Wednesday 8 June 2011

Festivals: Bruce Springsteen at Vieilles Charrues



Bruce Springsteen played the Vieilles Charrues Festival in Carhaix in Finistère, Brittany in 2009.

The festival - France's biggest music festival - is a four-day event, with 240,000 people attending last year.

It has been running since 1992, and was originally held in the village of Landeleau in Brittany, and has continued to grow ever since, attracting bigger audiences and bigger acts year after year.

In the same way that T in the Park retains a Scottish flavour, the Vieilles Charrues Festival retains a Breton character despite featuring both international acts and artists from across France.

The video shows how The Boss learned how to speak to the crowd in Breton, his teacher being asked if he spoke the language as Bruce wanted to address the crowd in Breton. He wrote phonetically the phrase he wanted to say: Hello Carhaix, how are you doing?

The 2011 Vieilles Charrues Festival takes place from July 14-17, and features Scorpions, Pulp, Kaiser Chiefs, David Guetta, Lou Reed and the Chemical Brothers and PJ Harvey.

Whether any of them take the time to learn some Breton remains to be seen.


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