A few weeks ago I headed to the south of France with Kristyna Myles and band to play at Cahors Blues festival. I've had to do some terrible things before in France, like share a bed with our bass player Baz for days on end. But this time we all got our own hotel room. Sweet.
Before soundcheck on Saturday morning we headed out early to check out the town. It had a great market and the whole place was bathed in sunshine. It's easy to be happy in the sun and everybody was looking forward to the gig. Ray Charles and Nina Simone had played at the festival in the past so it was an honour to be asked to play. We were treated spectacularly well by everyone at the festival. The caterers provided us with two amazing three course meals and wine during the day, and we had a driver to help us get around. The sound engineers were also spot on. Everyone was very helpful and it became clear there is a respect for musicians in France which is sometimes missing in certain places in England. Whenever we've played in France before, in Lyon, Paris and Aix En Provence, the audiences have always been fantastic. Hit jump to read on.
The gig went really well. We were first on so it was great to see a large crowd had come to watch us. We played for an hour and a half in the 29 degree heat. It's always fun playing outside in the sunshine, such a good atmosphere. Here's a video of us playing a song I wrote with Kristyna called Uninvited.
After the gig Kristyna sold lots of EP's and signed a lot of autographs. The band even got asked to sign a few. A young kid came up to me and asked if he could have my plectrum. So I told him to get lost and punched him in the face............Just kidding. The rest of the festival was great. Charles Pasi is an incredible harmonica player. Strangely, our drummer Tony rescued a Jay bird which had become trapped amongst some flight cases. He stroked it's chest for ages before gently coaxing it out and releasing it back into the wild. Hooray.
The next day we explored Cahors further. It's a really beautiful town. I can't wait to go back to France again for some more gigs.
No comments:
Post a Comment