Lilly Wood & The Prick Concert Review

But before I dive into this performance let me just let you in on a secret, last time I was at an outdoor concert it was 28 degrees and I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Sigur Ros was playing and a spectacular thunderstorm had just finished, as if it were a warm up to the main show. This I am now aware is the difference between Australian summer and French Alpine winter, it’s a bit colder outside! So suffice to say I was a little panicked at the idea of standing in snow in minus 5 watching a concert, but WOW, was it a good show!

Last year Tignes hosted a great selection of popular electronic artists including C2C, Kavinsky and Busy P; all hosted in the Tignespace centre, the concerts were excellent but the ticketing system was a little chaotic and I am lead to believe that this is why they decided to host outdoors. And why not! You’re in the middle of watching a brilliant performance, with an excellent light show and thumping sound and you look around and there are snowy mountains in all directions, light snow is being backlight by the stage lights and the cool mountain air is clean and refreshing at every breath. Tignes picked well. It was a spectacular spot to host a concert.

The crowd focus of the evening was very clearly on families, and with a respectable 6pm kick off time they certainly nailed their crowd. Looking around during the concert the air was full of small children on Mum and Dad’s shoulders, clapping and smiling and being mesmerized by the flashing lights and crisp sound. I think this is a big step forward from last year, as the majority of people out here at this time of the year are families, and its great to see events where the whole family is having a great time.

Lilly Wood and the Prick entered the stage just on the edge of dusk, with the last glow of sun illuminating the mountains behind the stage and the warm glow of heat lamps and stage lighting bringing the performers into view. As the crowds poured into the purpose built temporary arena and the mountains continued to darken it was clear that this was going to be a great performance. With a sparkling of their famous electro-pop and some slower ballads, such as ‘this is a love song’ to open up the set, lead singer Nili Hadida chimed in with some great crowd banter, which typically went over my head as my French is not good enough for such things. Luckily enough for me, my companions for the evening were two French speaking Canadians and one French local who quickly translated such things.

Mid-way through the set with darkness fully fallen and the red stage lights and strobes fully bringing in the energy from the stage, Lilly Wood and The Prick started upping the ante with more energetic tunes, with children and parents a like dancing and being merry. The set continued to rise in intensity through the night; assisted by the bands great stage presence, the brilliant lighting performance and the magical feeling of light snow falling on the crowd, when the band at last played the crowd favourite song ‘Prayer in C’ as their penultimate song. Predictably this bought swaying arms, cheering fans, and camera phones in equal measure, to produce the modern day equivalent of the cigarette lighters swaying to the tune.

Overall I was left very impressed by the Paris based band and the production value from the team in Tignes was as usual, excellent. Despite this pour Australian reporter walking away with slightly frosty hands (I forgot gloves) I enjoyed the whole experience as much as any warm summers gig back home and can’t wait until the 4th of March, when Tignes hosts the return of French rap band IAM at the same outdoor venue.

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For more events coming up in Tignes, take a look at our events calendar.