Altitude Festival

01/04/2010

Dizzy comic highs @ Meribel, France

Altitude Festival,
Meribel, France
4/5

Alpine après-ski reaches a pinnacle in March during the Altitude festival that combines comedy and music to entertain the powder junkies visiting Méribel, a little outpost of clustered gingerbread chalets in the French Alps that is especially popular with the Brits.

Invaded by thousands each year, Méribel is tucked snugly in the middle of Les Trois Vallées that make up the world’s largest snow sports playground. Founded by acclaimed comics Marcus Brigstocke and Andrew Maxwell, who discovered that doing stand-up for fellow skiers was a great way to subsidise their own vacations and now in its third year, Altitude boasts an increasingly ambitious and diverse lineup of events, including DJs and musicians as well as a venerable bunch of comedians.

From impromptu gigs from the likes of KT Tunstall to yeti hunts and reformed drugs smuggler Howard ‘Mr. Nice’ Marks giving a book reading in a cheese restaurant, the one thing to expect from Altitude is the unexpected.

This year’s comedy headliner is Al Murray, bringing his quintessentially English pub landlord on a continental excursion, and who knows, maybe on the way he’ll transform his persona into a small town French café owner à la René from ‘Allo ‘Allo. Anything seems possible and such cultural exchanges are encouraged, as evident in the opening gala that showcases the wide range of performers appearing throughout the week.

Compered by Brickstocke, short sets are performed by a mixture of French and English language comedians. While some of the French acts lose a lot in translation, their cute froggy accents ensure that they are never less than entertaining.

On the other hand, the English sets supply constant laughs. Co-organiser Andrew Maxwell, despite having the demeanour of a drunk whose national rugby team were just beaten by Scotland, instantly has the audience in the palm of his hand with the kind winsome charm that only oozes from sozzled Irishmen.

Familiar faces from Friday night television, 4 Poofs & a Piano, prove that there’s much more to them than musically punctuating a lisping sleazeball as they raise the roof with their criminally catchy number, ‘Do You Take It Up The Ass?’ If there’s any justice in the world, this should be next year’s X Factor protest Christmas number one.

However, the stand out performers are undoubtedly Abandoman, an up-and-coming Irish improvisational hip hop duo consisting of James Hancox on guitar and the unique vocal stylings of Rob Broderick. Taking personal details about members of the audience, Broderick creates a rap masterpiece about them on the spot. He is a lyrical genius with the chirpy energy of Michael McIntyre but crucially, isn’t chronically irritating with it. Flight of the Conchords meets Eminem, the spontaneity and inventiveness of Broderick’s rhymes are astounding and on this hysterical form, Abandoman will be one of the hottest acts at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.

The musical segment of the festival peaks, quite literally, the following afternoon when Newton Faulkner performs on the 2739m summit of the Saulire mountain. What was supposed to be an alfresco concert with panoramic views of the Alps is forced inside a mountaintop lodge by unpredictable weather, but Faulkner nevertheless captivates the audience like a ginger dreadlocked Maria Von Trapp, signing off with an enchanting take on 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Altitude’s spectacular setting is obviously its greatest asset, but not far behind is the sense of community that Méribel generates. After only a couple of days, most of the faces around town become familiar, and the guy who gave you snowboarding tips on the piste will be in the bar later to let you repay him with a drink. He might even turn out to be one of the festival’s acts.

With this intimacy, before long you feel like part of the festival, as you eavesdrop on Newton Faulkner debating the distractive power of butterflies, admire Howard Marks’ cardigan from across the bar and flirt with a poof - minus his piano. It amounts to an utterly surreal experience, that could be down to the after effects of high speed falls on the slopes and too many glasses of gluichwein, or maybe, it’s just Altitude.

Steven MacKenzie