Rock en Seine (seine/scène - get it?) is a music festival which takes place along the banks of the Seine just west of Paris.
I went to the final day of the festival, running around trying to see as many bands as possible and enjoying the friendly atmosphere, cheap drinks and ethnic food!
The band I was most excited to see was Greenday. I was such a fan of theirs as a teenager, with several of their albums on TAPE. They played an amazing set with lots of old hits and great energy.
The move to Ireland has meant getting back to a country of musicians and live music.
I've only been back in Dublin five days and have already been to two amazing gigs.
The first was a american fiddle player called Frank Fairfield. It was really interesting to hear him play as he tunes his violin to A-E-A-E instead of the usual G-D-A-E and plays it on his arm instead of under his chin. He seems to have come straight out the the Wild West, especially as he was sporting a heavy mustache, wavy hair, and very high pants!
The second gig was This is How We Fly, a *mostly* irish contemporary folk band, with clarinet, fiddle & hardanger fiddle, percussive dance and drums. This concert was part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, which I'm hoping to go to more of during the next couple weeks.
Photograph by Hugh O'Conor
It was amazing to watch the dancer, Nic Gareiss. He explained after the gig that his dancing style was a mix of Ottawan and Quebec set dancing, South Appalachian clogging, and Irish sean nos dancing.
