Credit: Found On Internet

South of Paris lies Bourges, a typical sleepy provincial town except for five days a year when it is completely immersed in live music. Printemps de Bourges is in its 31st year and until recently was more of a French affair. It’s as if a local friendly fete has gradually grown into an impressive international festival. Its official free fringe particularly draws in the local community from toddlers swinging their nappies to drunken teens to octogenarians. The festival proper is located on the river Auron so as you stagger along to see some rock n roll in a tent with impeccably crisp sound you pass ducks and coypu frolicking amongst horse chestnut branches dipping into the water. Surreal.

Thursday 19th
On the Thursday, Joanna Newsom, who is used to packing out large civic venues, enthralls 100 lucky devotees in a miniscule theatre, while back at the site, The Rakes prove to be very thin, pretty loud but not entirely engaging. Caen’s hyped Guns Of Brixton are well received, playing a guitar/dub mix reminiscent of their idols The Clash as their name might suggest - strongly. Montreal’s Galaxie, or Galaxie 500 as they used to be known, are clearly in awe of their musical heroes as well but luckily have the experience, humour and verve to pull off a great alt-rock sound of their own. They are all energy and guts on stage. At 2:30am, Deerhoof, who are three months into a world tour, play a strange set with Greg Saunier beating the hell out of his amazingly robust drums, his manic playing almost matched by John Dieterich on guitar. Only frontwoman and bassist Satomi Matsuzaki seems unphased; her melodic voice adding more than usual contrast to the boys’ performance.

Parisian rappers TTC are on form and fun until selecting young girls out of the audience to get up on stage. Lads, it’s distracting, trite and more than a little bit creepy. Next up is the controversial French hip-hop celeb Joey Starr whose reputation for various convictions certainly precedes him; the queue of French photographers waiting to snap him is tellingly long. The rasping, gravel-voiced former member of NTM gets a rousing response with his raga infused hip-hop. It is, however, his compatriots Justice who steal the show, for Music Towers at least, with a dynamic throbbing set. The few people who are there to enjoy Xavier and Gaspard’s gig, wave their Justice crucifixes in the air as the duo close with their signature track, Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name”, defamiliarising it with their tomfoolery on the mixer.