The Nikaia Stadium is expecting 50,000 Coldplay fans next Tuesday night for a spectacular concert from the acclaimed band Coldplay. Starting with their hit album Parachutes released in 2000, they have sold over 55 million albums to date. The last U2 concert attracted so many fans that an entire parking lot had to be used as a staging area for people to queue.

“Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a drummer, backing vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, completing the line-up. Manager Phil Harvey is often considered an unofficial fifth member. The band renamed themselves “Coldplay” in 1998″ – Wikipedia

Next to play will be the Scorpions, on the 26th May. Later in the summer will be Madonna and Lady Gaga.

Competition for Cannes Film Festival 2012

AMOUR (LOVE) directed by Michael HANEKE
Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple’s bond of love is severely tested.

BAAD EL MAWKEAA (AFTER THE BATTLE) directed by Yousry NASRALLAH
Mahmoud was part of the armed groups coerced by the Egyptian Government which carried out attacks on protestors in Tahir Square the 2nd of February 2011. Since then, Mahmoud has lost his job, been subjected to humiliating treatment, and been ostracized by his own community that live close to the Pyramids. He and his family are close to despair when he meets Reem, a secular young Egyptian divorcee and modern-thinker who works in advertising. Reem is a fervent ecologist who lives in a wealthy neighbourhood of Cairo. This will be the encounter of two people but also of two different worlds.

COSMOPOLIS directed by David CRONENBERG
Riding across Manhattan in a stretch limo in order to get a haircut, a 28-year-old billionaire asset manager’s day devolves into an odyssey with a cast of characters that start to tear his world apart.

DA-REUN NA-RA-E-SUH (IN ANOTHER COUNTRY) directed by HONG Sangsoo
A young film student and her mother run away seaside town of Mohang to escape their mounting debt. The young woman begins writing a script for a short film in order to calm her nerves:
Three women named Anne appear, and each woman consecutively visits the seaside town of Mohang. The first Anne is a successful film director. The second Anne is a married woman secretly in an affair with a Korean man. The third Anne is a divorcée whose husband left her for a Korean woman.
A young woman tends to the small hotel by the Mohang foreshore owned by her parents. A certain lifeguard can always be seen wandering up and down the beach that lies nearby. Each Anne stays at this small hotel, receives some assistance from the owner’s daughter, and ventures onto the beach where they meet the lifeguard.

DE ROUILLE ET D’OS (RUST AND BONE) directed by Jacques AUDIARD
Put in charge of his young son, Ali leaves the north of France for Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Ali’s bond with Stephanie, a killer whale trainer, grows deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident

DO-NUI MAT (THE TASTE OF MONEY) directed by IM Sang-Soo
Young-jak who is a private secretary of madam Baek, the center power of Korean conglomerate, deals with immoral private issues of her wealthy family. He reports to madam Baek that her husband, Mr. Yoon is having an affair with a Filipino nanny, Eva. Madam Baek is now despaired, then greedily seducing Young-jak for her sexual desire. On the other hand, he begins to feel conflicted by madam Baek’s daughter, the only family member who approaches him with the true heart. Lost between his morality and shortcut to successful life, he has to make the biggest decision he’s ever made to choose whom he will hang on to, in order to survive in this harsh world.

DUPÃ DEALURI (BEYOND THE HILLS) directed by Cristian MUNGIU
A drama centered on the friendship between two young women who grew up in the same orphanage; one has found refuge at a convent in Romania and refuses to leave with her friend, who now lives in Germany.

HOLY MOTORS directed by Leos CARAX
From dawn to dusk, a few hours in the life of Monsieur Oscar, a shadowy character who journeys from one life to the next. He is, in turn, captain of industry, assassin, beggar, monster, family man… He seems to be playing roles, plunging headlong into each part – but where are the cameras? With Eva Mendes and Kylie Minogue.

JAGTEN (THE HUNT) directed by Thomas VINTERBERG
Following a tough divorce, 40-year-old Lucas has a new girlfriend, a new job and is in the process of reestablishing his relationship with his teenage son, Marcus. But things go awry. Not a lot. Just a passing remark. A random lie. And as the snow falls and the Christmas lights are lit, the lie spreads like an invisible virus. The shock and mistrust gets out of hand, and the small community suddenly finds itself in a collective state of hysteria, while Lucas fights a lonely fight for his life and dignity.Following a tough divorce, 40-year-old Lucas has a new girlfriend, a new job and is in the process of reestablishing his relationship with his teenage son, Marcus. But things go awry. Not a lot. Just a passing remark. A random lie. And as the snow falls and the Christmas lights are lit, the lie spreads like an invisible virus. The shock and mistrust gets out of hand, and the small community suddenly finds itself in a collective state of hysteria, while Lucas fights a lonely fight for his life and dignity.

