New Birth.

For the music festival, Trans Musicales, here in Rennes the bars as well established their own music festival called Bars En Trans but sadly my knowledge of French bands is lacking and I didn’t know who most of the list was but I did recognize Mister Heavenly.

I had feared that I would miss the show because it started at 19.30 and I had class until 20.00 and of course that means not really getting out of the apartment until 20.30, but as we arrived at 21.00 the door man told us that no, the show starts at 21.00 and we had missed nothing. Which still made no sense because the tickets even said that it started at 19.30, but whatever. Nothing is ever on time in France, except museum tours.

The first band was a group called Monogrenade which I have searched for the music on the internets for and it seems that there is just a lacking of the emotion and beauty of their music when it becomes recorded. Their cellist shreaded her cello with a maniacal grin on her face.

During the break between bands I get a pastis at the bar and share the water carafe with the american girls who also came. It seems that Molly was able to convince some of them with the tempting possiblility that the tourins bassist, Michael Cera, would be there.

She was correct and the girls started doing the different chicken dances from Arrested Development as they talked about how to ask him about the Arrested Development film.

Perhaps this is just a rash generalization of me now only going to three concerts in Rennes, but the locals don’t seem to like to dance at concerts. The head nod, a slight sway, yes, but no really letting loose and just dancing. Which it seems that my dancing in the front of this not packed at all venue garnered the attention of the lead singer/guitarist, Nicholas Thorburn who also plays for the Islands and the Unicorns (about how this band is quite litterally an indie kid’s wet dream), and at first he came off stage to sensually dance with me as he played his guitar.

A bit homoerotic and confusing.

Then I was invited up onto the small stage to dance. Michael Cera told me to say the phrase that he had been given to say, and already said quite a few times, to the crowd since the band didn’t speak French, ‘I like the Breton beer’ (which after the show we found out he thought ment, ‘I like the British butter’).

Then while dancing on stage a fuse seemed to have blown and the lights and electric instruments stopped playing and Mister Thorburn started to strip and give me a little dance until he was down to his mustard yellow skivvies. Then the lights came back on and he hid behind the drum set playing a maraca. As Michael Cera came over to me to dance with me in the spot that had been left open. Then the song finished, I got off stage and got a high five from one of the other Americans.

Then later the keyboardist, Honus Honus who is also the lead singer for Man Man, started singing a song off stage and came up to me and put his arm around to dance a little bit before he rammed into the crowd. I wasn’t sure if it would be kosher to do a cancan dance like I used to do back in high school at the punk shows with my friends.

The show then ended and everyone seemed to disperse. I went up to Honus Honus to say thanks for the show and bring up that Molly and I had seen him a few months back when he came through with Man Man.

The girls then went over and talked to Michael Cera, who’s response was, ‘why are you all American’ although in defense, one of the girls was British. Awkward conversation insued, as want to be with someone who seems to be constaly typecast as someone awkward, and it all ended with him showing off that his red cap is actually a ski mask and me taking a photo of all of them.

All in all, it was definitely an experience worth 5 euros.