* Minor Victories at La Route du Rock 2016 *

La Route Du Rock is a is a biannual music festival held in Saint Malo, Brittany, in the North-West of France. There is winter and summer edition; winter one happening end of February and summer one mid August. Winter edition is situated in the venues around the town of Saint Malo while for the summer version, festival moves to the Le Fort de Saint-Pére, situated 9km from Saint Malo, for the most of the gigs.

It was my first time to attend and review La Route Du Rock and even though I only reviewed two days, I had enough time to get the feel of the festival and to decide that I will be probably, if my schedule allows, come back next year. The festival isn't the new one, far from it: it turned 26 this year and it is well known for it's very well curated alternative line up. I've heard about it before and since I've been coming to Saint Malo last few years I wanted to attend it earlier, but the timing never seemed to be right until this year.

During the festival, I was staying in the beautiful town of Saint Malo and even though there were several gigs happening on the La Plage Swatch aka beach stage, my focus was on the main location. It wasn't easy to find it on the first day, especially since coming from Saint Malo the map provided on their website didn't fully match the way to get there, but there were some friendly people and enough signs to figure out the way. Le Fort de Saint-Pére, the main location of the festival, is somewhere in the middle of the fields, little fortress (as the name suggests) surrounded by the trees.

The attendance this year was not as it was previous years, but I anyways loved the fact that festival, even with it's usual bigger crowd is more on the smaller side comparing to other open air festivals I am used to reviewing. It was refreshing, relaxing, stress free and perfectly fitting the summer vibe and the weather, that was showing it's best side this year.

When walking toward the entrance of the festival there were the photos hanging on the trees from Renaud Montfourny of the magazine Les Inrockuptibles. Inside on the festival grounds the focus is on two stages: the gigs happening mostly on the main stage, Scene du Fort, and 3 times per day/eve on the smaller stage, Scene De Remparts. Everything else is close and around it: food stands, bar, festival merchandise, stands with merchandise from the labels/magazines and somewhere behind, the press area, nicely located in more quiet area, perfect for interviews and to do some work.

I've seen many bands during two days that I reviewed, as I already wrote in the review on Gimme a Beat Facebook page, just after the festival. On the 1st day: Psychic Ills, Kevin Morby, Belle and Sebastian, Stuart Murdoc, HÆLOS and Minor Victories and on the 2nd day Ulrika Spacek, Lost Under Heaven (aka LUH), Tindersticks, LA FEMME and Exploded View. I still had enough time to stroll around, chat with people and have a break with a glass of good quality Breton's cider (keeping it local!).

Before the first gig of the first day, just before the festival kicked off, I also had a chance to sit down with Rachel and James from the Minor Victories for the spontaneous, impromptu interview. The interview happened only due to their easygoingness and help from an awesome media responsible of the festival. And the vibe of how it was set-up continued during the interview.

We talked about how they came together as Minor Victories and how proud they are about their creation. They confirmed what I felt about the band and their music..That everything came very naturally together. Basically, everybody put their own ingredients in it: their talent, ideas, visions, and with the trust in each other, without great expectations and rushing with the final product, they took the time needed to create incredible music .

It was my first time to see Minor Victories live and I have to say that Rachel Goswell (Slowdive) James Lockey, Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai), even without Justin Lockey (away on the tour with the Editors) with few additional touring band members, absolutely rocked the festival! The songs from their debut album fitted perfectly chilled atmosphere of the festival and the late time slot that they had. I personally loved every single minute of it, standing close to the stage, in the middle of the crowd singing along with them..

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For the full review of my *female factor* exploration of the festival, interview with Minor Victories, music from their debut album and my choice of the music of the artists that I've seen as, tune in tonight (17.10.2016) to Gimme A Beat  and

Minor Victories at La Route du Rock 2016

** playlist to be added **

from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora

featuring:
gimme a beat at la route du rock

Kisses,
Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

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