Paléo Music Festival, Nyon, Switzerland

Nyon is the closest town to Geneva in the Canton of Vaud and is famous for its Paléo music festival. Remember, Paléo is spelt with an accent on the E. This year saw Nyon host its 39^th Paléo festival and I was fortunate enough to see Trombone Short and Elton John. At one point Trombone Shorty got off the stage and walked into the crowd, which had everyone excited. And I am sure that all the 40’000 people at Nyon turned up to see Elton John. The area around the main stage was teeming with people. Excellent performance by Sir Elton. Would you have expected anything less? I left right after Elton John though being a French-speaking region, I am sure many people waited until midnight to see Zaz, who is huge in France.

I loved Elton John and he behaved like a real diva on stage, which we all wanted and expected, but one comment; if you are performing in a place it is important to know how it is pronounced. Nyon is pronounced Nee-on not Nigh-on. Trombone Short stuck to the safer ‘hello Switzerland’. But the funniest comment came from Stromae, who was the opening act of the festival and everyone within the lake region flocked to see. He jokingly called the people of Nyon les Nyonaises. They loved that!

I do not like dirt or mess of any sort, even the organised messiness that is expected of a festival, so I always find festivals a challenge. Anywhere where straw needs to be put on the ground is a no-no for me but I make an exception for Paléo which is simply brilliant. What I like about it is that it is welcoming to people of all ages. There are of course hoards of private school kids in their designer clothes drinking and smoking. There are bankers who came straight from Geneva for the event and it is not uncommon to see teenagers with their parents. I think such an inclusive attitude in a festival is what makes it successful. And though I am sure some people would be ok with dancing in mud, I was thankful that there was no. Thanks to the straw.

Links:

Paléo: http://yeah.paleo.ch/

Shorty Trombone: http://www.tromboneshorty.com/

Elton John: http://www.eltonjohn.com/