on Thursday evening, it is a crowd quite homogeneous, which is held in the Grande Halle de la Villette. The concert hall in the Nineteenth arrondissement, opened its doors to a public with a predominantly young and white. Outside, thousands of hats and jeans to hems could be seen in the middle of a few food-trucks to fine parisian restaurants upscale installed on the square. Inside, two scenes have been set up for the Pitchfork Music Festival, a French version of the great mass of the electro-rock organized since 2006 in Chicago. His seven previous editions of hex had caught Thom Yorke, James Blake, or even Aphex Twin.

was There a place more appropriate than the former slaughterhouses of la Villette, to celebrate in music the all saints ‘ day, eve of day of the dead and day of Halloween? Not sweet, nor spell, but the monsters were at the rendez-vous last night to haunt the «cattle hall» of the north-east of paris. The «sacred monster» of a variety of French, Étienne Daho, the monstrously gifted Voidz and their complex compositions tote and the enigmatic John Maus, monster scene.

«READ ALSO – Mac DeMarco, Étienne Daho and Bon Iver at Pitchfork Music Festival Paris 2018

» READ ALSO – The man behind John Maus, the brainy pop music

The musicians have succeeded on two scenes of the Grande Halle de la Villette. Alban Gendrot

The American was on his return to France after a stint at the Trabendo last may in the framework of the festival Villette Sonique. A come-back marked by the mourning after the sudden stop of his tour, cut short in July after the death of his brother, Joseph, bassist of the band that has accompanied this brainy pop music on stage from October 2017. Shortly after 20h, the singer appears alone on the stage. Crouching down, his back to the audience, he launches the songs pre-recorded in what he describes as his «karaoke show» staff.

Show gruesome John Maus, flayed alive. Alban Gendrot

His performance, magnified by the synthesizers in the style of John Carpenter, is terrifying. The native of Minnesota book a performance flayed alive. The suffering is palpable. As usual, Maus gives way to a spectacle of death, hitting himself in the face with his fists, grabs the belly, shaking the head, the face frozen in an expression of pain. The torments of his cavernous voice fill the Great Hall. Even when he removed his microphone from his mouth, his screams glaçants are heard at the other end of the room. You might believe this madman escaped from an asylum.

The first two pieces to the securities claims My Whole World’s Coming Apart and Castles in the Grave («My world is collapsing», «Castles in the grave») resonate particularly in these circumstances. Even if one is not receptive to the music of John Maus, it’s impossible not to be fascinated by this unusual character that we had met a few months ago.

as Soon as the set of Maus completed, Etienne Daho appears on the other scene of the Great Hall. Accompanied by his band, the singer 62-year-old has put together a set electric in the vein of The Blitz , his latest album. Halloween Parade requires, Daho and his five musicians all wear masks of Zorro. In a very rock, they alternate between titles of La Notte, la Notte ( The Big Sleep , to go Out tonight, Poppy Gene Tierney ), the disk which has opened the doors of success in 1984, and his last album ( the Daughters of The canyon , The Garden ).

» READ ALSO – Étienne Daho, a renaissance-glorious

and Then, it installs an atmosphere psychedelic soft with two tributes to Syd Barrett, the first leader of the group Pink Floyd. First, a recovery of Late Night composition of the engineering is deposed, and then Chamber 29 , a piece inspired by the room in which the leader of the «Floyd» has insidiously sunk in schizophrenia. Will follow titles them everywhere in the directory of the icon of the French variety. The walking Man , Attractions disasters , Fell to France , Shoulder Tattoo … All of them are included in an orchestration very anglo-saxon, sometimes new wave, sometimes punk rock, in front of an audience bursting with a child-like enthusiasm in front of this monument of hexagonal music.

Marginality and user-friendliness The Voidz, «neo-punks» the iconoclasts. Matt Lief Anderson

The carnival continues with the eccentric Voidz, led by Julian Casablancas, the lead singer of The Strokes. Everything from this band of crazy that one could think of the output of Mad Max , cries the non-conformism: the look «neo-punk», the hair cuts are neglected, the choice of instruments, vintage… A marginality assumed in the title of their songs that evoke both the folly and the futility, the nothingness.

» READ ALSO – Julian Casablancas, prince of Manhattan

Their experimental sound borrows from metal, to rock, to pop and traditional music. They seem to flourish in a permanent search of dissonance without ever descending into cacophony. There is a form of consistency in that great no matter what, their «pyramid of bones». The sound does not seem, however, not strong enough to Casablancas. While the musicians agreed between the two pieces, he likes to throw a few picks against the Pitchfork, «a friend of the artists» and «festival for children».

To finish this evening was amazing, the organisers have invited Mac DeMarco. The Canadian offers a set of classic and user-friendly, both of folk, country and psychedelic rock. Red cap on head, fishing vest on the back, he plays his role of the practical joker-sweet crazy: clowns, decapsulates beers with his teeth, inviting his friends to drink in a sofa installed at the edge of the stage… The interpreter of Salad Days will conclude his concert by three times of the group of Misfits, a pioneer of the sub-genre «horror punk», a style of imagery inspired by horror films.