Ska-P

Una de mis bandas favoritas estuvo en Lyon esta semana, y George y yo fuimos a verlos el viernes. Ska-P es una banda español de ska/punk rock. Su musica es rapida et sus letras son muy critica al capitalismo y la mondialisation, et un poco anarquista (como la mayoría de las bandas de punk rock). Me gusta mucho, tuve que ir.

Ska-p Live

If you are not down with anti-capitalist, animal rights activist, anti-globalization, pro-union, peace loving, mohawk having, spanish punk bands, don't bother clicking the link above. But if you like your punk rock with a brass section, you might dig it. That video is not the concert I went to, but since my nikon coolpix is incapable of capturing decent audio, I linked to a slightly more professional video of a live performance. That video is from a earlier performance in Paris.

Despite being a spanish band singing in spanish in Lyon, France where nearly nobody speaks spanish, the place was packed. George was upset that they had a different band open for them (apparently in Hong Kong, concerts just have a single performer), but they played for about 2 hours after the opening act, and the crowd never stopped moving.

Security for shows like this is a little different in France than it is in the US. In the US I have had pocket knifes confiscated, been told my camera was too sophisticated to bring in, or even told back packs simply are not allowed. At this show, my backpack, pocket knife, and camera were fine, but I had to check my water bottle! Seriously, they took my empty water bottle and gave me a number so I could pick it up after the show.

The concert was held at Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon, which was originally built about 100 years ago as a place to sell and slaughter cattle.



I think the place is a bit fancy for a meat market, but Tony (the Tony Garnier this place is named after) had a plan when he built it. He had planned out a utopian industrial city where all of the people would live close to their places of work, and all the schools and factories and stuff would be beautiful and nice to strengthen the community. He also didn't put any law enforcement or churches in this area, because in such a beautiful paradise of a city, people would govern themselves fairly.

Interestingly, this utopian area of Lyon is called "The United States" (after the name of the main road that runs thru it) and like most industrial areas of any city, it is not one of the nicer areas of town.

In fairness to Tony, World War 2 began before he could finish his project. Right about the time WW2 ended and France was picking up the pieces, Tony died.