At seven o'clock in the evening, Clara Vera showed up at the door of the hotel on time. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Because I asked Fang in advance about the number of people who still went to the festival, this time Clara did not drive her own car to pick up the airport to pick up the airport, but drove a seven-seater SUV.

After Xiao Yao and the others got into the car, they found that in addition to Clara Vera, there were two young people, a man and a woman, sitting in the driver's seat and the passenger seat respectively. After some introduction, Xiao Yao and the others knew that these two people were indeed the friends who went to the music festival together mentioned by Clara Vera on the phone. The dark-haired girl in the passenger seat is Kira Bea, a classmate of Clara Vera at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Clermont, studying fine arts and painting in oil. The blonde boy in the driver's seat is Clara Vera's neighbor, Andrew Belmont, who is a guitarist in a band.

The venue of the International Jazz Festival is in a park in the city, not far from the hotel where Xiao Yao and his guests stay, but because there is a music festival in front of it, and a film festival in the future, many people have flocked here during this time, making the city extremely crowded, and this time point is the last time of the music festival, many people have set off to the park where the festival is held, and the traffic in the city is also very congested. The distance was less than 20 kilometers, but several people spent more than half an hour on the road.

Fortunately, the people in the car were of the same age, and they were all studying and engaged in art-related industries. Whether it's art, performance or music, Xiao Yao can talk. Fang is still Xiao Yao's assistant with Pei Minyi for so long, and under Xiao Yao's influence, at least he can interject some words in music, so after more than half an hour's drive, several people in the car quickly became acquainted.

The six of them parked their cars in a nearby parking lot and walked into the park before the show started, but there were already a lot of music lovers gathered in the park.

Clermont-Ferrand's current International Jazz Festival is one of the oldest festivals in the world. Originally held in the sixties of the twentieth century, the original venue was in Belfort, France, and after decades of development, it has become a touring show between several cities in France. In terms of musical form, it has also changed from pure jazz performances to a comprehensive music festival that mainly focuses on jazz and also includes folk, classical, rock and experimental music.

"There are three venues for tonight's show. After entering the park, Andrew Belmont also enthusiastically introduced Xiao Yao and the others, "One is an open-air performance venue, mainly for rock and electronic music performances. These performers are not necessarily famous bands or singers, although there are also college students and amateur musicians as performers, but the results are still very good, and the performances in the open field are free and do not require a ticket. There are also two chamber concert halls, one for classical music and one for jazz. Both concert halls are filled with well-known musicians, and if you want to see their performances, you will need to buy an additional ticket to enter. ”

"So, I suggest we go and see rock and electronic music in the open field. After Andrew Belmont's introduction, he suggested to everyone by the way.

"Why? Do you think they can't afford tickets?" said Kira Bea, who immediately disagreed, "I suggest we go to the concert hall and enjoy the performances of the masters." They are more professional and the environment there is better. I like to listen to music quietly. ”

"Then you should go to a concert instead of a music festival. Andrew Belmont immediately retorted, "The environment of the festival should be better with the rest of the audience." ”

"Clara, where are we going?" said Kira Bea, seeing that she couldn't convince Andrew Belmont, so she pulled Clara Vera beside her.

"I don't care, I can go anywhere. Clara Vera smiled, "But don't you think we should listen to our Chinese friends, and we should think about where they want to go." ”

"You're right, we should consider the feelings of our new friends. Andrew Belmont and Kira Bea nodded in agreement.

Andrew Belmont looked at Xiao Yao and said, "Xiao, where do you want to go, we listen to you." ”

Kira Bea was afraid that Xiao Yao, a boy, would be inclined to go crazy with Andrew Belmont, so she immediately continued: "There are also Fang and Pei, the three of you decide, and the minority obeys the majority." ”

"We listen to the boss. Fang still said with Pei Minyi very tacitly.

"Boss?" Andrew Belmont and Kira Bea looked at Xiao Yao strangely, and then asked them, "He's your boss?" I thought you were friends. "Clara Vera had only told them that she was going to bring a few clients to the festival with her, but she didn't tell them about the relationship between the three of them. The three of them looked about the same age, and even Xiao Yao looked younger than the two girls, and with the speech and performance in the car just now, they didn't expect this boy to be the boss of the two girls.

"We're friends, but they work for me. Xiao Yao smiled and said, "Outside of working hours, they are all my friends." ”

"But it's not working time, we're here to play, you don't need to listen to him, the boss. Kira Bea said to the two parties and Pei Minyi.

"But he's the one of the three of us who knows the most about music. Fang still smiled and said, "He is a professional musician, it doesn't matter what we listen to, follow his preferences." ”

"Are you a professional musician, singer or songwriter?" Clara Vera also looked at Xiao Yao in surprise and said, "I thought you were an actor trying to be a director." "Clara Vera has seen Xiao Yao's short film, and knows that the director and starring of that short film are Xiao Yao, so she has such a judgment on Xiao Yao's career.

"Singers and songwriters are," Xiao Yao smiled, "Of course, actors and directors are too, I like to try everything." ”

"You're so cool, buddy!" Andrew Belmont patted Xiao Yao on the shoulder happily, "You're going to play some instrument, guitar?"

"Yes!" Xiao Yao smiled and nodded.

"Yes!" Andrew Belmont cried out with a clenched fist.

"But the first instrument I learned was the piano. Xiao Yao deliberately answered.

"So you chose to go...?" this time, it was Kira Bea who was happy.

