VANS Thursday Sessions / WEEK 3 / REPORT
Similarly to the second one, this third installment in the series of the French Vans Thursday Sessions was seemingly cursed by poor weather conditions, thereby driving each shop to conduct the event on separate Thursdays, accordingly. Skateboarding nonetheless won again in the end, as many great times were had, content aplenty was produced, tricks were landed and soles resembled waffles. As usual, here's the report of each and every of those individual sessions, highlighting the drive and importance of local scenes, now, on LIVE!
(The report of the first edition is also available here!)
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Despite the shop being sorry for the logistics that day, from the resulting clip, it still looks like they did well - maybe besides the filmer who ended up in the hospital, but not before first uploading the video.
Everybody gathered at Grenoble's Pulaski, and utilized every skatable element at hand from the small three to the baby handrail, only to later move onto a blocks and ledge spot Soy Panday used to frequent (but some prosperous individual once decided to censor the footage). Special mention for the nosebonk across and down, very reminiscent of Chris Hall's prime prowess.
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Bud Skateshop (Carcassonne)
The Carcassonne incaranation of Bud Skateshop (formerly the local BTR) is the newest one to join the Vans Thursday Sessions party. Apparently, they were excited to, as their clip is packed with a certain explosive energy.
Pierre recounts the afternoon.
"After Bud joined the Vans Thursday Sessions as soon as their first edition in Rouen and Marseille, then Montpellier for the second one last month, it is now up to the Carcassonne shop to start taking part!
Over a dozen locals showed up at the shop around give; both kids and old-timers, different generations sharing one great vibe, every representative of which joined forces to all go warm up at the park.
A bunch of tricks went down and then everybody moved over to place Carnot, which was packed with people on a holiday. Randoms would stop to watch, while some shop-owners complained; that's our business as usual!
And then we went to la Poste, to try out Guillaume's nice home-made box!
By then it's already half past six, and pizza and beer are awaiting at the shop, remember.
Prizes, product toss and we call it a day.
A day the energy of which Carcassonne skateboarding won't forget anytime soon!" - Pierre Laurent
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Shifty (Dijon)
If Dijon's Shifty was out of the equation for the second Vans Thursday Session due to constant bad luck with rain, here the guys are clearly back and going for the throat with a punchy street clip packed with technical and quite savage street skateboarding.
Duly edited to the pace of an AK-47, the clip transcends both the cognitive abilities of the average rude bystander and the unlikelihood to ever see a good late shove-it to manual, in between kickflip back tails.
Downtown Dijon looks neat, and so do Julien Lasota's photos. An entire gallery of extra clichés of the day by Matthieu Begel can also be seen here!
Ph.: Julien Lasota
Ph.: Julien Lasota
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In Annecy, ABS somehow came to think they would shackle the local lake by improvising a jump ramp session - a prehistoric practice according to some, a lost art to some others, a great nod to Matt Hensley in "Shackle Me Not" no matter how one looks at it - and one that's bound to inspire many a youngster to either look at curb cuts under a new light, or toy around with D.I.Y. ramps.
In the Instagram comments, even Sean Sheffey acknowledges Lucas Cornillat's backflip (!).
Looks like getting kicked out of the parking lot was worth it: in the end, they win the prize for the most amazing background scenery this week, which, unfortunately for them, doesn't exist.
The photos are by Sebastiano Bartoloni and were shot post-1988 - yo ain't gettin' none of that Grand Bornand stuff.
On a side note, the Annecy skate scene has been boiling hot production-wise recently (as this seemed to attest, just the other day); here's a brand new local edit - and remarkable effort - by Isaac Olivieri. Looking forward to whatever's next!
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NDJ Skateshop (Nantes)
Nantes seems to be trying really hard to bite Paris as really, all the NDJ guys did was chilling at République all day. Not that one, though - Parisians, don't think you just found a new excuse.
Great vibes, solid skating and a bump over flat that really took it.
The photos are by Gwendal aka. Green aka. Croûte Man - have fun Google Translating that if bored.
