Paléo - Nyon

On the Weekend we headed out to Nyon for the Paléo music festival (not to be confused with the Sienna Palio horse race). We had opted for the Paléo over the Montreux Jazz Festival because it seemed ludicrous to spend so much more for a single concert in Montreux, when we could have a whole day at Paléo!

The Paléo is one of the largest music festivals in Europe, and 2008 was its 33rd anniversary. It was amazingly well organised and, although we expected the crowd to be dominated by a university aged crowd, it was actually a very diverse mix of people, from young children to a more 'mature' demographic. Also, although there was alcohol sold at innumerable stalls, no-one seemed particularly drunk or otherwise inebriated.

We were going mainly for the atmosphere and actually didn't recognise most of the acts (which varied from world music, to classical, to popular) although there was a few bigger groups playing that we recognised, including Yael Naim, Dionysos, and R.E.M.

Of the day I think our favourite act would have to be Dionysos, who put on a very energetic and fun show, beating out R.E.M (the 'big act' of the night) who had a light show that was really over the top and distracted rather than complemented their act, which was anyway a bit lacklustre.

Aside from the music there was heaps of good food; so much choice in fact that we ended up wandering around for ages before finally committing to our duck sandwiches, and there was an amazing fireworks display that went off right above us before the R.E.M. act.

We left the festival a little early to make sure we didn't get home too late, being a work day the next day, and got home around 2am. It was a real credit to the festival organisers and SBB for making it all run so smoothly. Even so, it will be difficult to refuse the option of a concert at Montreux next year!