KILLING THEM SOFTLY directed by Andrew DOMINIK
Jackie Cogan is a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that went down during a mob-protected poker game. With Brad Pitt and Ray Liotta.

LAWLESS directed by John HILLCOAT
Set in the Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by authorities who want a cut of their profits. With Tom Hardy and Guy Pierce.

LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE directed by Abbas KIAROSTAMI
An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him, he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of twenty four hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter.

MOONRISE KINGDOM directed by Wes ANDERSON
A pair of 12 year old lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them. With Bruce Willis, Bill Murray and Edward Norton.

MUD directed by Jeff NICHOLS
Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trailer and to reunite him with his true love. With Reece Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey.

ON THE ROAD directed by Walter SALLES
Dean and Sal are the portrait of the Beat Generation. Their search for “It” results in a fast paced, energetic roller coaster ride with highs and lows throughout the U.S.. With Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst.

PARADIES: LIEBE (PARADISE: LOVE) directed by Ulrich SEIDL
On Kenya’s beaches they are known as “sugar mamas”: European women who seek out African boys selling love to earn a living. Teresa, a 50-year-old Austrian woman, travels to this vacation paradise. “PARADISE: Love” tells of older women and young men, of Europe and Africa, and of the exploited, who end up exploiting others. Ulrich Seidl’s film is the first in his PARADISE-Trilogy about three women, three vacations and three stories of the longing to find happiness today.

POST TENEBRAS LUX directed by Carlos REYGADAS
Juan and his urban family live in the Mexican countryside, where they enjoy and suffer a world apart. And nobody knows if these two worlds are complementary or if they strive to eliminate one another.

REALITY directed by Matteo GARRONE
Luciano is a Neapolitan fishmonger who supplements his modest income by pulling off little scams together with his wife Maria. A likeable, entertaining guy, Luciano never misses an opportunity to perform for his customers and countless relatives. One day his family urge him to try out for Big Brother. In chasing this dream his perception of reality begins to change.

THE ANGELS’ SHARE directed by Ken LOACH
Narrowly avoiding jail, new dad Robbie vows to turn over a new leaf. A visit to a whisky distillery inspires him and his mates to seek a way out of their hopeless lives.

THE PAPERBOY directed by Lee DANIELS
A reporter returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate. With Zac Efron, John Cusack and Matthew McConaughey.

V TUMANE (IN THE FOG) directed by Sergei LOZNITSA
Western frontiers of the USSR, 1942. The region is under German occupation. A man is wrongly accused of collaboration. Desperate to save his dignity, he faces impossible moral choice.

VOUS N’AVEZ ENCORE RIEN VU (YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET!) directed by Alain RESNAIS
From beyond the grave, celebrated playwright Antoine d’Anthac gathers together all his friends who have appeared over the years in his play “Eurydice”. These actors watch a recording of the work performed by a young acting company, La Compagnie de la Colombe. Do love, life, death and love after death still have any place on a theater stage? It’s up to them to decide.

After leaving the prestigious Carlton Hotel on the back of a camel whilst dressed in full “Dictator” costume, with a quick stop for coffee on the Croisette, he set off on a shambolic shopping trip surrounded by the media starting with Ralph Lauren (with camel in tow, naturally). After buying a rather fetching scarf for his camel, he then went on to thank the UN for bravely refusing to do anything in Syria, calling them an inspiration for despotic dictators everywhere.

The local Nice Matin recorded a short clip of the event which you can see here.

There is nothing more annoying than you finally find a free spot on the beach, your spread your towel out and strip down, and just as you are finally starting to relax… a group of people install themselves next to you and light up cigarettes. It is of course inevitable that the light breeze will waft the poisonous cloud directly into your lungs.

Welcome relief is at hand… there is now a smoking free beach in Nice. At the Centenaire beach, between the Old Town and the Casino Ruhl, no smoking is allowed between 9am and 8pm. It is currently enforced until 31st October, though hopefully it will be extended indefinitely and then to other beaches.

Each vehicle will be assigned a number of stars according to its age and engine type. The plan is to initially ban cars that are rated one and two stars: petrol cars over 15 years old, diesel cars over 11 years old, and motorbikes or scooters older than 8 years old. If the ban gets extended to three stars then also diesel cars over 6 years old will no longer be allowed to enter the city centre along with a complete ban on all two-wheel vehicles that are not electric.

The scheme will start end of 2013 and will be tested initially for a period of three years. Anyone found driving in the restricted zones will be issued a €68 fine.

