A Concert-Wise Look Back at 2016

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2016 was filled with lots of amazing concerts, just as the previous years. I shared my time making new discoveries and seeing small bands as well as chase big acts. The interviews I did for The Liberation this year were mostly of Swiss artists and every encounter was precious!

I kicked off my rocking 2016 with some local concerts in January by attending John Dear’s gig at La Cave du Bleau Lézard. This duo from Lausanne rocked the place with such an energy, it was incredible! One week later I was there again to see Alejandro Reyes, a very talented young Swiss-Chilean guy. Alejandro Reyes was born without a hand but this didn’t stop him, he plays the guitar beautifully and has a splendid voice whether he plays his own songs or covers Ed Sheehan and others.

In February I went back once again to the cozy Cave du Bleu to settle in this time with the sentimental folk of The Last Morning Soundtrack, a French band with a folk soul. On February 12th I attended a live radio show of Session Paradiso dedicated to Italian music and featuring Brunori Sas, Ilaria Graziano & Francesco Forni and Dimartino. It was great and I made some nice discoveries!

Bastian Baker live @ Les Docks, 11.03.2016.

In March, I attended three memorable gigs at Les Docks starting with Simple Plan on the 9th. Simple Plan are one of the bands which marked my adolescence as I grew up listening to them, Green Day and Good Charlotte. It’s always special and nice to see a band that was part of your teenage years, even though I hadn’t listen to them in quite a long time I could still remember all the songs. Needless to say that they brought the audience back in time, offering a great show! A couple of days later, on the 11th, I saw Bastian Baker. The Lausanne singer put on an amazing show for his fans, full of new and older songs, great sing alongs and fun. On March 22^nd, I went to see the talented Australian singer Josef Salvat who delivered a nice set leading the audience through pop and electronic notes with his beautiful voice.

In April I went back to the Cave du Bleu Lézard to see the alternative rock band from Bern Pabloplar. They delivered an intimate and colourful show.

May was probably the most intense month concert-wise not really for the number of gigs but for their importance and intensity. On the 13^th I attended Balélec, the student festival in Lausanne, which was great music-wise but a bit disappointing because of the crowd. Maybe because I don’t belong to the student group anymore and I didn’t feel at ease among that type of crowd during the gigs.

Mumford and Sons live @ Hallenstadion Zurich, 16.05.2016.

A few days later, on the 16^th, I headed to Zürich to see Mumford and Sons at Hallenstadion. I couldn’t quite contain my excitement as I was seeing the band for the very first time and I had been waiting to see them for quite a while! Mumford and Sons’ gig was brilliant from beginning to end, they are incredible live and they care a lot about fans interacting with them and such. Marcus Mumford is a great frontman and surprises the audience when during “Ditmas”, he comes down the stage and dances with the crowd. The day after, I’m once again at Hallenstadion Zurich, this time to see none other than Adele. The venue looks different than the night before, with a little stage at the centre and a path which from it leads to the big stage in front. Adele charmed the audience with her outstanding voice making us laugh and cry at the same time. An incredible concert for an amazing performer which I feel blessed to have seen live. And by the way, Adele also attended the Mumford and Sons’ concert the day before ^^

Adele live @ Hallenstadion Zurich, 17.05.2016

June marked the real beginning of the Summer festivals season, it started for me at the very beginning of the month with Caribana Festival from the 1^st to the 5^th. There I saw, among others, The Kooks, Garbage, James Bay and James Morrison. On this occasion I also had the pleasure to interview Yellow Teeth, a young blues-rocker who walks the line of Johnny Cash. On the 20^th of June, back to Les Docks to see the American indie-rock band Yeasayer and two days later there I went again to see the post-rock band Explosions In The Sky. On the 24 and 25^th I attended Open Air St Gallen with a friend of mine to volunteer, which allowed us to see none other than the huge Radiohead. The band played in occasion of the 40 years of Open Air St Gallen and made an outstanding jubilee show. Radiohead were definitely a must see for me this past Summer. I doubled the bill by seeing Mumford and Sons for the second time in little over a month. The concert was great but not as good as the one in Zürich, you can hardly beat that. I also discovered a great new alternative rock band called Blossoms!