"Actually, I would have suggested that everyone go their separate ways and go to the venue where they want to go and enjoy the music they want to hear. But I don't think it's good to act separately since we came together. Let's go to the open-air performance venue to watch rock music for an hour, and then go to the concert hall to listen to jazz music for an hour, okay?" Xiao Yao suggested.

"OK, I agree!" said Andrew Belmont first.

"I agree. Kira Bea has no objection.

After a few people finished discussing, the time was close to eight o'clock in the evening, and the performances on the various performance venues were about to start, and several people immediately went to the open-air performance stage on the green lawn of the central field of the park.

There were already quite a few people standing in front of the open-air stage, waiting for the show to begin, and a little further back, you could still see some people packing up the tents and mats for camping. Looking at this situation, it seems that many people have been living in tents on the lawn of the park these days.

The six of them squeezed together to the audience closer to the performance stage before stopping, where they could already see the scene on the performance stage more clearly. At this time, the drum kit and other instruments on the stage have been set up, and several musician-like people are connecting the instruments and sound equipment, and it is obvious that the performance is about to begin.

After several young people on the stage were ready, a blond man with a round head stood at the front of the stage, took a microphone and shouted hello to the audience, and made a brief introduction to the band.

After Xiao Yao listened to the introduction of the band, he found that this was a band that he had never heard of at all, and asked Andrew Belmont next to him, and found that he had never heard of it, and it should not be well-known in Europe, but the audience responded to them warmly, and the volume of applause and cheers was not small.

After the introduction, the band called Blackjack began to perform. performed three rock songs in a row, all of which were songs that Xiao Yao had never heard, but Xiao Yao was still like the other audiences around him, raising his arms and shouting, and he was still having a good time.

The rock band left the stage after performing three songs, and another band took over the stage. After introducing myself, I started my own performance.

The new rock band may be slightly better known than the first, as the crowd cheered noticeably louder than when the first band was on stage. The band performed four songs in a row, and it can be seen from this arrangement that they seem to be a little stronger than the first band. Xiao Yao has never heard of the name of this band, but Xiao Yao is extremely familiar with two of the four songs they sang.

The first and last two songs performed by this band are their own originals, and Xiao Yao has not heard them. But the second and third songs are both songs by Xiao Yao's "Immortals" band. A song "IMMORTALS" was sung by Xiao Yao and the band, and it is the band's famous song of the same name. The other song is called "The Phoenix", which is also a song written by Xiao Yao for Dean and them.

When Xiao Yao went to the United States last summer, he encountered Sun Tingting who was involved in an accident and was involved in the case, and when he asked Keith Craig to help him introduce a lawyer, he quickly promised Keith Craig to thank him with songs and wine. Later, after meeting Keith Craig, he felt that his singer's "daydream" might not be worth it, so he said that the song he was thanking was for "Immortals". Although Xiao Yao still wrote them a song "sugar" later, Keith Craig, the song for "Immortals", did not let go, so Xiao Yao wrote this song "ThePhoenix", which was also a FallOutBoy in his previous life, to Keith Craig.

This song was actually released as a single as early as December last year, and Xiao Yao also received notifications from Keith Craig and the members of the band "Immortals", but he has been busy and he has not paid much attention to the results of this song, but he did not expect that in three months, the popularity of this song has reached the point where it has been covered by other bands at music festivals.

"Shaw, haven't you heard this song?" Andrew keenly noticed the surprised expression of the band on stage when they performed "ThePhoenix", so he kindly introduced to him, "This song is not the original song of that band. The previous song "IMMORTALS" and this song "ThePhoenix" are both songs by the American band "Immortals". Although it was a student band and only released these two songs, the first song was performed live at the Oscars the year before, and the second song was also in the top 10 of the US Billboard. They are now the idols of all student bands all over the world!"

"The idols of student bands all over the world are so powerful?" Xiao Yao asked.

"Yes," Andrew saw that Xiao Yao was interested, and his interest was even higher, and he continued excitedly, "It's not just the student band, although the members of this band are no longer students, but our goal is to become the next "Immortals"!"

"Come on, I wish you success!" Xiao Yao smiled and encouraged.

After watching the three bands perform about ten songs, almost an hour passed, and everyone was a little tired from shouting and dancing. At Kira Bea's reminder, everyone left the open-air performance venue and went to the concert hall in the park to listen to some soothing music and take a break.

Performances in the open air are continuous, while performances in concert halls are divided into time slots and sessions. An hour from 8 to 9 p.m. is a musician's performance, and from 9 to 10 p.m. it is a different performance, which is another performance, both in classical and jazz halls. It was less than nine o'clock when everyone left the open-air venue and arrived at the concert hall, just in time to enjoy the full performance of the second performance.

At Xiao Yao's suggestion, everyone chose a concert hall where jazz music was performed. Everyone already knows that you have to buy a ticket to enter the concert hall, and when you arrive, you go directly to the ticket office to buy a ticket.

When several people arrived at the ticket office, they found that there was no staff in the ticket office, just a "please ring the bell if you need to" card and a hand bell ringing. It is estimated that the staff saw that no one was buying tickets at this time, so they ran to the back to be lazy.

"Hell, is this discriminatory against foreigners?

It turned out that although there was no one at the ticket office, there was a fare sign hanging on the wall. The sign read, in a strange way: "French: 10 euros." 30 euros for foreigners. ”

"I'm sorry, I didn't know there would be such a strange fare. Clara Vera said to Xiao Yao embarrassedly, "I invited you to the music festival, and I will make up the difference in fare, right?"