"Paris, you ready?"
Charli XCX rEigns supreme in closing 3-day Parisian Festival showcasing Pitchfork's acclaimed acts.
Once every year for three days, the former-19th century slaughterhouse, Paris' La Grande Halle de la Villette, opens its steel-stained doors to the world showcasing the best of Pitchfork's repertoire. Now in its 9th year, I went to see what all the Parisian hoo-haa was about...in this review, you'll be walked through my music highlights, as well as my thoughts on the food/drink and every other angle of this neatly put-together event...allez allez!
top Music
Highlights
"Ah, that's so Pitchfork."
3 x days of music = 1 x 'urban' day = 1 x 'indie/electronic' day = 1 x 'pop' day.
You can envision the Pitchfork Festival curators doing the maths behind it all - and this is often a quote I've heard from those critical of the renowned music review outlet, perhaps because they show a certain affection for your common lo-fi, indie-pop/rock/RnB artists over the years (Frank Ocean, Sufjan Stevens, The xx etc.). Yet the festival made an admirable job of dividing these days into their respective genres and allowing a much more diverse lineup of artists to be showcased across the 3-day event...
DAY 1:
SLOWTHAI
Bringing the insatiable heat and adding just cause for stripping to self-branded boxers which are apparently "extremely comfy"
- Best Track: 'Doorman'
The Comet is Coming
Turned the downstairs Studio into a 45-minute sauna of nu-jazz and futuristic funk
- Best Track: 'Summon the Fire'
Skepta
VIP balcony on verge of collapsing due to crowd's apt determination to "shut down" venue
Best Track - 'Shutdown"
DAY 2:
Squid
Gave Friday night necessary lift with visceral blend of art-punk and noise-rock
Best Track: 'The Cleaner'
CHAI
Breath of fresh Japanese, art-punk air amongst this Parisian 'indie' night...a complete joy to watch
Best Track: 'Fashionista'
DAY 3:
Charli XCX
High-octane and indelible set from the Pitchfork-acclaimed 'pop star of the future' feat. French local Chris
Best Track: 'Gone' feat. Christine & The Queens
The 1975
Comparatively mellower than Main Stage predecessor, Charli XCX, yet enjoyable and an impassioned way to end voracious weekend
Best Track: 'Love It If We Made It'
Between the day splits separating the various genres of urban, indie/electronic, and pop, it suitably tailored to all the necessary needs and wants from music fans worldwide. Whilst the 'Urban Thursday' deemed one of the more popular crowds with France's infatuation of this genre, it was also an effective way for me to see various foreign/world acts across there genres - notably Chai, Hamza, and Helado Negro. Would surely recommend to those looking to gain a wide range of acts and wouldn't regularly see, to attend this festival as it's an incredibly time-effective way of seeing such a large amount of acts within a shortened period of time.
Best Main Stage act: Charli XCX
Unsurprisingly championing the final night fo the festival with her indelible blend of glitchy production and infectious pop hooks. Combined with the energy brought to the stage - it seemed rather like a workout more than a passive watching and listening experience. Completely stood to the claims of becoming pop's future star.
Best Small Stage act: CHAI
Inserted a compete breath of fresh air in the mix of Day 2's 'indie' night with their subversion of Japanese 'cute girls' tied to their bright pink outfits. Exuding bouts of tenacious art-punk with Japanese synth-pop, it cannot be implored enough to give this group a try even if they don't speak the common language - all the more to them.
other highlights
"It's quite a bougie festival, isn't it?"
Granted, this was indeed a fairly 'bougie' festival (as one local described it). From the vintage & vinyl markets, to the roller-skating rink, to the high-end food outlets, it wasn't difficult to find how the festival garnered this reputation over the years. Yet there was certainly much more to this than just the 'bougie' label...
Food & Drink
Decent array of food from around the world - from Asian noodles, to 'New York' burgers, and that well-known Parisian delicacy of fish and chips. Food was reasonably priced, though, costing around €10-12 for a full meal - the same couldn't be said for the drinks. In conjunction with their 'returnable plastic cup' of an extra euro, a pint of lager regularly came to roughly €8 (and, of course, drinks from outside the festival couldn't be taken inside).
Recommendation: perhaps adding a greater variety of vegan/vegetarian options as well as some sweeter food, too - not to mention perhaps lowering the drinks prices...
Atmosphere & Layout
Great layout of the overall festival site with all the necessary stages and caterers in extremely close proximity to one another. With 4 stages in total this year, the two larger stages on the main floor oscillated between one another's running times - with one of the other stages below in the Studio and the other in an outdoor adjacent room. With little sound bleed amidst all the simultaneous acts, the separate atmospheres conjured between these stages were impressively palpable and never proved too cramped or too spacious to anyone's dislike. Lastly, the sound systems and lighting rigs proved also meritorious with the former offering an overall appetising sound (with some exceptions here and there) and the latter conjuring some really inventive ways of encasing the crowd entirely - which isn't seen nearly enough at other festivals.
Recommendation: perhaps offer more toilets for the women folk? As well as this, there's always more room for improvement when it comes to décor and creative furnishings of a festival - as impressive as the transformed slaughterhouse might have been, it could've used with more sprucing up than dangling fairy lights.
Value For Money
This festival, like many, proved extremely good value for money. Considering one would pay minimum £40-50 for each of these top artists, you'd already make your money back if you saw only three of these artists across a 3-day ticket pass for €110.
I'd go again, so why should you?
Without question, I'd go again next year. Whilst the festival will never reach the full-engrossing nature of many outdoor, summer festivals around Europe, it certainly does its best to imbue its eclectic nature upon you. And as a round-up to my previous points, here's why:
Cost effective - €45 day ticket; €110 3-day ticket with over 50 acts playing across 3 days
Close proximity to city centre - 20 minutes by metro
Opportunity to see top acts at affordable price within fairly intimate surroundings
Each day the festival begins in the evening, so you can explore the Parisian wonders during the day and then get busy once night falls...
Great excuse for a long weekend away on the off-peak season!
In answer to Charli's initial question - I'm completely ready for next year. See you then?
Tickets for next year's Pitchfork Music Festival Paris will be on sale soon and can be found here.
All photos are courtesy of Alesha Hickmans, whose work can be found here.
Spotify playlist for my favourite tracks from this Festival can also be found here.