The 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Spider had an estimate price of €3-3.7M but smashed that estimate to hit a final sale price of €5,040,000. The next two highest lots were a 1966 Ferrari 206 S Dino Spyder and a 1952 Ferrari 225 Sport Spyder ‘Tuboscocca’, going for €2,520,000 each.

Next came a 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Sport Cabriolet A at €2,324,000 followed by a 2007 Peugeot 908 V-12 HDi FAP Le Mans Racing Car at €1,680,000. The 2007 model Peugeot was the original prototype before it went on to win Le Mans in 2009, and was only the second diesel sport car from a major manufacturer following the Audi R10.

The auction closed with three more Ferraris and two Alfa Romeos going under the hammer for between €1-1.3M.

The winner of the top auction can congratulation himself on capturing a fine model, though we would advise against celebrating with a drink at Baoli.

Easyjet sounded the previous salvo with the announcement of a permanent hub in Nice. Air France retaliated with the announcement of an aggressive price campaign on the low-cost end. Now British Airways has bolstered its flights between London and Nice to eleven per day, nine under the British Airways brand and two under the recently acquired BMI brand.

A quick comparative of two random flights between Nice and Gatwick outgoing 19th May returning 26th May gives us Easyjet coming in at an advertised price of €116 via a price comparison site, though €134 on their their own. They also charge, not included in their “advertised price”, a €6 credit card charge and €28 for the suitcase. British Airways comes in at €119 on the price comparison site, practically the same, and €146 on their own web site. Air France has no direct flights to London, and the cheapest via Paris clocks in at over €400. If you are only carrying hand luggage then Easyjet is marginally better otherwise British Airways wins.

Price winner: British Airways

If we take the outgoing flight, Easyjet has 4 time slots going to London on the Saturday: 9.30am, 2.25pm, 4.30pm, 9.50pm. British Airways only has three that day to Gatwick: 7.05am, 11.25am, 4.50pm. However if you also are prepared to go via Heathrow, equidistant to central London, then there are also eight more: 7.30am, 11:55am, 1pm, 1.30pm, 3.25pm, 6.45pm, 7.20pm, and two at 9.10pm (one BA and one BMI).

Schedule winner: British Airways

It appears that Easyjet, for now, has lost its crown as King of the Low Cost.

Photo (c) nice.fr

Made popular in the 1880s, and enjoying a comeback during the second world war, a second revival of the historic folk music and dance has spread from Paris down to the French Riviera. A precursor to the Italian polka and waltz, this accordian based music will take you back in time and where better than in the square being over-looked by the ancient Palais de Justice and the original flower market lying along the sea front.

For a bit of fun and something a little different, the concert will be in between 4pm and 6pm. There will be plenty of bars next door to rest the feet for those brave or care-free enough to dance the afternoon away.

Photo Serge Haouzi, Nice Matin, click to see in original article

The local paper Nice Matin has a picture of the Ferrari after it went straight on despite the road deciding to detour to the left. The Italian driver left the club Baoli in Cannes “bien arrose”, a charming French phrase for very drunk. As he speeded towards the casino up by Palm Beach instead of following the turn in the road he went straight on, ploughing through the metal railings, destroying a beach hut on the way, and then shooting across the sand before finally coming to a rest in the sea.

The driver was held over-night and then released the next day pending a court hearing in September. We are not sure how the cost of the fine will compare to the cost of repairing the €180,000 Ferrari. Looks like it will not be cruising up and down the French Riviera for a while though.

No it is not an April Fool, starting next month you will no longer be able to have an evening picnic on the beach and enjoy a cool beer or a glass of rose whilst watching the sun go down. Drinking alcohol in all public places will be banned between the hours of 8pm and 5am. No drinking in the streets, in the parks, or on the beaches.

The Mayor is reportedly implementing the measure to cut down on drunk and disorderly behaviour in public, as well as violence related crime. It is also probably aimed at the rising visibility of Easter Europeans getting drunk and sitting outside the cash machines in central Nice and the Old Town.

The 8pm watershed seems early as nobody goes out to the bars in Nice before 10pm, and and trouble tends to be in the early hours of the morning. Even now in early May the sun does not set until quarter to nine. This suggests the new law is another measure in Christian Estrosi’s campaign to clean up the image of Nice.

The key beneficiary will be the bars on or next to the beach, which will become the only “offical” way to enjoy a glass of wine whilst watching the amazing sun sets over the Baie des Anges. It remains to be seen what will happen during the large well established public events such as the Fete de la musique or the Festival du chateau.

Overall the measure will be welcomed by those who want to traverse the bars and restaurants in the evening without being accosted. It will be cursed by students who want to peacefully sit on the beach with a crate of beer and guitar and enjoy themselves. Perhaps pushing the hour back to 10pm during the summer might be an acceptable compromise?