Sigur Rós live @ Montreux Jazz Festival, 5.07.2016.

July, besides being the month in which I was born, is the month of my beloved Montreux Jazz Festival and Paléo Festival Nyon. On July 5^th, I went to see Sigur Rós at Auditorium Stravinsky. Scottish post-rock band Mogwai opened the gig for them with a special set accompanied by the viewing of their documentary “Atomic”. An intense performance coupled with powerful images. The Icelandic of Sigur Rós impressed the audience with an intense and loud performance, presenting their last album, more rock than the previous ones! The day after I headed to Milan to see The Last Shadow Puppets at Alcatraz. When I got the ticket I didn’t know the band would also come to Switzerland so I chose the closest place in which to see them. It was magic to hear live for the first time the songs I had been listening to for so long. The Last Shadow Puppets also presented songs from their new album Everything You’ve Come to Expect.

On July 10^th I went back to Montreux Jazz Festival, this time at The Lab to see the alternative rock band from Oklahoma Other Lives, they were supreme and they managed to make the audience travel through their deep and dark melodies. The success of the concert was also assured thanks to Son Lux and Àsgeir.

Paléo Festival Nyon 2016

From the 19^th to the 24^th of July it was time for the 40+1 Paléo Festival Nyon to take place. What I particularly liked this year was the theme of the Village du monde: The Celtic lands. Being a fan of both Celtic music and culture I had the chance to deepen myself in this world during Paléo! This year the highly anticipated event of Paléo was Muse’s concert on the opening day of the festival. I love Muse and they put on an amazing show as usual. Using less special effects than at their own concerts but still gathering together everybody in huge sing alongs and such. Magnificent! Muse were preceded on the big stage by Colorado indie-folk band The Lumineers. At Paléo I saw Red Hot Chilli Pipers (no peppers but kilts and bagpipes instead!) twice cause I enjoyed them so much the first time that I went back and saw them also during their other intimate gig. I also had a blast seeing Bastille, the band came to Paléo for the first time to present their new album. The lads put on an amazing show! There were also some great Swiss bands like the blues-rock duo The Two, which is a Swiss-Mauritian duo, with whom I had the chance to have an interview! I felt that this edition of Paléo put a bit too much weight on French singers and songwriters, and I hope it’ll be less so in 2017.

Me interviewing The Two live for “Les Iles”, La Première, July 2016.

With my work for RTS, the Swiss national radio in the French language, I had the chance to take part in a radio-project called “Les Iles” (The Islands) which took the team on the road around French-speaking Switzerland for a week! On the last day of the radio show The Two were invited as guests to play on the Island of Ogoz. I had the pleasure to interview them once again, this time live on the radio. I really enjoyed it!

On August 23^rd Les Docks reopened after the Summer break hosting the Aussies of Wolfmother. The band offered an incredibly intense rock concert, full of heavy riffs and beats, they presented their new album Victorious.

The Last Shadow Puppets live @ Zurich Openair 2016.

The day after I was off to Zurich for four days full of indie-rock music at Zürich Openair. Like last year, it was very hot and sunny most of the time. The first day was also one of the most exciting with The Last Shadow Puppets, Foals and M83. It was great to catch once again The Last Shadow Puppets and the magic complicity between Alex Turner and his pal Miles Kane. Foals also put on a great show but I would have rather put them on the big stage, as the tent stage was too crowded. The night ended dancing on the electronic sounds of M83. On day #2 I saw Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros which was great fun, the talented Jack Garratt and entered once again the magical world of Sigur Rós. Day #3 was very indie-rock with Jake Bugg presenting his new album, the darker sounds of Editors and the energy of Bloc Party. The festival ended on August 27^th with the joyous performance of The Strumbellas and the complete riot with Kaiser Chiefs. An amazing few days and a great end to the Summer festival season.

