Live Review: So Frenchy, So Chic

Ah, if only French musicians brought with them some more gentle European weather. The sun scorched the grass at St John's College and if someone set up an umbrella stall they'd have made a million bucks. Still, it was a beautiful day to sip a rosé, nibble a crepe and let the lurveliest of languages and melodies cool you down. At the first Sydney edition of So Frenchy So Chic, the vibes were indeed (say it in a French accent:) super cool. No muscly munters to be seen – just friends and whole families down for a lazy day on a picnic rug.

“These are the most adorable kids I've ever seen, running around with their faces painted,” the first act, Edward Deer, observed happily. Deer, aka Edward Prescott, doesn't speak French – in fact, he hails from Sydney, but with a gentle voice and electric guitar he sang some gorgeous, chilled-out renditions of French pop songs, including the Claude Francois tune Belle, Belle, Belle.

Lilly Wood & The Prick – aka Nili Hadida and Benjamin Cotto – met in a café. How Frenchy! How chic! Together with their band they play an atmospheric mix of pop, rock, disco and funk; a bit like Blondie at times, Little Birdy at others, with thumping drums, Cotto on synths and Wood's commanding, husky voice. Little wonder their first album, Invincible Friends, won a Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent of a Grammy.

Féfé cheekily started his set in the middle of the sea of picnic rugs before leaping on stage to deliver the show of the day. “Sing this melody!” he implored the crowd; the crowd obliged, cooing the opening hook of Parodie. The Frenchman is not just a rapper but a singer and guitarist too; equally capable of pop ballads like Le Charme Des Premiers Jours (The Charm of Early Days) as he is of rapping over samples of Kelis, Eve, Coolio and Jay Z, and a total crowd charmer (“this is how we… how you say – flirt? How we get the girls in France!”).

Babylon Circus couldn't be more French if they tried. With tweed hats, waistcoats, accordion, clarinet and throaty voices, they played a Cat Empire-like brand of high-energy gypsy ska. The band of nine was super tight – not just instrumentally, from blistering trumpet solos, to the fast-paced Never Stop Running and the heavier Lost In The Jungle, but their camaraderie was contagious. Everyone danced like crazy and nobody worried that they didn't look terribly chic – now that's a super cool festival.