Day 21: Nantes
Welcome
Yesterday we played a show in Nantes, in western France.
Our body clocks are all aflutter after pivoting between so many early and late starts, and so yesterday I woke up at a frustrating 8am, and after spending quite a while trying fall back asleep, I gave up and headed downstairs to have a pick at the breakfast buffet. I didn’t let the tiny square plates hold me back and served up a generous spread with baguette, fig bread, croissant, cheese, outdoor egg, orange, blood orange, chia seed pudding, and a crousti’ cup with marmalade. There was an orange juice machine in the restaurant, a proper one that squeezes real oranges, and I enjoyed several glasses of juice while feeling sorry for the person that would have to clean the insides of this machine afterwards.
I went back to bed after breakfast and banked a couple more hours of sleep, waking up in the afternoon and heading down to the lobby to find that it was sweltering; the Ibis Styles for all its design brilliance was not equipped with passive cooling. It was equipped with semi-comfortable passive seating though, and I sat for a while getting some writing done while waiting for our departure time to arrive.
The drive to Nantes was only forty minutes and we arrived slightly early to find a collection of venue staff already waiting in the loading dock to help us with the push. The dock itself looked like one of the hangers on the Death Star, and it felt very funny backing our small van up to an entrance designed to handle a couple of large semi-trucks. The loaders deployed a small bridge which clipped straight onto the tail of our Mercedes Benz Sprinter Tourer, and a busy procession began, clearing out the cargo bay in record time. I liked the attention to detail that was evident in the work culture here, which I can only assume came from the very proficient stage manager who ran our show like it was a stadium tour. I popped up to the green room after setting up my equipment and when I returned my cables were neatly taped down and my bass guitar stand had been reinforced with a heavy pair of sandbags. We sound checked and I can attest that there were no accidents on my side of the stage.
This was the chair situation in the green room.
On our approach to the venue, I had spotted from a distance the tall spires and flying buttresses of a magnificent cathedral, just visible above the apartment buildings of the city centre. In our break before dinner, I set out for a walk, hoping to find this cathedral, and explore whatever parts of the city I passed on the way.
Nantes is the sixth largest city in France and is historically and culturally a part of the Brittany region, despite controversially being omitted from the current administrative region of Brittany. During France’s colonial period Nantes became the largest port in the country, playing a key role in the Atlantic slave trade as well as having huge shipbuilding and food processing industries, and also. The evidence of this prosperous time is everywhere as you walk through the city centre with tall, neoclassical apartment buildings lining every street, and great public buildings like the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Théâtre Graslin, and Museé d’arts de Nantes standing proudly and deliberately at the ends of long, straight avenues.
I did find my cathedral eventually, and I carefully checked that it was the correct one because I had passed several impressive churches already. It was magnificent in person, and this quantity of magnificence demanded the presence of two saints in the church’s title: Cathédrale Saint-Pierre et Saint Paul de Nantes. It was a construction project that took 457 years, beginning in 1434, and concluding in 1891, though it happened in many shorter phases throughout this time span. The church is currently closed to the public after a series of fires destroyed the original organ as well as other parts of the interior. On the outside there is plenty to enjoy though, including some beautiful detailing around the gates, where you can clearly see the contrast between the original stonework and segments that have been replaced.
Nantes wasn’t finished with me yet. As I headed back towards the river, I passed the Château des ducs de Bretagne, a large castle that stands on the north-eastern edge of the historic city centre. I was pleased to be able to stroll around the castle, right next to the old walls and the moat, and through a grassy area that was home to a tiny flock of sheep. Now housing a museum for the city’s history, the château was constructed during the 13th century, and served as the residence of the Dukes of Brittany, and later as the Breton residence of the French Monarchy after the union of Brittany and France.
I was late to dinner after such an exciting evening walk. Stereolux had in-house catering and we enjoyed a sit-down meal that was both healthy and delicious. Afterwards we headed down to watch Lande Hekt who was back with us again but was playing the next few shows solo. Her set carried a different character and there were plenty of new things to discover with the songs performed stripped back.
Our stage manager was already waiting for us when we arrived side of stage, ready to play. He had his headset strapped on and he transmitted an order directly to the front of house team at the mixing console: it was time for show. We began our set, performing to a room that was full but not packed, and felt a bit standoffish. As the evening went on things loosened up, though. By the last quarter of the set the front third of the crowd were dancing and the atmosphere was very festive. It was a most enjoyable gig, and we were buzzing afterwards.