In September I needed a break after the Summer festival marathon. But on the 15th I attended the Swiss Music Prize Ceremony in Lausanne, the prize was won by Sophie Hunger. On October 16th I went back to Les Docks to see The Baseballs. It was, as last time, crazy and everybody danced and sang along to their rockabilly cover and to their own catchy songs. On October 28^th I ventured to Zürich for Zermatt Unplugged Kaufleuten, a beautiful acoustic festival. There I saw the very talented Andrea Bignasca, who played in a small and cozy room full of people. He nailed it! I also had the chance to have a chat with him. Then I saw Asaf Avidan, his beautiful and special voice struck me live and the way he plays the guitar is sublime.

Andrea Bignasca and his band at Zermatt Unplugged.

November is the month of Metropop Festival in Lausanne, so on Friday 11^th I attended the rock night featuring White Lies and The Kills. Both shows were memorable! On November 23^rd I saw Billy Talent at Les Docks, it was awesome seeing them again after 9 years (!). I had so much fun and liked their new stuff as well!

So this is how 2016 went concert-wise. I’m still working as a free-lance journalist for The Liberation – Indie Nation and I love it! 2017 is already full of planned concert, with Green Day on the 16^th of January and a series of concerts in February among which Sum 41, Patty Smith at Festival Antigel and Band of Horses in Zürich. Which means I already have quite a few gigs to look forward too 🙂 Keep it up 2017!

A Concert-Wise Look Back at 2015

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2015 is over, concert-wise it’s been an amazing year filled with many emotions, new bands, new gigs and interviews! Where should I start? Well I guess from the beginning… I am still working as a free-lance journalist for The Liberation-Indie Nation and most of the concerts I attended, and the interviews I did in 2015, were through them.

At the end of January 2015 I attended Antigel Festival for the first time, I just went one day but it was a great one, there I saw Scottish post rock band Mogwai. Their gig was mindblowing! At The end of February the cold winter nights were filled yet again with another warming up festival: Les Hivernales de Nyon. I had never really experienced the town of Nyon if it weren’t as a pit stop to get to Paléo or Caribana Festival. I discovered its bars transformed in cozy venues, there I saw a Swiss blues band which was probably my best discovery of 2015: The Two. At the Usine à gaz in Nyon I also saw indie rock band Peace and The Family Rain, both great live. At La Parenthèse, a cozy cave which saw the coming back of another great Swiss band The Rambling Wheels!

I attended Dark Horses‘ gig at Le Romandie, another great discovery! On March 31st I went back to my beloved Les Docks to see The Dandy Warhols and had a blast. Then on April 21st I dragged some friends of mine to Balthazar‘s gig, I didn’t know the Belgian band at the time but we all really enjoyed the concert and made another amazing discovery because the support band was Swiss band Puts Marie another must see act!!
At the beginning of May I went to the annual Festival Balélec biggest student festival in Europe held in Lausanne on the EPFL Campus, there I saw one of the most amazing bands coming out of Ticino: Make Plain, two young guys who play folk music and make you dance like crazy! then I saw British alternative rock band The Subways and that was grand!
And then, well, it was already the time for the Summer Festivals… I’m not sure if you remember the wise words I said last year about having to reduce my consume of gigs but it didn’t really work! I started with attending some days of Caribana Festival in Crans-sur-Nyon where I saw, among others, Marilyn Manson, it was a fun gig and thank God he was in a good mood! I also attended the reggae night with Gentleman and others and really enjoyed it! And on the Sunday Mika was headlining and put on an amazing and colourful show!

On June 13th there was a Pro-Ticino party in Place de la Louve in Lausanne and I went there to see Make Plain again, I just can’t seem to get enough of them. It was raining but people were dancing and it was great! On 16th of June I went to the festival “Art Circus” at Les Docks and I saw the amazing duo The Two. One week after I saw Make Plain again at Fete de la musique, on the 21st of June, always in Lausanne along with The Two and the day before I went to Geneva to check out the Fete de la musique there it was cool, many people and good vibes.

On June 22nd I went to Zürich to see George Ezra at X-Tra Club, it was brilliant to see him live, he is really talented and friendly!

