Word has spread throughout the Kingdom: the King is summoning his subjects once more as the Roi Arthur festival lowers its drawbridge from August 21st to 23rd, welcoming tens of thousands of subjects from all over the nation.
Opening the festival was Kaycee, winner of the festival’s initiative for upcoming artists. She knew that this was a chance not to be missed, and she definitely made the most of it. Her set felt like one from a future headliner: an amazing stage presence, dancers, and even screaming fans in the front row, drawing a pretty big crowd for such an early set. Following her performance on the main stage was L2B. Before the set, fans converged towards the stage, and as the set started, fans ran from all over the festival to catch every second of the show. The trio gathered a huge crowd, immediately taking control of said crowd, opening pits and making the whole festival jump on command. Their hits were met by huge cheers, and the energy only rose more and more. Pyro lit the stage as the set reached its peak and its end.
Disiz followed on the opposing stage, with only 5 minutes between the two sets, the crowd’s energy carried over to him. Live-recorded VHS video on the big screens immediately gave a nostalgic vibe to the moment, the sun setting along to his songs creating a unique atmosphere. ‘Rencontre’ summed up the ambiance perfectly : “ouais mais moi j’suis heureux,” translating into “Yes, but I’m happy.” An anthem to life and trying to enjoy each moment as much as possible.
The most anticipated set was next: the Bosslady herself, Theodora. Omnipresent on festival grounds the whole day, fans dressed for the occasion and carried cardboard signs for her. The stage setup was unreal, famously nicknamed the “BBL Tower.” The show started with only her silhouette in the center, outlined by the screen behind her. Her presence made the whole festival shake with fans screaming. Dancers, live instrumentals, crowd interactions, and insane camera work: the show was a masterclass in well-put together concerts.
Many had seen it coming when the sixth song started: Disiz joined Theodora on stage to perform their hit ‘Melodrama’. The vibe was immaculate, everyone was singing, and the set wasn’t even halfway done. Later on, she would go into the pit to sing an emotional song with the fans, saying beforehand how much it meant to her. She would then end the set with an encore featuring ‘Miss Kitoko’, which had the whole crowd screaming “Tic Tac,” and then ending with ‘Fashion Designer’.
The night would take a pretty unpredictable turn with Nova Twins, their rock/metal music clashing heavily with Theodora’s style. The twins put on an amazing show that had people forming mosh pits and jumping. The bassist Georgia played mind-blowing basslines while Amy, the singer and guitarist, mixed heavy screams with angelic vocals. Closing this unforgettable night was Timmy Trumpet. Often, DJs are not that interesting visually, as they stand behind their desks. But Timmy Trumpet’s show was something else. Flames, smoke, sparkles, and lasers would endlessly take turns during drops. Oh, and the standing behind the decks part, forget it: Timmy Trumpet jumped on his. Fittingly playing trumpet, hyping up the crowd, or even just jumping and dancing. The energy was unbelievable, drops were met with cheers and the crowd couldn’t stop jumping. As the flames ran out, the king had to close his gates for the first time, as his people finally went to rest.
The kingdom reopened its gates on day 2 with garage rock band Dynamic Shakers. Wearing outfits straight out of the 70s or 80s with an unreal energy for this early in the day, the guitarist pulled off crazy jumps and the crowd loved every second.
A giant rat stood on the main stage, menacing, teeth out. The drill instrumental started as LAMANO 1.9 rushed to the stage in front of a packed crowd. The youngest crowd of the festival was also the most energetic: endless pits, jumps, cheers, and screaming lyrics. Even though the stage setup created a “dark” atmosphere, the set had a very comical turn. To raise the energy, LAMANO would, during nearly every song, scream “PULLL UP” to hype the crowd even more. He did this so much that during the rest of the day, people would randomly scream “pull up” everywhere.
The main act of the night followed, with fans screaming in the front row before the first song even began. Confusion filled the crowd as the instrumental started and the artist was nowhere to be seen, but then she started singing and everyone turned around. Louane started her show within the crowd, slowly making her way to the stage through the audience. Sharing hugs with fans, singing with them, sharing a moment never to be forgotten. The crowd thanked Louane with a fan project : during the emotional ‘Les Étoiles’, fans turned on their phone flashlights and held colored stars in front of them, making for a sea of shining stars. Fans cried and held each other, a testament to what Louane’s music meant to her fans. During the rest of the show, she played her hits, but also two covers: ‘No Surprises’ by Radiohead and ‘Where Is My Mind?’ by Pixies, alone on stage with her guitar.
