My son has taken to the music of Caravan Palace and so when I saw they were going on tour, I had to get him tickets for Christmas. As he got me listening to them, I, of course, wanted to go along and man, am I glad I did!!

The band is based in Paris, France and perform some amazing electric ‘swing’ music with vocalist Zoe Colotis leading the pack. Since debuting in 2008, they’ve released four albums; Caravan Palace, Panic, <|°_°|> and their newest tracks on Chronologic. (side note – When I first heard them, they reminded me of the Squirrel Nut Zippers that I enjoyed back in the 90s, so I was hooked.)

Supporting Act

We were sat up in the circle section and had a decent view. The show started at 8 pm with the supporting act…a DJ. To say I can’t recall his name isn’t much. While I’m no DJ, he was not noticeable which was disappointing. At no point did he engage with the crowd “While you wait for Caravan Palace, I’m going to spin some tunes for you”….nothing. There weren’t even any lights on him and for the longest, I just thought he was a sound tech testing the equipment.

This was a real shame because, in my experience anyway, seeing a support act is a great way to discover a new artist that you then go and buy their album when it goes to intermission. Okay, I don’t think you can buy albums of DJs, but you know what I mean. They get you pumped up for the main event. This supporting act DJ wasn’t impressive and the crowd didn’t seem to notice his efforts.

Best 90mins

After a relaxing hour of tunes, Caravan Palace took the stage and it was like a rocket launching. The lights just made the stage explode and the music was pumping and exciting!

Caravan Palace brought their A++ Game and had the venue come to life with the adrenaline of a bungee jump! I loved how everyone in the band was getting into it by dancing around with their instruments, interacting with each other, even the guy in the back on percussion was jumping and dancing around. Caravan Palace’s music is quite different in my opinion. The songs really build-up, have definite highs and lows. Even the ‘slow’ songs explode with saxophone and bass between choruses.

The lights were a great compliment to the beats and tones of each song, just really helping the stage come to life. It was a light show you’d expect from the likes of KISS, minus the pyro. I loved how they incorporated their ‘robot’ face in with the lights and the bassist, I believe Charles, was doing the robot voice in sections of songs.

People of all ages were there, from young teens to over 60s and everyone was bopping or dancing along whether they were on the floor or up in the circle seats. Zoe, the vocalist, was really engaging with the crowd and everyone on the stage was a real performer not just musician. For me, I’ve just always loved swing music but that teenager inside loves the techno aspect of their songs and how they measure it all out, it just works so well.

We are definitely going back next time they are in London and I highly recommend you see them if they are near your area.

Check out a little clip from my phone:

You can get their newest album, Chronologic from iTunes and other platforms as well as their website store.

Tara Petar

Tara is one of the latest article writers here in Blazing Minds, look out for more great posts from her only on the Blazing Minds website.

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