And then started the beautiful month of July, not because I was born in July but because of Montreux Jazz Festival and Paléo. The first to kick off was as usual Montreux Jazz, I went there to see Lily Wood and The Prick, one of the revelations of the Summer with their song “Prayer in C”. On the 9th of July one of my dreams came true as I got to see Scottish singer Paolo Nutini again, at Auditorium Stravinski at Montreux Jazz Festival his performance was just mind-blowing and the support band Alabama Shakes where a revelation with charismatic singer Brittany’s voice!

A few days later I saw Foals for the first time, at Montreux Jazz Lab, another memorable gig! I also interviewed Isaac Delusion but unfortunately didn’t make it to the concert at MJF but I saw them at For Noise Festival in Pully-Lausanne a bit later in the Summer.

In between these two big festivals I went to a smaller festival called Les Georges in Fribourg on July 16th where I saw American band Other Lives once again, their performance was just amazing and their new songs truly enchanting! I discovered them at Paléo a couple of years back and they’ve been one of my favourites since! On the same night I saw Peter Kernel, an art-punk band from Ticino!

A week and a half later I took a week off work to enjoy Paléo Festival completely! For its 40th birthday Paléo went bigger adding one day to the festival so that it was truly a 7-day festival, not bad ah? It was an intense week but well worth it! On Monday 20th July the star Robbie Williams pretty much got all attentions, I’m not personally a big fan of him but I truly loved his gig, there’s no doubt he is a showman!
Day 2, 21st of July was a memorable rock night with among other The Dø, The Scripts and one of my very favourites: Kings of Leon! I also had the chance to be interviewed by Rete 3, the third channel of the Swiss Italian national radio, and talk about my passion for music and concerts, about my blog and my work for The Liberation-Indie Nation it was great fun 🙂 Day 3, 22nd of July was a rainy day in the name of folk-rock featuring Angus & Julia Stone, Shake Shake Go, Passenger and Sting. On Day 4 I interviewed Duck Duck Grey Duck, a Swiss surf rock ‘n’ roll band and saw, among others, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals. On day 5 I particularly liked Peter Kernel‘s gig and this time I had the chance to interview them before their gig, my first interview in Italian by the way (yey!)! I loved Patti Smith‘s gig, which was on day 6, the same day as Robert Plant‘s gig, a night with the legends of the 70s-80s! It was also a day for a sensational Swiss discovery with Yellow Teeth, a really good blues rock band! I also had the chance to meet Charlie Winston at a round table with other media! Day 7, the last day was closed with a bang by David Guetta and the fireworks preceding his performance. Paléo was amazing once again and I also saw some Asian bands at the Village du Monde, which was cool!

On Friday August 14 I went for the first time to Antidote Festival, a small festival in Yverdon-Les-Bains there I discovered yet another great Swiss band: No Way, which play a magnetic rock blues.

On August 20-22 I attended For Noise Festival in Pully-Lausanne, there I saw among others F.F.S. a supergroup made up by Franz Ferdinand and Sparks and I absolutely loved their performance it was real fun. Canadian band Ought were one of the best discoveries. I also had the chance to do some interviews with Ought, Owen Pallett and Swiss band Labrador City. Sadly, this was to be the last 3-day For Noise as this beautiful small festival will do its 20th and last edition on 20th August 2016, the date is already saved in my calendar and it should be on yours as well!

The day after For Noise ended, on Sunday 23 August I took a trip to Winterthur for the last night of the Winterthurer Musikfestwochen. There I had the chance to take part in an amazing folk night with Villagers, Fink and Ben Howard. A night filled with many emotions and also some rain! Before the concert started I was lucky enough to interview Villagers.

From 26 to 29th August 2015 I went to Zürich Openair, the indie-rock open air per excellence in Switzerland! I had loads of fun, saw many great bands like The Libertines, Blood Red Shoes, The Kooks, Tame Impala, Kasabian and Stereophonics. I had the chance to interview Mighty Oaks, Milky Chance, Echosmith and Piers Agett of Rudimental 🙂 Milky Chance were one of my favourite concerts! and of course a festival is also a place for new musical discoveries: Bears Den, Blaudzun, Josef Salvat and Pond are some of them.

