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Celeste fans end up at French avant-garde metal band’s show by mistake

Audience member at the Birmingham gig shared his ecounter with five women who turned up thinking they were going to see the British soul artist

Roisin O'Connor
Wednesday 06 November 2024 04:05 EST
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Celeste performs at Glastonbury 2019

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A group of friends from Liverpool apparently turned up to a gig expecting to see Mercury Prize-shortlisted British singer Celeste, only to learn they were at the wrong show entirely.

A music fan, Alex, shared an account of the mixup on X/Twitter, as he admitted that until last night (5 November) he hadn’t been aware of Celeste.

“Until [last night], five lovely women from Liverpool weren’t aware that there is a French avant-garde post-hardcore, post-black metal band called Celeste,” he continued.

“Sadly for them, I was not the one at the wrong gig.”

In the thread, Alex said he couldn’t imagine travelling from Liverpool to Birmingham expecting to see the singer Celeste, whose music blends jazz, neo-soul and alternative R&B influences, only to find themselves at a metal gig.

To illustrate, he shared a clip he’d filmed of the band’s show, which showed them lit with blood-red lighting as they head-banged to heavy guitar riffs and thunderous drumming, while the frontman sang in a dark, ominous growl.

“They were an awesome bunch,” Alex said of the group from Liverpool. “They arrived about 15 minutes before the headliners came on and were asking me all sorts and where they coil go after to listen to something they could dance to.”

He said he’d described the band’s sound and warned the group might not enjoy it: “Fair play to them, they stayed and watched almost all of it and clapped and cheered loudly which was very welcome in a sadly very sparsely attended gig.”

Alex added that he gave the friends some tips on where to go out after the gig – when he told them the area in question was “heavy-police-presence-every-night lively”, they apparently went “waheeeeeyyyy!”

“It was a 10pm curfew so I’m back home enjoying my dinner and I hope they are dancing the night away and having a blast,” he concluded.

His thread had received more than 2,000 “likes” at the time of writing, with many praising the women for being able to enjoy music they weren’t familiar with.

“Those ladies have got a story for life there that will bond them,” one reader said. “Absolute respect and admiration for them making the most of it, rather than the many alternatives they were faced with. Scousers gonna scouse.”

“This has made me smile on a s*** morning,” another fan said, seemingly referring to the US presidential election results. “Thank you.”

The Independent has contacted the rock band Celeste for comment.

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