[Report] Solidays 2018 – Saturday, we blow out the candles!

Saturday, Solidays 2018 blew out the candles of his 20 years. Many events that should not be missed and artists in shambles!

Saturday is always a special day at Solidays with highlights and must-see artists. This year, the festival was no exception.

Solidays 2018 gives pride of place to Metro Musicians

The Blues Rock guarantee of the festival this year is No Money Kids. With a very invested stage playing, we feel that this duo, composed of Félix Matschulat (guitar-vocals) and JM Pelatan (bass-machines-synths), was not born yesterday. They offer songs that scratch and ballads that flow by themselves. Their Old School sound, but which has not taken a wrinkle, is pure Rock that comes out of the gut. On stage, they have all the attitudes that go with it and their fresh music sends serious. They take advantage of Solidays to announce a 3rd album that will be released in November. No Money Kids is really a band to discover live!

Pihpoh takes over and his fans are already there. He is the young man from Belfort that we meet when we come home from work through République. He will also be at the Eurockéennes de Belfort this year. This time, rather than running during a correspondence, we take the time to listen to him and we become aware of the power of his strong and powerful texts: Routine in particular which is a very touching song. He is cheered by the screams of the audience at the end of each title. In front of the stage of the César Circus, there is a great atmosphere: Pih Poh sets fire. He knows how to manage the scene wonderfully he who does not have much space in the subway.

Highlights of Solidays 2018

Among the highlights of Solidays, there is one that is particularly cherished. This is the Mass of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. An unmissable moment of communion for festival-goers who believe in the values of the festival. It is also the time to take information on the progress of topics that affect the LGBT community but also sex workers. A political and committed moment that makes it possible to understand that there is still much to be done around the world and especially in France where our government does not seem to be very aware of the realities on many subjects. It is also a great moment of emotion and laughter because the humor of the Sisters and their energy is communicative. We will leave a little tear before being blessed.

As we go to ask questions to Chinese Man, the Ceremony Against Oblivion takes place in front of the Paris stage to pay tribute to those who did not survive the disease and died of AIDS. It must be remembered that even if today there are treatments (which have devastating side effects), people are still dying of AIDS all over the world, even in France.

Watch Chinese Man's press conference

Time to dry her tears and a ray of sunshine illuminates the scene. Amadou and Mariam raise the audience of Solidays and give them hope with songs from elsewhere and a mixed, catchy music. We shake the hips and the popotin. The chorister shows us how to do it with grace and voluptuousness: it's magnificent!

No time to linger, we will meet Suzane while the Shaka Ponk gives a press conference.

Find Suzane's interview

Watch Shaka Ponk's press conference

The festival is growing in intensity

The audience warms up by itself while waiting for HER : it sings the Marseillaise, it wishes happy birthday, it screams and plays. It's a Saturday in Solidays. It's this good-natured atmosphere that we love. There are smiles everywhere and a few sunburns.

Festival-goers are in any case burning to welcome Victor Solf, the singer of HER who begins with a sermon on the magnificent title We Choose. Then follows the titles of the album, Her. No need to motivate people to move, clap their hands or shout. Invited by this soulful, groovy music, we never tire of seeing the titles drag on. Victor would have liked Romeo Elvis to join him for their title in featuring, but the Belgian rapper is not there. Too tired it seems… Too bad for him! Generous, Victor invites the public to go see him in concert. Moment of emotion, when Victor dedicates the title Blossom Roses to his best friend Simon, who died almost a year ago of cancer. He thanks Solidays because this festival allows sick people to enjoy time with their loved one.

Small passage in gust of wind on the César Circus to see In The Can that we had met last year. This time, Julian took up drums and supports Neil on vocals, as usual. The duo is doing wonderfully and their music still seduces with its freshness and their infectious enthusiasm on stage.

We then run back to the Paris stage. The brothers Bigflo and Oli were back and concocted a nice surprise again this year. A superb set and staging carried by images on the giant screen at the back of the stage. The public welcomed with excessive enthusiasm the Toulouse duo who could not help but play with the Parisian susceptibility. A pure moment of complicity totally shared with recent fans or the first hour. We still cling to their spontaneity and frankness. He rooms Orelsan who did not want to meet them for example. They have their tongues hanging out, but always with subtlety, never in vulgarity, and that, we appreciate!

