Hellfest

[moved to Aldershot, not something that belongs in Announcements]

Shame for those who don’t like the sound but live too close!

The same argument could probably be made for any music festival, could it not?

I wouldn’t exactly classify […] “métal extrême”!

Do you listen to French music? I think French attitudes towards what makes a good song are quite different; this leads to rap (a girl at work likes it) that sounds like a parody of a parody of how to be a “gangsta”; plus power ballads that sound like a room full of cloned Céline Dions duking it out with each other. Much of the rest, quirky karaoke. There are some who step out and be a little different, KYO for instance. Though, I suspect on the whole if you take one of the so-called “extême” groups and played them to a live audience, the French would all fall over while we’d be thinking “huh?”.
It’s worth looking at some of the controversy around “Hellfest”, like the legal challenge to get it banned for satanic glorification and such. Hello!? It’s the 21st century? Don’t you understand we’re all pretty much taking the p….?

But it might be worth making it a date for 2014,

Firstly, I don’t think my mother would ever let me go near that (which is pretty damn rich for a girl that went to Woodstock on the back of a Harley (yes, that Woodstock. Damn.)).
Secondly, while I would love to see Within Temptation live (I dig the whole Wagnerian Operatic Rock vibe; so them and pretty much anything Jim Steinman has ever written); however for many of the other groups, I had to look them up. I just don’t get the attraction of songs that are a heavy bass line with some bloke growling into the microphone for four minutes.

were it not for the drinks policy…

Probably extremely wise, actually.

Rick, what do you think are the chances of smuggling in some cubitenaires de vin?

Sorry, alcohol has a reaction in me akin to gastro-enteritis. I’ve just recently discovered I can tolerate 3/4 bottle of alcohol-free bubbly, but I can’t handle two Mon Cherie. Yes, the dinky chocolate cherries with kirsch inside. Dammit, I loved those! Now they’re deadly…

So, it is quite possible that you’d be better off finding somebody else for the alcohol approvisionement.

That said, so long as you can tolerate Muscadet, Clisson is bang-smack in the middle of wine country. Indeed, Vallet (about 8km to the north) prides itself on being the home of Muscadet. There’s no shortage of vin, or places to get it. So watch the music while sober, then go someplace out of the way to enjoy the wine. Just be sure to bring a t-totaller with a driving licence!

Lovely place. We might be going down on Tuesday.

I have a load of pictures of the region, but they aren’t available yet as Google got rid of the Panoramio uploader (bastards!).

If I can find them, I’ll up some:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/heyrick1973

Can’t find where my photoset of “around Vallet” is, I guess I’ll just have to take some more. ;-)
I did find a few photos of interest, including an old fashioned BT phonebox (as in the bright red type) on the corner of a French town. It’s at the panoramio link above.

Do you listen to French music? I think French attitudes towards what makes a good song are quite different

Well I don’t care much for french rap but Air, Cassius, Nouvelle Vague and Daft Punk have been living on my hard drive for quite some time now.

Do you listen to French music?

Occasionally, e.g. FFF, Marcel et son Orchestre, Georges Brassens… although it would appear that I’m a bit out of date.

So, it is quite possible that you’d be better off finding somebody else for the alcohol approvisionement.

I was just wondering if the locals have any idea how strictly the stated policy is enforced… or whether it’s more of a deterrent to ensure the bar takings are sufficient.

an old fashioned BT phonebox

I’ve seen one of these somewhere in France too. Perhaps it was a bit of a fashion for British towns to recover them from BT and gift to their twin towns abroad.