Ph.: Croûte Man
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Wall Street (Lyon)
In pure Venice Lyon tradition (Venice Lyon being a new region that was entirely invented along with Film Trucks by Jérémie Daclin), the Wall Street session literally took place in Wall Street, and more exactly just under the board wall as it appears that the infamous Californian painted curb stereotype has now invaded this far.
The day ended on the mini ramp in the back room decorated by Fernando Elvira, who would also draw some of the earliest Cliché boards, way back in the daze.
How the evening then went is a mystery, but we can still taste the Beaujolais from here.
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Bud Skateshop (Rouen)
Video: Franck Wenning
As far as Rouen is concerned, let's let Bud Skateshop's Franck break it down to us how their experience went (a tale illustrated with photos by Valentin Melocco):
"That Thursday, the whole city of Rouen was pure effervescence as it was preparing from the imminent Armada, scheduled for the next week to be ongoing for the next ten days.
As great numbers of visitors and tourists are expected, in order to leave the best possible impression on them, the city actually went and sped up the process of renovating certain key segments of downtown as of late - which, of course, is naturally relevant to many a skateboarder's interests!
So for this third Vans Thursday Session in Rouen, it was maybe sixty of us skating from the shop to the new spot next to the train station, where everybody got to warm up with tricks on the curbs and ledges, whilst others were having fun with the little downhill section that also happens to be the wrong way in a one-way street...
Victor Schlegel, nosegrind. Ph.: Valentin Melocco
We then kept going and moved over to allée Eugène Delacroix and its new benches with a funky experimental design. The next week, just that resulted in us getting the front page of the local paper with the provocative headline "Vandal skateboarders ruin fresh street furniture"!
After which, we ended the day by going through the city hall real quick, before heading back to the shop for the usual Crunchy Mellow pizza and drinks - courtesy of Vans - which sealed the session."
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Bud Skateshop (Montpellier)
More Bud Skateshop - but in Montpellier this time. Another crew who kept their natural, traditional pace for the day and in Montpellier, that oftentimes translates to just chilling and making sure the ledge remains waxed.
And said ledge did endure quite a lot of severe attacks, in this case. François Hermessan goes very much in-depth:
"Five in the afternoon - everybody leaves the shop to warm up on flat; six in the afternoon, we head over to Reichter; seven in the afternoon, back to the shop for pizza".
Actually, yes - simplicity to make one ponder why try hard, when you can go easy.
And no, we don't know who's BEhind The MaSsK either.
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Bud Skateshop (Marseille)
Equally great vibes in Marseille, although that was to be expected as Marseille has been the capital city of warm vibes and no bullshit since humans first touched the walls in Cosquer Cave, making the turn of events more of a confirmation than a surprise.
The timeless Léo Vagoyeau has things to say:
"For the latest Vans Thursday Session, we were supposed to hit up the city hall.
The entire scene was present, from Karim Chérif and Yann Valero to Jérôme Dutang, as well as the team behind Unemployed, the Cafards crew and a bunch of even younger skaters.
Just about when everyone was feeling warmed up, we got the boot from our beloved municipal police with no room for arguing, once, ever!
So we instead went to place du Refuge, and kept going and channeling out our common motivation.
Mael, Karim and Elliot did some cool stuff!
See you again on the last Thursday of June for more! And thanks for showing up!" - Léo Vagoyeau
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OKLA Skateshop (Toulouse)
Video: Elliot Simpson
Toulouse locals eventually wrapped this edition up by leaving from OKLA Skateshop to go and make curb tech rain on a Philly stairs-type of little three set spot.
The shop is open to suggestions regarding the spot for the next instance of the Vans Thursday Sessions, scheduled for late June, on their Instagram. If in the vicinity, come partake!
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LIVE Skateboard Media / VANS Europe / ABS Annecy / ABS Grenoble / Bud Skateshop / NDJ Skateshop / OKLA / Shifty / Wall Street
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To stay in touch with the next Vans Thursday Sessions, please follow the dedicated hashtag as well as LIVE for exclusive reports on the following installments, and a lot of bonus content to come!
