Facebook comment 29/08/09:

“Le prochain festival sera sans moi, ou alors avec une accréditation….trois fois de suite… on a vraiment la sensation de de faire arnaquer voire foutage de gueule”

[I won’t be at next year’s festival, at least not unless I get a free pass…three times in a row…you’ve really ripped us off with your messing around]

Poor Rock en Seine. Could it be on the way to becoming the world’s most cursed festival? Last Friday I stood and watched open mouthed as Friday’s headline act – Oasis – failed to appear. After a fight in their dressing room where, according to Amy MacDonald on Twitter, Liam smashed Noel’s guitar, they not only cancelled that night’s performance, but the rest of the European tour, and apparently Oasis full stop: with Noel declaring on their blog a couple of hours later that he could not work a day longer with Liam. Kele from Bloc Party meanwhile, who has famously has a public spat with the Gallagher brothers, seemed to enjoy announcing the fact that they were then headlining by default.

Oasis was a fantastic coup for Paris’ top rock festival, now in its seventh year. In a short space of time it has built a reputation for world class programming – other headline acts this year include The Prodigy and Faith No More, while MGMT, Bloc Party, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Offspring are among the other acts which litter the 3-day programme. But one can only wonder how high the festival’s insurance must be shooting up each year, as their penchant for picking top class, but unreliable acts, continues.

Our other supporting evidence comes in the shape of Amy Winehouse, who had been due to headline there in both 2006 and 2007, and cancelled on both occasions. While last year’s attendees were reimbursed €18 of their €45 day fare, at the time of writing, this year’s attendees are waiting for details on their situation. Paris is perhaps a little hypersensitive to all this cancellation business since a highly anticipated performance form Pete Doherty at this year’s Fete de la Musique was also abandoned a the last minute (although luckily, this was not a ticketed event).

But before the crashing disappointment of failing to see the headline act (and worse still, having abandoned Bloc Party half an hour early in order to secure a good place for Oasis…) we were able to enjoy other parts of the festival that didn’t revolve around its three stages. For example, there were two impromptu art galleries displaying photos and paintings of the featured acts which were a really nice addition. There were also the usual promo tents – we amused ourselves posing ‘in an original way’ at the Converse stand in the quest to get a backstage pass for Oasis (we weren’t original enough, but didn’t care by the end!) The food was typical diverse festival fare – regrettably we plumped for Creole cuisine (a sort of sausage stew) which was not especially edible, but I managed to stave off the hunger with a generous portion of chocolate churros (only ever consumed at festivals).

In terms of the stages themselves, there were two main ones at opposite ends which alternated the big acts, and were scheduled conveniently so that major bands didn’t overlap. A third, smaller stage presented lesser-known acts who certainly benefited from the void in the headline slot (at least until Madness took over after a considerable amount of stage rejigging). It was at this point that I was able to discover Oceana, who were a pleasantly funky surprise. But I mustn’t forget that I had been suitably entertained earlier in the evening by a reliable Keane, the disco-tastic Yeah Yeah Yeahs (although I feel they’re more a band for late at night than in the beaming sunshine) and Bloc Party who did indeed put the Rock into Rock en Seine.

As someone who has done a respectable number of UK festivals, which have always been in the country, and where I’ve always camped, Rock en Seine which took place on the border of Paris was always going to be a different experience. There was the possibility of camping, but it was on a much smaller scale, and since like most attendees I lived nearby, there was no need to camp. However, it was a bit anticlimactic (besides for the obvious reasons) going home instead of back to a tent for a campfire and a chit chat with friends late into the night. All in all, I’m definitely going to have to hit another festival in France before I’m convinced that their festival season comes any where near to rivalling the UK’s.