Rock en Seine in a few days' time

I must admit, I'm not big on festivals, at least not any more. I did Glastonbury two years running when I was a student, approximately a thousand years ago. The first year we were totally unprepared, had nothing to store water in, and it rained solidly from start to finish, meaning the whole thing was a ridiculous mudbath. And don't get me started on the toilets.

The next year it was blazing hot all the time and I got monumental sunburn. A nightmare.

Now the Festival les Inrocks is about all I can handle. Even that involves standing up for five hours and listening to four groups you don't like before the one you do like comes onstage and plays for 40 minutes. I am definitely getting old.

Anyway, this weekend I am making an exception and going to Rock En Seine, a three-day festival in the beautiful Parc de Saint Cloud just on the outskirts of Paris. It's been a while since I saw Björk in concert, and although her last album Volta isn't - in my opinion - as strong as her earlier releases, it's still pretty fine, especially the limited edition 5.1 surround sound version (essential, and only 18 euros/£12.39 including postage & packing for anywhere in the world here).

Rock en Seine has steadily evolved into one the most interesting music events for those of us who can't spend all summer cruising round the south of France and Spain to get our music kicks (all the best festivals seems to be down there). There are three stages, and on Sunday, when we'll be going, it may be difficult to see all the artists we want to (Bat For Lashes, Craig Armstrong and Björk) or avoid the ones we don't (Faithless???). Calvin Harris and Alpha on the Saturday would have been great too, but you can't do everything can you?

Photos and update after this weekend no doubt.