By Francesca Frankis, Music Editor
Boasting two new stages, Pitchfork Paris returned this year for a three day extravaganza, crammed with sparky and bold performances from both distinguished headliners and emerging talent alike.
Pitchfork Paris has always offered up something of unique value to the European festival circuit. For starters, the obvious disparity is the fact it takes place in Autumn, a welcome alternative to the long grass stained weekends people are exhausted by once the end of the Summer festival season has long passed.
The festival has found home at the Le Grande Halle de la Villette, a former slaughterhouse turned cultural centre in the warehouse district; a huge building made up of glass and iron imposed upon the ultra-Parisian backdrop of Parc de la Villette. Each day was divided up loosely by genre (Thursday rap, alternative/rock on Friday, and Saturday pop), and housed four different stages, from the ostentatious main stage overlooked by floating industrial balconies, to the far more intimate downstairs ‘Studio’. As tradition dictates, it favoured an eclectic assortment of both established and emerging acts; veterans such as The 1975, Skepta and Primal Scream were on the same bill as up and coming artists like Squid and Nilüfer Yanya.
Kickstarted on Halloween Thursday by grime heavyweight Skepta, it seemed the entirety of those attending flocked to watch the set. As hoped, he delivered a powerful and punchy performance with tracks off his latest critically acclaimed album, Ignorance Is Bliss. Earlier in the day, Skepta collaborator and heavyweight in his own right, Slowthai had also commanded a chaotic sea of people to his angsty and politically charged style of rap as he paraded around the stage half naked.
On Friday, Nilüfer Yanya gives a soulful and gutsy performance on the slightly smaller Nef stage, impressing punters with her seemingly effortless renditions of tracks like ‘Baby Blu’ and ‘Thanks 4 Nothing’. Squid were another highlight of the Friday shows - bringing their very own sparkling and potent version of post-punk meets math rock to Le Petit Halle. Their performance was nothing short of potently sensational, yet at times it felt like the crowd could have given slightly more in return. Whilst Chromatics took to the main stage, self proclaimed rocking cowboy Orville Peck delivered a satisfying set full of his lovesick and gloomy take on classic American country; which by the end of his set had everyone off their seats and swaying away in true hoedown spirit.
Charli XCX’s headliner on Saturday proved to be a wholehearted ode to her powerful and energetic pop spirit; relentlessly bouncing up and down the stage she announces herself to the crowd in between shiny new tracks like ‘1999’ and ‘White Mercedes’; ’My name is Charli XCX and I’m one of your top 5 pop stars in the whole world’ - the crowd’s reaction affirms her statement. She’s later joined by Christine and the Queens for a fierce live take of their 2019 hit ‘Gone’, which plays out like it was plucked straight from the music video.
The 1975 were next up on the main stage; Matty Healy is gleaming as he sings along to sparkling opener, ‘People’. The set was saturated with fan favourites too, tracks like ‘Somebody Else’ send the audience into some sort of impassioned frenzy, as they sway along to Healy crooning and gyrating over dense synthesisers. ‘Thank you for loving me’ Healy proclaims as he jumps down from the stage and towards the masses - rather underwhelmingly held back from the manic clutch of the audience by a very serious looking bouncer. The last set of the weekend was courtesy of SebastiAn; an apt finish to a spectacular few days - soaring electronic melodies and crunchy dance beats sound out as people began to herd themselves towards the exit.
Featured Image: Francesca Frankis/Epigram
What did you think of the line-up at Pitchfork Paris this year? Let us know in the comments!
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