033775&id=1531744613&ref=nf - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033775&id=1531744613&comments=#/album.php?aid=2033775&id=1531744613&ref=nf
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Posted By: Alucard
Date Posted: September 23 2009 at 06:38
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...and here is a nice clip of the festival shot by Aymeric Leroy: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xakq4b_rio2009 - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xakq4b_rio2009 ------------- Tadpoles keep screaming in my ear "Hey there! Rotter's Club! Explain the meaning of this song and share it" |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: September 23 2009 at 12:06
You drink a lot of coffe man are you sure your not Canadian? Thanks for the pictures and highlights of the shows. Wish i could have been there.------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Alucard
Date Posted: September 23 2009 at 15:49
normally I would have had more beer, but I was really lacking sleep.....
and be sure to come next year!  ------------- Tadpoles keep screaming in my ear "Hey there! Rotter's Club! Explain the meaning of this song and share it" |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 04:32
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Maybe next year... hopefully just as an amazing line-up too. I really really am disappointed that I didn't go. Great review though! -------------   
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Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 05:49
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A video abstract of the festival can be seen here: http://kohntarkosz.blogspot.com/2009/09/video-rio-festival-2009-from-aymeric.html - http://kohntarkosz.blogspot.com/2009/09/video-rio-festival-2009-from-aymeric.html It seems it's been wonderful indeed. LE: this YouTube user has uploaded no less than 6 videos from the festival, 4 with Koenjihyakkei, 1 with Present and 1 with Guapo: http://www.youtube.com/user/groseille - http://www.youtube.com/user/groseille It's the first time I hear or see Koenjihyakkei and I'm amazed! Wow! Zeuhl-metal!  |
Posted By: CPicard
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 11:18
You never checked the Skingraft website? There are 4 or 5 mp3 from the albums released by said label. |
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 12:59
| No, but I am checking it right now. Thanks! |
Posted By: Alucard
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 13:06
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^They are incredible! The records are excellent, but try to see them live...... ------------- Tadpoles keep screaming in my ear "Hey there! Rotter's Club! Explain the meaning of this song and share it" |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: September 24 2009 at 14:27
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Koenjihyakkei are amazing. All their albums are consistent too, unlike Magma (although they're discography is almost faultless as well). Angherr Shisspa is still my favourite of theirs. I even have two copies of Nivraym. The original and the recent remastered and rerecorded one. Unfortunately I gather their early DVDs are no longer available, which is a shame. By the way, Alucard, I have just seem some amazing photos on Facebook of UZ performing. -------------
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Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: September 25 2009 at 17:03
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WANT. Such a shame I couldn't be there, and if they're aiming to hold it in September next year as well it'll be a struggle to attend then too. Why on earth can';t they schedule it during the summer like most festivals? Anyway, thanks for the account Alucard. It sounds as though it was a great event. |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: September 25 2009 at 23:40
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It was originally supposed be planned for April but it had be moved to September. Maybe they'll have it earlier next year? -------------
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Posted By: CPicard
Date Posted: September 26 2009 at 12:53
| I just hope that they won't plan it for the summer, the concurrence would be too important. |
Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: September 28 2009 at 04:42
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Excellent review and pics, Martin. I'm sorry I couldn't be there - but hopefully next year I'll make it. If only it wasn't in September! ------------- 'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom |
Posted By: Alucard
Date Posted: September 28 2009 at 06:09
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apparently the date is already fixed 17-18 of September and Chris Cutler and Remi Leclerc, who had both been present, had discussions with RockTime head Michel Besset and apparentl confirmed both for The Art Bears and Miriodor. I nearly booked my room for next year, but then you never know..... ------------- Tadpoles keep screaming in my ear "Hey there! Rotter's Club! Explain the meaning of this song and share it" |
Posted By: sean
Date Posted: September 28 2009 at 09:36
| I would have loved to have been able to go, I thought it'd be great and your description made it sound even better. |