Friday 30/06/06 Day 1 @ Eurokeennes Festival, Belfort, France

As UK festivals tend to sell out fast, Eurokeennes is a good alternative. It's cheap and we managed to get some particularly cheap flights to nearby Basel from John Lennon airport. In a tenuous Lennon-link, it's strange how, because of him, Sean Lennon gets stick for being rubbish, despite having some good songs. What did John ever do, apart from sing good songs and have a lie-in with the missus? Ahem. Imagine (ho, ho) the pressure then, on Seun Kuti, whose father, Fela made good songs and declared his living space an independent republic, in opposition to the military dictatorship of Nigeria. To up the ante, Seun's only gone and taken his late fathers backing band; Africa 80 as his own. In a winning 'Stars in Their Eyes' manner, Seun did a great Fela, with a trademark jumpsuit, open at the chest. He sounded like Daddy and Africa 80 have still got it, all thirteen of them blasting out long, wall of sound grooves. The majestic golden horn section was the icing on the cake.

So it's time to add to the reaming reams that have already been written about Arctic Monkeys. The one chink in their armour is that terrible funk dirge at the end of 'All You People Are Vampires', but tonight it was tightened up into a danceable monster of near Fela Kuti proportions. Alex even gives it the old speed-garage chatter; "bound for the, bound for the, bound for the reload". Then the band launched into 'Dancing Shoes', which while not speed-garage, is transformed into a housey, 'House of Jealous Lovers'-like beauty. Arctic Monkeys finished with 'A Certain Romance'. On paper, it's faux-ska might look like a faux-pas. In fact, it is anything but. This fifty minutes sounded like less than five minutes with the Arctic Monkeys.
                    
With their orange boiler-suits, Polysics looked like Guantanamo bay prisoners. They are a punk band with a keyboard and sound like The Ramones doing happy hardcore. "Wontoofreefour"...aciiieeed. The bodies on stage altern8 between being emotionally detached and unselfconsciously fist-pumping and star-jumping. Polysics were ace.
The Strokes' 'First impressions of earth' seemed poor on, um, first impressions, but here those songs made sense. Take the opener, 'Juicebox', which no longer sounds like two good songs put together with all the subtlety of a half-Merc, half-Beemer, Dell Boy car. The seams this time seemed to run, uh, seamlessly, although that might have been down to beer-ears. Songs from the first two albums still sounded classic, even when they were toyed with. 'Is this it' sounded more spaced-out, like 'Where is My Mind'. Maybe the boys had been watching that 'Pixies Sell Out' Eurockeennes DVD.
                    
Daft Punk reminded us tonight how many memorable tunes they've made. On record, the endlessly looped choruses and riffs sometimes get tiresome. However, it seems Daft Punk have learned a lesson from their Belgian cousins, 2 Many DJ's; too never let things get boring. Tonight was like a DJ set, with Daft Punk's tunes spliced together all over the place, 'Around the world' and 'Harder, Faster, Better, Stronger' being a fine example. They're both usually too long, but together are better and, indeed stronger. The one tune in the mix not from Daft Punk was Busta Rhymes' 'Touch it', in an inspired mash-up with Daft Punk's 'Oh Yeah'. Most people seemed happily danced-out and ready for their sleeping bag.