Closing out the night was Piche. She describes herself as “someone who does music like everyone while looking like no one,” being a drag queen who performs mainstream rap music. The energy was through the roof the whole time with high tempos, dancers, and heavy bass that you could feel in your entire body. Taking her performance to its peak, Piche even took the presidency for her song ‘Présidence’. She also used her platform to stand against the French far right, calling for people’s responsibility in the upcoming elections. She also talked about drug use within the LGBTQ community and how queer people are more likely to overdose, dedicating a song to this subject. The set ended on a high note, being the last show of Piche’s tour, her whole team surprised her with flowers on stage. She then thanked her whole team in an emotional moment before the encore, finishing the show with the most energy possible and making the whole festival jump.
The king closed his doors to prepare for the last day and welcome his people for a final dance, and made an announcement before the third day started: his subjects were not to miss the final moment of his celebration, as a firework show was announced after the last set to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the festival. Under this cloudy Breton weather, headliners would go one after another starting with Feu! Chatterton. The pop-rock band would be a crowd favorite, everyone singing along to the point where, when the sound cut off during the third song, the crowd continued to sing. The band would step up to the proscenium to continue the song, a cappella. Their show couldn’t even be stopped by technical issues. The whole crowd was singing alongside the band, getting as close to them as possible to hear the guitar. And when the sound came back, the crowd erupted as the song ended, reaching peak energy. This energy would only rise during the rest of the show as the singer, Arthur Teboul, went into the pit, standing and being held up by the crowd. By the final song, he was long gone, crowd surfing over the middle of the crowd, while still singing! Being carried from the stage to the front of house and back, he then finished the set and thanked the crowd for this memorable moment.
French rising star Miki followed Taking over the French music scene this last year, including festivals this summer, all in all touring for more than 3 months, Miki was ready to give it her all as festival season was ending. She started the show with her song ‘yes’, a heavy, emotional, and intense song to start an even more intense set. She would follow up with her latest hit ‘ça pique un peu quand même’, going in the pit standing on the barriers to make the whole crowd sing and wave to the chorus. Staying in the pit, her song ‘miki cowboy’ started as she asked to take a fan’s cowboy hat and made the crowd scream “yee-haw”. Her cap lay on the speakers while she climbed on stage with her newly obtained cowboy hat. The show continued, performing mostly songs from her latest album Industry Plant. As is tradition on her tour, she later went into the crowd, traversing it until she reached a huge box, on top of which she performed ‘Particule’. The crowd doing a circle pit around Miki like particles orbiting around her: “J’suis qu’une particule qui orbite autour de toi”. During this whole set, Miki showed how close she was to her audience with multiple crowd interactions and these types of moments that fans will remember for a long time. Just as other artists ended their set crowd surfing, so did Miki, jumping into the crowd while singing ‘scorpion ascendent scorpion’ for an epic and intense end to her show.
It’s only fitting that the Breton festival would end with a Breton band, right? Brest-born band Matmatah could only agree as they stormed the stage for a final set, much to the king’s pleasure. Their guitarist, Léopold Riou, was especially energetic, running from his mic stand to the proscenium, back to the drums, then to the crowd in the pit. Running around while playing guitar, the staff struggled to keep his guitar cord free from obstacles. But it was all worth it: the crowd was on fire, singing all the lyrics like their lives depended on it, jumping around, crying to songs that meant a lot to them, and even crowd-surfing. One of the highlights of the set was the song ‘Brest-même’, a love letter to their hometown that resonated within the crowd as people sang along. The show stopped between songs to wish a happy birthday to one of the band members. Matmatah then came back for an encore, playing songs from their latest albums. And then, fittingly for the last song, they chose a traditional Breton song. The crowd loved it, and pits started to form with people performing the “An Dro,” a traditional Breton dance, forming circles and joining hands while moving back and forth to the rhythm of the song. A tribute to our region’s culture that will always be the root of the Roi Arthur Festival.
The king’s message was not forgotten, as people stayed in front of the main stage for the final fireworks. And as the stage finished setting up, 12 musicians started playing drums on huge barrels in a rehearsed rhythm. 12 people played in communion while, when the drop arrived, the fireworks erupted. A beautiful final show from the King, to thank his subjects for the last 15 years of celebrations, and maybe, for the next 15 years.
All photos of the festival can be found here.
