LAST TRAIN AT LA BELLE ELECTRIQUE IN GRENOBLE
Third time’s the charm, as we say. Last Train was finally stopping in Grenoble, 200m from my home and we just couldn’t not go. Here we are, at La Belle Electrique.
The night started with a French band from Rouen, We Hate You Please Die. Their first album, ‘Kids are Lo-Fi’, came out this year, and they are following Last Train for a couple of dates to promote it. With such an aggressive name, the band is delivering punk rock that may appear as massy, at first. There’s an urgency to express feelings from the 4 musicians on stage. The singer Raphaël Balzary doesn’t have enough space on the stage of La Belle Electrique, and wanders two times into the crowd, singing words into the faces of several spectators. One of the collaborators of their first record is Adrian d’Epinay, the front man and leader of MNNQNS, and we can understand why. There is the same apparent craziness on stage from both bands.
Quintana Dead Blues Experience was the local opener of the night. The only man on stage used an electronic beatmaker to fill in the lack of percussion, and played guitar at the same time while he is singing. In front of friends and family, Quintana was obviously happy to perform on the stage and gave quite a show, spending some time in the crowd on the other side of the barriers.
Finally, Last Train went up on stage around 21h20. They always display the same wild energy, even with the obvious tiredness that comes from being on the road for some time. The same balanced setlist was played tonight. The same setlist that makes us regret the absence of “The Idea of Someone” and makes us scream to “Cold Fever”. The same setlist that gives us chills on “The Big Picture” and makes everybody head bang to “Disappointed”.
The connection between the crowd and the musicians is less instantaneous tonight, but the four lads have the merit to always try to establish it. Finally, after a couple of agitated songs, mosh pits started to form and the temperature was rising in the venue. The final song, “The Big Picture” still is a monster track of 10 minutes, passing on nostalgia, fury, and energy to the spectators; a perfect way to end a very nice evening.
If even after 3 live reports you still didn’t listen to their second album, ‘The Big Picture’, I can only assure you that you’re missing out on something big.