This Wednesday evening in Rennes, a Mexican R’n’B star, a Swiss duo singing in Iranian Farsi, a Hong Kong DJ and a Jordanian dandy, trendy in disco-pop! A bill as singular as it is cosmopolitan, in the tradition of the Trans Musicales festival, of which this inaugural evening marks the return to the Salle de la Cité.
The majority of the 83 groups or artists invited to this 46e edition, remain scheduled in the outlying exhibition center. But, “la Cité”, the cradle of the Trans, resurfaces after years of work. The festival had deserted it since 2012 and a Lou Doillon concert.
From 1979, Marquis de Sade, Étienne Daho and Ben Harper cut their teeth there, forging the city’s rock reputation. “Today’s music is more hybrid and looks more androgynous”, smile Jean-Louis Brossard, artistic director of Trans, and Philippe Le Breton, his counterpart at Bars en Trans, a friendly and complementary festival which takes over, Thursday at the Cité, for three evenings of concerts.
“It was wilder”
In the Pantheon of his legendary concerts, the boss of Trans retains the dilapidated show of Bérurier noir who, in 1986, shared the bill with the Washington Dead Cats. “The guys were throwing leeks and flour at the audience. The next day, the cleaning lady was crying: the whole room smelled of soup! »
To the delirium of punk, Philippe Le Breton prefers the torrid fusion of rock, funk and reggae, cooked up in 1987 by the Americans Fishbone. “Angelo, the singer, was the face of a famous brand of glasses. The public of the City had been chosen to be reflected there as an illustration for a global advertisement. »
On the evening of the Bérus, 1,800 people shoehorned themselves into a room now limited to 900 seats. “At the time, it was wilder. There was no gauge imposed. »
Times are changing, but Trans, like Trans Bars (of which this is the 28e edition), remain faithful to their role as pioneers, always in search of new talents. The latter favor the warmth of the Rennes bistros where 97 groups will huddle together, from Thursday to Saturday.
“We are preparing for a fun concert”
The Trans have been working for twenty years to warm up the vast halls of the exhibition center. The New York electro trio Fcukers should help them there, during the night from Saturday to Sunday. As much as Gallowstreet, an electro-punk fanfare from the Netherlands.
This same Saturday, Yannis Philippakis, the singer of Foals, a British rock group, will deliver the fruits of his collaboration with drummer Tony Allen, Afro-beat legend, who died in 2020. The Anglo-Austrian pop-rock quartet, 100 % feminine, Friedberg, will prepare the ground for it. While, on Friday, the psychedelic garage rock of the Welsh from The Family Battenberg and the danceable pop of the English from Home Counties will be worth the detour.
From Thursday to Saturday, the festival starts in the afternoon in the city center, with free concerts in the large Liberté hall. Miki, the young Franco-Korean singer, who collaborated with Metronomy, and the Azerbaijani guitarist Rahman Mamadli, are expected there.
Less exotic, more eccentric, the Miaou-Miaou – duo “feline and cracked” of surf teachers on the Crozon peninsula (Finistère) – will plant their schoolboy universe of insolent losers there. “We are preparing for a fun, playful concert, announce Nicolas Bossard and Alexandre Dubeaurepaire. Amazing also, because Trans people, for us, are huge! » A springboard for new adventures? “We’ll see. In any case, even playing in a bar, in front of twenty people, will always make us happy…”
