La Femme at Paléo: «Tonight's a party!»

With a unique and indescribable style, the French group La Femme treated the audience to a timeless show on the first night of the 45^th edition of Paléo, on Tuesday July 19, in Nyon. Impressions.

After the first few concerts and hours of wandering around the food stalls, here we are at 1 a.m. on the evening of July 19, in front of Paléo's new stage, the Vega, waiting for La Femme. The band makes its appearance amidst wisps of smoke, all dressed in straight, white and very formal suits.

Like little soldiers, they put on a show full of sweetness and, at the same time, an uninhibited outlet. If this band's style is already difficult to identify with any other, the different tracks are only vaguely similar to each other: the variety of this band makes this concert almost moody.

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A happy mess

With an air of detachment, the artists of La Femme perform their show piece by piece, embodying the band's personality to create a joyful mess. Behind this chaos, however, there's an orchestration worthy of a mechanical cog, without being too mechanical: spontaneity and smiles are the backdrop to the entire concert.

Listening to the songs and watching their performance, you might almost wonder whether the band take themselves totally seriously: after all, a good dose of second degree never hurts anyone. The way they're dressed and the way they look, you'd almost think they were standing in front of us as a distracted, unobtrusive entertainer, while the show is bursting with extravagance - we just don't get it. But maybe that's just as well.

An audience united in spite of everything

Among the crowd, specimens from different backgrounds emerge. And yet, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves in the face of this «banter» show, as one spectator in the front row puts it. Everyone then takes at face value the words of one of the singers: «Tonight, it's a party!.

So the crowd gets restless. Or calms down, depending on the song. There are spectators as far as the eye can see, spilling out on all sides in front of the stage. From people who know the lyrics by heart, to raving lunatics who jump at the slightest opportunity, to children, the heterogeneity of the audience and the homogeneity of the smiles are a joy to behold.

After setting the crowd on fire with, for example, the song On the 2013 board, At the end of the show, the band played some quieter songs. Unfortunately for La Femme, the audience tired and scattered. Perhaps the heat or the already late hour got the better of the festival-goers. After a final energetic but hard-to-follow track, we're treated to a vinyl toss! One of the band members comes running from backstage with a bundle of records, which he throws wildly among the out-of-breath crowd. A great success.

Write to the author: erica.berazategui@leregardlibre.com

Header image: French band La Femme at the Paléo Festival on July 19, 2022 © Paléo / Laurent Reichenbach

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