So we've just returned back to London after spending one of the most enjoyable festival experiences we've had for a while.
The location was Paris and the festival, Rock En Seine.

Nestled on the west side of Paris, the festival grounds are literally on the River Seine which made for such a lovely backdrop to the incredible lineup performing over the 3 days.
Having been bumped up to first class on our Eurostar trip, we arrived at the festival in fine spirits. Getting in was a piece of cake with the staff and security guys being lovely, helpful people.
First up we made a quick visit to the backstage area, dropping our bags and getting our passes sorted. The beer wasnt cheap but we soon overcame that by not giving a damn - we were there to party!

As we had missed Fridays lineup we were keen to get stuck into Saturday and what a choice we had!
First up, Queens Of The Stoneage...

I've loved this band ever since seeing Dave Grohl smashing his drumkit to pieces during a rendition of No One Knows. Rock En Seine had rightly put them on the 'Grand Scene' main stage as dusk began to set in. Josh Homme and his band played a stunning hour set which had everyone up on their feet and singing along. A great introduction to the festival for us.

Moving around the festival was easy, with tea lights lining the paths beneath the big oak trees that rustled in the evening Parisian breeze. Our next target was for something electronic and LOUD!

Who better than LCD Soundsystem. A huge crowd had gathered around the Scene De La Cascade stage which was readying itself for the New Yorkers arrival. Kicking off with 'Us V Them' the band quickly had the place jumping with their hits including 'Daft Punk is Playing at my house', 'All my friends' and the brilliant new track 'Drunk Girls'.
Cool as ever, James Murphy conducted his band like a true pro, adding his little licks of brilliance to every instrument he touched. A wonderful performance.

Next highlight was the jaw droppingly good 2ManyDjs. What can we say? The best DJ set i've seen for a long time accompanied by some of the best visuals you could wish for. Playing everything from Lil Wayne to David Bowie, the Belgian brothers completely destroyed the stage with their DJ skills, always looking very cool in their suits.

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur after that, although some shapes were definitely thrown at the afterparty....

Sunday was equally as good with everyone anticipating the headliners, but more of that in a sec.
Our first show of the day was by the legendary Eels! Having not seen them play before, their brand of hooky melodies over some great bass playing by the rap sounding 'Cool G Murder' caressed the crowds post saturday night hangovers....

A quick jaunt over the smallest stage on site found us nodding our heads to Rox - a diva in the making. Her reggae infused soul music was the perfect lead up to Fat Freddys Drop on the Scene De La Cascade stage. The New Zealanders played effortlessly cool music with Joe Dukie and DJ Fitch introducing us to the sounds of their next album -Sounding good!!

By far the biggest crowd we had seen all weekend descended onto the main stage for the UK's very own Ting Tings. Dressed all in red, Katie White addressed the crowd in broken French to proclaim she was just there to party - and party they did. Playing all the chart hits, it became clear that these guys are really polished and a crowd that size is by no way a daunting prospect for them. Katie looked completely at home up there and danced like a maniac before everyone legged it over to the other stage to see the mighty Roxy Music.

And so we were faced with a very difficult choice....-

Pretty tricky right?! After seeing Arcade Fire in Brixton last time, i wanted to see how the new album worked on stage and we were not disappointed! Win, Regina et al took to the main stage and kicked things off in impressive style with 'Ready To Start'. Layers upon layers of sound were being created in front of us with Win's now trademark vocal style cutting through the densely populated music.
We were treated to other cuts from the album including The Suburbs, Rococo and Modern Man before everyones fears were realised! Threatening looking clouds had been brewing all afternoon and suddenly God pulled the plug from his bath and showered us all! The crowd were soaked, but strong winds were blowing the rain onto the stage before Arcade Fire were dragged off to boo's from the crowd. The rain kept coming and we all knew that was that. However, the band came out for one more song. 'Wake Up' was hammered out on any acoustic instruments they could find as the whole crowd joined in with the now anthemic chorus line. The rain carried on, but the spirit of the french crowd never waned and soon enough, the crowd dispersed back to their soggy tents and cosy VIP areas.

Rock En Seine is an exemplary festival in so many ways. Simplicty is its main focus it seems with just three stages. One big, one medium, one small. Bands from all over the world come, get treated like kings, play on fantastic sound systems and soak up the brilliant atmosphere created by the beautiful French people that populate the glorious spot by the River Seine. We will DEFINITELY go back next year and i suggest you do the same.

Hey y'all

So, its been a pretty good summer so far in the UK. Blue skies, birds singing, sunshine high in the sky, but also, Black Cab Sessions have filmed some of our favourite sessions at two of this years festivals.

Beginning in July, we took our cab back to Secret Garden Party in Huntingdon, just near the punts and colleges of Cambridge. One of the UK's best boutique festivals, Secret Garden Party welcomed us back with open arms to film some of this years best acts.
Check out some the sessions here:

Savoir Adore:

Savoir Adore from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

John And Jehn

John and Jehn from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

Eliza Doolittle

Eliza Doolittle from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

Marques Toliver

Marques Toliver from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

Summer Camp

Summer Camp from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

We then headed up north to Leicester for Summer Sundae Festival. Not quite as hedonistic as Secret Garden, Summer Sundae had a lovely family vibe to it while also playing host to some of the biggest names in music! We filmed some sessions, up on the site soon, but check the photos to get a flavour of who we filmed.

ROOTS MANUVA

LISSIE

STEVE MASON

FIONN REGAN

ERLAND AND THE CARNIVAL

A big thanks to our cabbie Mark who took these pictures and also drove so excellently, keeping the bands happy as larry.

Thats it for another year for the festival circuit, BUT we have some very exciting projects lined up. It would be rude of me to tell you what those are right now, but FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @blackcabsession or SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST over on the ABOUT page.

See you soon everyone and it was great to meet all you festival goers! Summer Sundae sessions up on the site SOON!

BCS x

We just got back from the Mercury nominations ceremony, held in the basement of a swish Soho bar - an odd place to be at 11.30am, standing in a pitch black room, with Lauren Lovern in the spotlight, glossy lipped, reading the nominations. Not a wholly surprising list -although the Villagers ‘Becoming A Jackal’ we didn’t expect and were a little surprised that Paul Weller’s ‘Wake Up’ made the cut, but the rest provoked nods of recognition from the crowd, especially - Laura Marling’s startling second album ‘ I speak because I can’ and the inexhaustible XX debut.

But what of the selection process? A panel whittle down the selected 12 from a pile of hundreds. Then a small group of big cheeses make a decision. But - and here’s our beef - the panel doesn’t appear to account for other people and organisations with sway. Why not get influential bloggers on board, or live programmers whose filtering process often starts way before the press, radio or labels get demos through the post. We’re not suggesting the current select are overthrown, just that we would feel more comfortable if it included voices which better reflect how we hear about and listen to albums. What do you think?

Wassap y'all?

Thursday gets into full swing down at the Fader Levis Area.

Colombian electro groove act Bomba Estereo give a mesmerising performance. The best thing i have seen all week - Thumping Latino beats with a seriously charismatic front woman. Not to be missed.

Pete Molinari provides a calming but excellent show at the Emos Annex. His new Nashville band sound like the real deal.

The Jim Jones Review kill it at club Prague. Ear bleeding rock and roll at its finest.
They are followed by Kid Congo and the Pink Monkeys. Formerly of the Cramps, he

All in all a great day resulting in a great hangover.

Friday night is calling. Be afraid.......

H