On 12-13th September I took off direction Berlin for the first edition of Lollapalooza Berlin. The bands and music offered were great, a lot of them were the same as in Zürich so I tried to see the ones I hadn’t seen yet. But the festival was organized really bad, you had to stand in line for hours for toilets and food. And I think the four stages were enclosed into a space which was not big enough. I’ve been to loads of festivals, also bigger than Lollapalooza Berlin but it was the first time I experienced it so bad. But luckily the amazing concerts I saw such as Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the touching moment with Sam Smith, Belle & Sebastian and the mind-blowing end of the festival with Muse made up for it.

On September 20th I saw American artist Sufjan Stevens live for the first time at Théâtre du Léman, in Geneva, it was absolutely stunning! I am not used to sit down at a concert but it was perfect for his music. And I fell in love with his last album Carrie & Lowell which live is truly magnetic.

On September 30th I went to see The Two (again I know) at La Cave du Bleu Lézard, it was once again amazing and they were accompanied by special guest Martin Harley. You really need to check them out! On the 4th of October I went back to Geneva, this time at Post Tenebras Rock -L’Usine to see one of my very favourite bands: The Vaccines. Before the gig I had the huge pleasure to interview Freddie Cowan and Pete Robertson, respectively guitarist and drummer of the band. If a few years back you would have told me that I would be interviewing them one day I would never have believed it! Their gig was unforgettable, good old fun!

On 19th October I went to see Stereophonics (yes, again) this time at Les Docks in Lausanne. In the afternoon I was lucky enough to have a chat with singer Kelly Jones and bassist Richard Jones. Their gig was brilliant, I’ve always wanted to see Stereophonics live and this year I managed to see them not only once but three times in little over 4 months and to interview them, not bad right?!

On November 27th another amazing British alternative rock band came to Les Docks: Editors. It was the first time I saw them and it was oh so good! Their support band The Fawn was also great!

I went to Hamburg to visit a friend of mine and on December 6th we went to a free concert by Will Robert, a young English artist, at Haus 73. We really enjoyed his gig!

On December 10th, Swiss rock ‘n’ roll band, The Animen make their come back at Le Romandie in Lausanne to present their last album Are We There Yet?. They’re one of the best Swiss bands around and also one of my favourites so I was super happy to see them again! I also had the pleasure to interview the singer Théo Wyser and guitarist Julien (Jool) Marty! 

The day after, on Friday December 11th I went back once more to Les Docks, one of my favourite venues, for its 10th birthday. Many hosts played during the night, among them La Gale, Franz Treichler, Oxmo Puccino and Verveine. Later on there was also a fun DJ battle among people working in the music business. It was a hell of a party!

Little more than a week later, on the 19th of December, I fought the cold and went to Zürich to see Florence + The Machine at Hallenstadion. It was brilliant, one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to! Florence Welch with her contagious smile and her passion makes you smile and feel the music very deeply from beginning to end, superb!

On December 26th I saw Make Plain once again (probably for the 4th or 5th time in 2015) this time in Ticino in the Verzasca Valley in a tiny wooden den called Lokalino. They played for over 2 hours with a lot of passion and charisma.

So yes 2015 is over, it left me with amazing musical memories that I’ll cherish. All the interviews I did thanks to The Liberation-Indie Nation enriched my personal and professional baggage, every encounter was unique as every concert was. So thank you to The Liberation, thanks to the artists, bands, promoters, labels, the festivals for rendering all of this possible. And of course thank you to my concert buddies!

2016 has only just started but there’s so much to look forward too! Some examples? I’m so excited to see Adele and Mumford & Sons for the first time in May 2016 in Zürich… and then there’s Alex Turner and Miles Kane‘s reunion as The Last Shadow Puppets after 8 years, their second album Everything You’ve Come to Expect comes out on April 1st, 2016 (no joke!) and I can’t wait to see them live!

So bring it on 2016!!! 😉