Rock en Seine 2025: Vampire Weekend, Mk.Gee & Khruangbin

They are headed by Ezra Koenig, born in the Upper West Side to a theatre set dresser and a psychotherapist, departing shortly after for New Jersey. His upbringing was perfectly formulated to be haunted by the ghosts of a near-vanished NYC, one that could still remember Jewish tenements, but one with emerging aspirations to attend Ivy League universities and join the tristate summer set at their Maine holiday houses. These ghosts have been subject to exposition through each Vampire Weekend album, and their music still rolls naturally off the waves as one catches the ferry between Portland’s many islands, watching as summer houses emerge from the coastal forest. 

Their mock preppiness, which brought them such ire back in the noughties, was more precocious intelligentsia than Wall Street dynasty. 

All this is to say that there is a greater professionalism and intellect to Vampire Weekend than people typically give them credit for. Their Rock En Seine set was tight, kicking things off with a cursory three-song nod to their latest album (Only God Was Above Us, or OGWAU - a strong 8.6 from Pitchfork) before diving into their lighter back catalogue of Paul Simon-esque hits. This was a disappointment for me but not, I suspect, for the wider crowd. 

The normally three-man band swelled to an eight-piece on stage with the additions of a pianist, violinist, guitarist, saxophonist and Jack of all trades second drummer. These were put to good use, most notably during “Sympathy”, initiated with a piercing violin solo before blending into a Grateful Dead-like guitar and bass jam. Periodic pauses inserted into the song’s normal structure allowed their violinist several moments to shred on this more traditional instrument. 

The compressed one-hour slot did, unfortunately, limit the band, forcing a more 2D experience than their solo shows. They were not, for example, able to delve into the darker, near techno of “New York New Dorp”. 

Earlier in the day at Paris en Seine, I had managed to see Mk.Gee, whose lo-fi but innovative brand of synth rock stormed Spotify algorithms by force over the summer of 2024. He emerged on stage looking characteristically like he had just fallen out of a hedge, and announced his set with the rock equivalent of the Jamaican airhorns followed by the cry of an American eagle, which piqued my interest. He was clearly enjoying himself in the surroundings of the Domaine national de Saint Cloud. The 28-year old New Jerseyan was complimented by a second guitarist, a combined hype-man / synthist / electric drummer, a diverse set of pedals, and a respectable ability to traverse the fretboard.  

The set was one of the more off-kilter things I’ve experienced, veering wildly between 80s-style soft rock and severely distorted and virtuoso guitar riffs. At points, he appeared to be punching his guitar rather than playing it. There seemed to be some minor sound problems, with his second guitarist gesturing numerous times to the technical team. The lo-fi soundscape, combined with the volume, helped to mask this, however. 

Khruangbin, whose rendition of “Apache (Jump On It)” was very (very) well received in the dazzling sun of a Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury in 2022, were not quite able to reach those heights again. That said, the Parisians reacted very well to their mellow baselines and psych jazz guitar tones, combined with their lackadaisical, ironic on-stage antics. The main criticism for these Texans would be, if you can blow the doors off at Worthy Farm, why not blow the doors off by the Seine? Give the people what they need - a cover of “Apache” by the Sugarhill Gang. 

Post-Khruangbin, there was a minimal break allowing festival goers to flock back to the mainstage for Kid Cudi. At the back of the crowd, his voice sounded strangely muffled, but these issues seemed to find a resolution as the set proceeded through his various hits from the turn of the 2010s and newer, lesser-known but still enjoyable tracks. His approach to special effects was minimalist but well designed, and he was in a cheery mood on stage while giving the crowd their dues. His songs have a nostalgia factor, and there was a notable cohort of folks of a certain age who seemed to know the older tracks word for word. He ended the second day of Rock en Seine 2025 with “the Pursuit of Happiness”. 

It would be remiss of me here not to mention the trees of the festival. The festival area is actually a subsection of the gardens of an old chateau estate - Domaine national de St Cloud (or National Estate of Saint-Cloud), and boasts a sprawling collection of horse chestnuts. The trees are now protected under French law: if the event managers were to break a single branch, they would have to pay compensation. The stages are arranged accordingly, carefully positioned among the arbored walks. The festival itself is unusually linear, effectively consisting of a long forested corridor with stages and food stalls dotted around the edge.  Paths between the stages pass under the boughs of chestnut avenues that stretch into the distance, which provides a calming effect for festivalgoers as they move around the site. 

I had not heard a great deal about Rock En Seine before attending, with Londoners preferring their own set of urban park day festivals. The festival director gave us a short talk before proceedings began - the festival, Paris’ first in a city format, started in 2003 with the objective of bringing popular ‘Anglo-Saxon’ (his words) music to the environs of the French capital. Its dual aim is now to nurture French talent, and a number of slots are reserved for younger French artists, with the festival providing a programme to help these artists break out. This includes masterclasses from the more established festival performers. 

There is a sustainability focus at the festival, with reusable cups only, the use of hydroelectricity where power requirements permit, no red meat in the backstage areas and plant-based options required for food stalls. There is a bike storage area on-site and they are seeking to improve their sustainability performance year on year. 

I could only attend the Thursday of the festival, which kicked off at 6ish pm, so I cannot vouch for the weekend days. With that being said, if you have a penchant for the Anglo independent scene, with local French flavours and some interesting headline acts assembled to top the schedule, all delivered within the crumbling beauty of a Monet-adjacent landscape, this might be the festival for you. At less than 100 euros for a day ticket, Rock en Seine could be an interesting addition to a summery weekend trip to France. The Thursday cost 90 euros for the day, which is great value considering I recently spent 50 quid seeing Vampire Weekend on their solo OGWAU tour. 

Rock en Seine’s typical lineup pool will undoubtedly frequent UK festivals, but Paris provides some aesthetic novelty. In addition, having spent six years in London, I would perhaps argue that Parisians are more sophisticated and interesting festival companions than the hordes of Londoners who descend upon their city’s expanding schedule of day festivals. The style standard was (as expected for Paris) high, there was minimal laddery and I did not see anyone in the crowd lose their composure, though some may see that as a weakness rather than a strength. It’s not Burning Man, but any respectable music festival fan should at least consider jumping on the Eurostar down to Paris for a few days and ticking Rock en Seine off their list.