Travelling Musilac 2012: My First Music Festival
Travelling Musilac 2012 – Immersing Myself In A Music Festival
Confession – I had never been to a music festival before. I’d always been put off by the thought of strange people, horrible toilets and copious amounts of rain- that’s what musical festivals in Scotland are like anyway!
So, when I was invited to Musilac Festival in Aix-les-Bains in France I checked the line-up carefully first. Noel Gallagher, one half of the enigmatic Oasis brothers, as well as others such as Franz Ferdinand were listed and I decided to go for it. Why not!
Whilst spending an inordinate amount of time at the gate waiting to recieve our press passes, Dylan (of The Travelling Editor fame) and I spotted many a strange person in the crowd. Most disturbing were the women in their thirties who were unable to do anything other than scream and spin around in circles. I was feeling just a little apprehensive after seeing them!
After receiving our press passes (VIP baby!) Dylan and I headed to our special bar and terrace area to watch Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. As the sun set over the hills of Aix-les-Bains and darkness surrounded us the atmosphere completely changed. The crowd grew more intense, and the sound increased. Everyone loved Noel, me especially!
After Noel and his birds, there was Jean Louis Aubert- an aging French star from the 70s and 80s. Safe to say I wasn’t too excited about seeing him as I’d never even heard of him but he turned out to be really good! Then, just like in Scotland, the heavens opened and we found ourselves soaked and waiting for a shuttle bus back to the hotel at 1am. Despite being absolutely drenched and freezing cold I’d had a great night, plus I had the promise of a warm, comfortable bed and a hot shower waiting for me at our hotel.
Day two at Musilac looked to be promising. On the agenda for the Saturday night were Franz Ferdinand and Lenny Kravitz, amongst others. Dylan and I kicked off the party early that afternoon by taking a ride that we dubbed the Party Boat.
An hour trip around the beautiful lake with amazing music and a live saxophonist! When you think of a saxophone player you immediately think jazz, right? Wrong. This guy was playing along to everything from R’n’B to dance and everything between. It was ridiculously good and at only 10 euros it was an absolute bargain!
Franz Ferdinand were amazing, who knew the French loved them so much?! They had great stage presence and really knew how to engage the audience. Shame that the same couldn’t be said for Lenny Kravitz… (the sax guy would have been better than him!).
The worst part about travelling Musilac for me was the fact Dylan and I had to leave on Sunday afternoon and didn’t get to see Two Door Cinema Club, LMFAO and Blink 182. That would have been so much fun! Maybe I’ll just have to check out the line-up for next year… I certainly had an ecstatic time travelling Musilac and will certainly be discovering new festivals in the future!
Emma shares all of her travel adventures, tips and advice on her two websites Emma’s Travel Tales and Emma On Board, as well as writing for a number of other online publications. She has also partnered with many large companies and tourism boards around the world. She’s busy making memories around the world…
I’m Emma, a twenty-something Scottish girl who’s obsessed with travel.
I’ve been to 38 countries so far and had some incredible adventures around the world.
My passion for travel and writing led me to create my person blog Emma’s Travel Tales.