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Yann Tiersen review
Jason Okundaye
It’s a bleary-eyed Saturday morning over at the Park stage, but a strong crowd for Yann Tiersen, the French Breton musician-composer who first reached international acclaim upon scoring Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film Amélie.
He’s distinct for his multi-instrument compositions, but today he appears with a piano, coming on stage and telling the crowd: “We’re starting with a breakfast mood with the piano, and then waiting for drinks to kick in then we’ll go after-party mode.”
It’s an unfussy, minimalist set of piano melodies that are Tiersen’s signature. A more gentle start to the morning for the sore heads and blistered feet of the crowd, who are near entirely sat down. Hunched over the piano, Tiersen’s technique is exquisite and poised: he employs tempo rubato to glide between pianissimo and mezzo-forte elements without friction or sudden and cheap accelerations of pace.
That also means that his set tracks an emotional journey – you catch your breath at certain peaks, and when the piano keys are mournful and reflective you think of loss or abandonment or heartbreak.
That’s done after 20 minutes, and then Tiersen heads for the decks to go full DJ mode, which is a bit like: yeah, OK, sure, why not? He did say he was going to do that. He then reaches for much grander abstract electronic sounds with trippy synthesisers, percussive record scratching and noisy soundscapes which brings the set closer to the DJ performances at Arcadia, Glade and Shangri-La last night.
People are still mostly seated, bar one man in a mismatched print bucket hat and vest jacket, waving an orange T-shirt in the air. Eventually Tiersen suggests: “Maybe you can stand? I know it’s early!” in the tone of a “no worries if not!!!” email.
The crowd does take to their feet as the set becomes louder and more hallucinatory. Fuzzy, warbling audio distortions echo out from the stage and some people attempt a half-hearted two-step but it’s clearly too early for dancing feet. It is such a contrast to elegant and polyrhythmic piano set; here we have crunchy techno beats and sci-fi like electronic vibes. And then suddenly Tiersen brings out a violin and starts playing with an intense fervour.
Does it all hang together? Not really – but you come to Tiersen for the energetic contrast, like breathing exercises followed by cold exposure followed by star jumps followed by ASMR, not cohesion. By the end that one guy still hasn’t stopped waving around his orange top. That’s the desired impact, I think.
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We’re expecting reviews of Kaiser Chiefs, who I can faintly hear on the Pyramid stage from Guardian HQ – sounds loud!
In the meantime, we’ve had a flurry of publishes overnight, including this intrepid report from my colleague Chris Godfrey, who spent all day Thursday (and a bit of Friday) trying the best fare at Glastonbury.
I helped him out with the dosa and can confirm that it was nourishing.
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Welcome to Saturday’s liveblog
Elle Hunt
Good morning all, and welcome to Saturday’s Glastonbury liveblog. I shall be your guide through today’s action, and we’ve got a packed line-up ahead, peaking tonight with Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts on the Pyramid and Charli xcx on The Other Stage.
Until then, however, we’ve got plenty to look forward to – starting soon with Kaiser Chiefs. Thanks for following along!
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