By Rosine Alleva, José Oliveira, Journalist/Photographers – Rock At Night France, Switzerland
The 71st Alsatian Music and Wine festival keeps writing its story. With two major turning points for its 71st anniversary, the challenge has been met: a change of dates validated by the public and the professionals and the 300,000 visitors being reached. What a success! No need for rejuvenating effects to prove it has all of a current event. The Music and Wine Festival takes pride in and proudly displays it. The recipe? Just the authenticity, good wines, entertainment, a good dose of party, hundreds of engaged and enthusiastic exhibitors and a flood of artists. For this press conference, we were all invited to a rock climbing gym in Colmar and it was from the highest climbing wall that the program poster was unveiled! For this 2018 edition, the Festival will count three huge artists coming for the first time to Colmar (SANTANA, LENNY KRAVITZ and RAG ‘N’ BONE MAN).
Some of the featured artists:
INDOCHINE Mythical, cult and multigenerational French band, the INDOCHINE concerts are incredible moments of communion, with exceptional tours (800,000 spectators). This will be the 8th time they will be performing at the Festival.
SANTANA
Nobody has forgotten Carlos Santana, this exceptional guitarist of Mexican origin who knew how to ignite the Woodstock Festival on wild Afro-Cuban rhythms. Latin and gypsy, his music continues to set us on fire, like something irrepressible. No demonstration in his guitar playing, just the inspiration of the moment that raises us to the top. His latest recording, POWER OF PEACE, together with the legendary Isley Brothers, proves it: it vibrates in music, including when becoming more funky, with this fervor never belied in his fight for Peace.
LENNY KRAVITZ
Considered one of the most important rock artists of his generation, LENNY KRAVITZ has nearly 30 years of career and nearly 40 million albums to his credit. He strives to transcend genres and styles through his diverse musical influences: Soul, Rock, and Funk from the 60s and 70s.
Author, producer and multi-instrumentalist, he won 4 consecutive Grammy Awards. In addition to his 10 studio albums, LENNY KRAVITZ appeared in the movies “The Hunger Games” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”, “Precious” and “The Butler”
RAG’N’BONE MAN The Overproof tour
He has the blues in the blood. And yet, Rory Graham aka Rag’N’Bone Man has borrowed a lot of detours before returning to his gaunt version, reduced to the basics. Passed by Soul, Gospel, hip-hop and drum’n’bass, he shows us perfectly that everything comes from there, everything comes from the blues. He was discovered by Joan Armatrading and since the international success of “Human” and a victory at the Brit Award, he is definitely part of the artists who matter.
SCORPIONS – Crazy World Tour
Their songs “Still loving you” and “Wind of Change” propelled them to the top of the charts for months. They will remain timeless hits, just like “Send me an Angel”, “Holiday”, “Rock you like a Hurricane”, “Black-out” or “Dynamite”. In a 40-year career, the most famous German Hard-Rock band has released around 20 albums and has sold more than 100 million of them worldwide. Amazing performers, SCORPIONS play for more than 2 hours on stage titles that made their success.
BETH DITTO
She is the muse of a whole generation.Since her debut with Gossip, BETH DITTO has shown her intention to evolve out of context, mixing wonderfully punk aesthetic, electronic music and 70’s disco. The public recognizes itself in her way of fully assuming her body, far from all inibition and with this honest desire to improve received ideas. After the separation of her band, our restless American has started a solo career that should once again drive her high to the tops. Having her back to the Festival represents a event in its own right.
HARD ROCK SESSION
Despite some doubts about the feasibility of the date, the 9th edition of the Hard Rock Session will take place this year with a set of bands present on the biggest European events of the metal scene.
The programme:
GHOST
This Swedish Band cultivates a strong taste for Catholic liturgy to the point that the singer appears on stage as the Pope himself. With clothes reminiscent of Satanist mythology, his disciples practice rituals that may surprise neophytes, but also the most used of metalheads. As with Slipknot, anonymity is the order of the day, and the wildest assumptions go hand in hand with the true identity of these disturbing creatures. With Ghost the mass will definitely be black. It will be said, no need to wait for any blessing.
POWERWOLF
If their songs include sometimes Latin passages, it’s due to their compositions inspired by the liturgical ritual. With this particular affection for choirs and organs. But it’s still Power Metal, which means a mix between heavy and speed: the traditional traits mingle with an epic and melodic approach, which makes it quite exciting for everyone. These friends from Saarbrücken are our neighbors, which will create a beautiful communion around a single obsession: the sin in all its forms.
DORO
She was known as Dorothée Pesch, to become Doro Pesch and then DORO at the time she was the front-woman of the cult Heavy Metal band WARLOCK until the late ’80s. Although she embraced a slowdown on her solo debut, she quickly recovered with the support of Gene Simmons from KISS who produced her recordings in the United States. After her smashing comeback in the early 2000s, she became the “Metal Queen” again, venerated by hordes of devotees. Let everyone know! DORO is here, bow to her Majesty!
H.E.A.T
Formed a bit more than 10 years ago, this Swedish band is in the melodic line of WHITESNAKE, so that the band quickly opened for the giants of the genre including SCORPIONS. With the help of experience, today they reach the top and become the favorites of the metal planet. Their singer, Erik Gronwall, is also a recognized actor in his country. He recently interpreted the role of the apostle Simon the Zealot in a new version of Jesus Christ Superstar. This is to say the range of this little guy possibilities.
CHECK OUT ROCK AT NIGHT’s coverage of last year’s festival
I was born in Portugal and lived the Sixties exploring the great UK Rock magazines: "The New Musical Express" and "Melody Maker". Ray Charles and Pat Boone were my father’s fav. I became “The Great Pretender”. Cliff Richard was our Elvis Presley. As a beach boy, with my first guitar, I met a beautiful French girl on the beach! It was the Summer of 69!! We got married and rock music was our dowry. In France, I became a Wine Genetic Research Scientist. One of my works contributed to the decoding of the genome of the vine! As a rock journalist, I’ve worked twenty years for the Portuguese and Brazilian Rock Press. I ‘ve interviewed so many great artists. Then, one day I met FRANK ZAPPA! I got into trouble for introducing my wife to "Uncle Meat"!
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