Our favorite this year is Suzane.If the young singer was scared to death at the idea of performing for the first time at Solidays, the fear was quickly overcome. The public, fan or curious, at first shy or adventurous has proved to be more and more numerous over the titles. The songs are revealed – so far we only know two titles – and we discover a real personality on stage with striking lyrics and a strong and assertive universe. Cynical humor, uncompromising frankness… Suzane evolves with surprising maturity and incredible energy. Her choreographies are as reminiscent of Christine and the queen as Sia.Moved by the ultra positive feedback from conquered festival-goers, Suzane will remember her first Solidays for a long time.

The explosion of sound between Shaka Ponk and Chinese Man

UFO in the programming and musically, the shaka concert was among the most awaited. And we were not disappointed! On stage, giant set, giant screen with monkeys and other characters from their universe who appear and come to play with Fra and Sam. The musicians are unleashed from the first title, but the most untenable of all is still Fra who goes into slam from the beginning of the concert on the public.A crowd bath with confidence and with all the benevolence of Solidays.We will be entitled to the flagship titles that the Monkeys will take up in chorus. We will also do the honor of playing their sublime cover of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit which has been buzzing lately. A great moment of madness for the 20th anniversary of the festival that will be remembered !!

On the Bagatelle, the atmosphere is more mystical on the first notes of Chinese Man. The concert promises to be spiritual and… actually not at all. Beat, big sound, crazy samples and MC: this is what a Chinese Man live looks like.We were definitely spoiled this Saturday and all the artists programmed on the big stages put the means to exploit the space that was offered to them thoroughly. Here, light, smoke, and almost Steampunk structure to support the machines. We feel that the collective has applied itself to make the Solidays festival vibrate with a superbly orchestrated live set. Hat! In the audience, everyone went into a trance, carried by the incomparable sound of our beloved Frenchies.

Late-night disappointment

If the headliner has made more than one dream, we can tell you that David Guetta has been waiting. Technical problems? Speech by Luc Barruet? The fact is that a concert that was supposed to start at midnight was more than 45 minutes late. On a festival where concerts follow one another at a crazy speed like Solidays, it can quickly be frustrating.
And frustration was felt in the audience. When Luc Barruet goes on stage, we are already waiting more than 35 minutes in the cold. He presents us with a small montage made from Reza's photos. Very nice film, very moving. He then invites the photographer to go on stage to deliver a message of love, to shout the credo of Solidays: In Love We Trust! This moment that could have had real value, which could have been a highlight, did not have in my opinion the significance it should have had. And it's very sad !! If only this beautiful initiative had arrived sooner then the attention would have been real. Instead, festival-goers were not paying attention.
Luc Barruet then asked for a minute of silence in tribute to the people who participated in the development of the festival and who have died since its creation. Once again the audience does not listen… It takes more than 30 seconds to achieve a far from total silence. Another failure on a symbolic highlight that could have deeply marked these 20 years. The rest is anecdotal and has only impatiented the public.

But the worst is yet to come…

The show finally begins! And when we talk about headliners, we expect a little spectacular at Solidays. After Shaka Ponk and Chinese Man, we had to take up the challenge… And it was a monumental disappointment! Images without more, lights not transcendent, fireworks completely show off and useless, without effect whaou … and a DJ has been who talks about his music like an old-fashioned jokey record. The music is not even mixed live and the sound is really bad. One wonders what he does concretely behind his multiple machines apart from lowering the sound to speak or make the audience sing and raise his arms.

In short, Solidays would have done better to invest in a real band with real musicians to celebrate his birthday. The icing on the cake tasted bitter. After 5 minutes, only fans of reality TV and low-end music remained. Or those who wanted to eventually make a revival… But was it really worth it with such a poor quality concert? David Guetta takes the opportunity to recover under the guise of tribute by passing a title of Avicii. We're hitting rock bottom! Let's flee quickly!!!

After the evening, start the night!

Fortunately, Solidays is a festival that goes on until late. After this musical disaster it was necessary to raise the level and clean the ears. What could be better than ending on Meute which had enchanted us during the MAma Event. Real instruments on stage that cover electro titles. A return to the basics of music: playing an instrument! A pure happiness that the most informed public hastened to enjoy. We dance, we get excited, we marvel. This is a real concert and something to reassure us.

Saturday was marked by many excellent moments that fortunately the fiasco David Guetta did not know how to obscure. We hope that Solidays will make a better choice next year for its headliner.

Find the postponement of Friday at Solidays

Find the postponement of Sunday at Solidays

Photos : Florian Fromentin – https://www.florianfromentin.fr