Myself, Gary, Alan & Mike travelled over to Northern France via the
Channel Tunnel yesterday, and we're bloody glad we did! The 'festival
poulpaphone' was held in the middle of an industrial estate just
outside Boulogne-Sur-Mer. Two large marquees had been set up, one for
rap & hip-hop bands, and one for rock; plus another for food/beer &
merchandise. There was a large stage in each marquee, a great light
show, and great sound. Plus admission was only 5 euros per day! It
MUST have been subsidised by the local council at those prices. First
on was a French electro-jazz band called Fmr.exe(yawn), then a
bizarre Russian duo called 'Messerchups' (featuring a Betty Page
lookalikey on bass) playing what sounded like 'Shadows' covers to a
film backdrop of cheesy 50's horror films, and then a Toulouse based
technical metal band called Psykup, who weren't bad, but went on a
bit too long. Then came the reason that we had made the long journey.
QueenAdreena took to the stage to headline the 'rock' stage at about
11pm French time. Katie was wearing a modified slip plus a cardigan,
with her hair tied up (briefly); Crispin wore a satin smoking jacket
type thing; and Nomi wore a vest top with a corset over the top.
Pete, of course, doesn't dress up and just looks hard. The band were
tight, Katie seemed really happy and confident; and we got loads of
new songs. 'Lick the Itch' has now been promoted to set opener and
seems to have been modified again to have a quieter start. The 'brand
new' songs were 'Ride the airwaves'; 'Where mean the Vulture
live'; 'Naked Ruby' (previewed a couple of weeks ago as a 'Ruby
Throat' song); 'Somewhere Upstairs' & 'Bridget'. Along with 'Happy
Now' & 'Killer Tits' that is just about a full albums worth of new
material! The French crowd were very appreciative and demanded (and
got) and encore of 'suck'. Katie seemed willing to carry on and play
more, but the band were ushered off into the night. Every time that
you think that QueenAdreena have run out of steam, or become
disillusioned by Industry problems, then they just keep coming back
with even better quality material. They surely must be the most
underground and under-appreciated band in Britain. Search them out,
and learn to love them.