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Audioriver 2011 Day 1 report, no photo inside
This is quite a trip to attend a festival in Poland when you lives in Brittany (the west part of France where the "marinière" comes from if you're not familar). Quite a surprise to learn this is happening on a "beach" when it's planned in the middle of Poland. Not sure I would appreciate the rivers like I appreciate The Channel or Atlantic :) Yet, festival has gained a lot of traction since its beginnings 5 years ago only and has a line-up that promises both a good selection, and a chance to see a great part of it (contrary to some other big line-ups such as Awakenings and Nature One), at an affordable price (€37 for 2 days). So here I go back to Poland (was at Sunshine festival last year), leaving Rennes for Plock with stops in Paris and Poznan in between, with a photo accreditation, DSLR, compact, tripod and lenses in my bags.
I didn't expect a weather as great as in France for the weekend, but luckily it wasn't raining when I arrive around 8pm on Friday. We could still walk in the sand, if "walking" is a good word for moving onto sand. Just lost a few minutes explaining that I was supposed to be allowed to enter with my equipment, and had an accreditation for this purpose. Miscommunication, growth problem of the festival, I finally ended taking a regular entrance and travelling with a part of my heavy equipment in the festival, without being allowed to use it... not that great start when you're just tired from travelling and have one full night to stay awake, dancing if possible :) But come on, some great artists are announced, let's try to enjoy it.
Kuba Sojka was the first act I saw, and I was a bit disappointed as the performance was messy, with no real "path", consistency. Something rather unusual in a live act as artists generally tend to have sometimes too similar tracks.
Marcin Czubala brought what was missing to his fellow countryman, with some nice minimal and tech house beats. Atmosphere was set for the falling night.
First big name Robag Wruhme performed a set with no surprise, in line with his productions, so something I did appreciate with no effort. too bad he feels obliged to add a sample on a break of its Slam - This World remix masterpiece (that I mixed myself in this DJ set). Unnecessary. But it seems some DJs are afraid of too long breaks in festivals :)
Trentemoller is another of these big (remix) names. only thing we could tell from the performance, even if it was brilliant (just lacking real lyrics) is that it is more adapted to clubs or house listening than festivals. It seems most of the audience agreed as the public was not dense during their performance.
I don't know if Shawn Reeves is popular in Poland, but he isn't in France (Not sure this is anymore a reference though), and I have to admit I've had never heard of him before the festival. It tooks a while to get me in his set, as it was repetitive and not really crushing. Not smiling at all (as you can see with pictures of him on the Internet), he finally put a more groovy feeling to its set, getting the audience to join him... as he ended with a track that clearly meant "I don't wanna leave". Strange that some DJs have to wait for the very last track to get public membership
Brandt Bauer Frick didn't bring much enthusiasm to me so I will just pass.
I highly anticipated Seth Troxler, but unfortunately he was delayed... Which was bad news for me as I felt the line-up particularly suited my tastes to hear all the artists I wanted to hear and not some I didn't :) Those ones were Vitalic (only french artist), artist doing the same music for 12 years, I don't know how he can not be tired himself of doing so (luckily Polish people don't know him for that long). I still gave a listen to Marky and Stamina MC since the last time I've seen them (probably late ninities, early noughties). They didn't seem to have change a lot, and my taste for D'n'B was long gone (despite having been such a DJ) for me to appreciate.
Seth Troxler took also some time to get me in the rhythm, even if he started with a massive introduction (with some Lil Louis French Kiss inside). After half an hour of set, I still could say that I felt in a rave, for the first time during the night, and this is generally a good sign on my level of appreciation of an artist. Amusing to see Cassius popular in Poland as well (especially as I knew they were performing at a festival I usually attend on first August weekend in France, Astropolis). The best moment of the night for me (Wruhme and Trentemoller complete the podium)
I didn't listen/dance that much to Chris Liebing, which is a good producer, but which is also too linear for me as a DJ.
I wanted to see the whole set of Modeselektor, even if I knew I'd be greatly disappointed, just to make sure the impression I get from their productions (some of them being great, some of them being really "cheap") was the same during a live set. Answer is YES. I still can't understand how they can work with Apparat.
Supermayer ended the first day, with their The Lonesome King anthem as an introduction. Good set, but not memorable. I heard similar impressions from their french set the very same weekend
A side note for you, polish women. DON'T WEAR SUNGLASSES TO HIDE SUCH BEAUTIFUL BLUE EYES ! Sometimes I felt in heaven surrounded with so many (accompanied for most of them) beautiful girls :) But definitely a pleasure to have this public (even if majority was male) in an electronic music festival. You're welcome to come around whenever you want :)
