Δ alt-J in Rouen: an expected and quality first concert

To celebrate the release of his third album Relaxer released on June 2nd, alt-J created the surprise by choosing to start his (long) European tour in Rouen on June 10th. Far from being in its best element, the British band ensured a first concert mixing quantity and quality.

It was their first real show since 2015, so we arrived early at 106. Unfortunately, very few fans were there: we were about ten around 6pm and then we were joined little by little to reach a queue of a hundred people before the doors opened. For a hall with a capacity of 1100 people and a full concert in one day, this is surprising.

We return and discover Lea Porcelain, first part in the same tone as alt-J. It's nice, slow and dreamy, we let ourselves be transported little by little but it's rather the kind of band that we listen to lying in the grass at 3am in festival. The band left the stage and gave way to alt-J. The room finally fills up as the final technical adjustments are made.

A simple and sober staging

Far from the shivering arrival on the first beats of Hunger Of The Pine during the previous tour, the band arrives in a natural way by simply greeting the audience. In terms of décor, it is also sober, no screen and only a few lights that will change colors over the course of the concert. We come to wonder if this is the new bias of the group, in the same way as the experimentation of its new album or if constraints were related to the room.

Short. The first notes of 3WW resonate. "There was a wayward lad, stepped out one morning": Gus Unger-Hamilton, the keyboardist sings the first lines. We knew it because we knew the song but there is enough to be destabilized. Once the song is finished, the band is quite stressed and shy and continues directly on Something Good and Tessellate, two pearls of the first album An Awesome Wave. Their now cult melodies are the joy of the public who does not stop dancing and singing the lyrics.

"Triangles are my favorite shape"

Until the end of the concert, the band from Leeds will chain the best songs of the two previous albums, almost forgetting the unreleased of the last one. At the same time, with eight titles, it's not easy to stand out. Deadcrush will be quickly forgotten while In Cold Blood will make the audience hysterical. Being the closest title to the alt-J formula, we say that this is normal. Hit Me Like That Snare, experimental UFO will give us an unprecedented rhythmic boost. Finally, Pleader, the last title of the album was also played last (before the encore) but the beauty of the title was dispelled by the hesitation of the group, especially the singer Joe Newman who repeatedly scrutinized the lyrics on a sheet hanging on the ground.

On the classical side, we had the joy of hearing again the magnificent Nara, the heady Dissolve Me, the moving Taro but also the tube Breezeblocks. Carried away by the energy of the audience, Joe Newman jumps on the spot by repeating his classics "Please don't go, please don't go, I love you so, I love you so". Small flat, surely due to the year and a half off the roads, the group got lost in the middle of the beloved Matilda. Both parties took it with humor and that didn't stop the audience from screaming the chorus lyrics a second time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVeMiVU77wo

A setlist mixing unreleased and cult tracks

After Pleader's ceremonial beauty, alt-J left the stage for a moment to return even more fit. In order to get the 106 back in the saddle, the trio played the introduction of An Awesome Wave even if honestly, we would have preferred that of This Is All Yours. No worries, the group is quickly forgiven by finishing on the very popular Left Hand Free and Fitzpleasure. We find ourselves bewitched, we close our eyes and we dance according to these magnificent notes that we had missed so much. We form triangles with our fingers and say goodbye to the group, or rather to next time…

In the end, a concert hall is not necessarily the best place to see alt-J, a band probably cut for the open-air stages of festivals. Despite the stress and hesitation, the band made a very good comeback with a long setlist consisting of the best songs despite some missing ones (Hunger Of The Pine, Bloodflood pt. II, Adeline). Like the last album, this concert was a special experience. In any case, we spent 1h30 in another dimension…

Setlist:

3WW
Something Good
Tessellate
Deadcrush
Nara
In Cold Blood
Dissolve
Me The Gospel Of John Hurt
Bloodflood
Every Other Freckle
Matilda
Hit Me Like That Snare
Taro
Breezeblocks
Pleader

Intro
Left Hand Free
Fitzpleasure