Cahors Blues Festival - Day 7

Le Blues Dans La Ville

The main theme of this Friday night was for various bands, including some that had been in the Festival, to play in restaurants and bars throughout the town of Cahors.

With more than a dozen venues advertised it should have been hard to choose but I had previously noticed, during the week, a solitary poster in a shop window. It was advertising Rachelle Plas and the poster read (in English) "A Girl, Her Harmonica, and Her Voice". No contest. This was the one for me. But more of this later.

Bad To The Bone (French)

Back in the Festival Village there were two more free shows in the early evening. The 5pm one we could see - the 7pm one we could not as we had booked the restaurant for 19:30.

Bad To The Bone, I think, were having a bad day. Rather embarrassingly they had to apologise for the absence of their keyboard player. Whether this phased them or not I don't know (I'm sure it did to some extent) but they were not impressing the audience that bothered to turn up.

What they played was mostly rock and I've hard much better. Sorry lads. Maybe another time.

Rachelle Plas (French)

If you have been reading the previous blogs on the Cahors Blues Festival you will know that Rachelle Plas made an impromptu appearance with Connie Lush & Blues Shouter and this was a great preview for me.

Tonight she was playing at the Food & Beverage restaurant which is situated in a beautiful old square in the old quarter of Cahors town. It's a strange name for a French restaurant, especially as it is owned and run by a Frenchman who speaks no English. I will prefer to call it the F & B restaurant. Its a charming place with almost tropical gardens behind a high wall, and this is where we were seated on this warm evening for both our meal and the show.

Rachelle had set herself up with a small band; keyboards, guitar, and drums - and herself on harmonica and vocals.

We were not at all disappointed. Rachelle is both a talented and an accomplished blues harp player - and she has an excellent voice to suit the music too.

While we finished a superb meal she got our feet tapping to a mix of blues, soul, and just a little jazz. I particularly liked her versions of "Sir Duke" and "I Can't Stand The Rain". A table of fans, of similar age to Rachelle, got up and were dancing to the music that was drawing crowds to peer through the gate and over the wall. The meal was turning into a party!

This girl, from Paris, with her harp and voice, is going places. Look out for her. You will not be disappointed.

In fact, she will be playing at the National Harmonica League, Bristol (UK) at the end of October.

Sadly, my camera started to play up and the lighting in the restaurant garden was not placed to shine on dear Rachelle. Therefore, I have had to rely on web sourced images in this instance. But there will be another opportunity.

So that's it. That's all the bands and artists I got to see in Cahors this year (2010). There was a final night but the Tour de France was passing my house the following day and I did not want to miss it and the massive BBQ party that was to follow.

Cahors Blues Festival was a massive event and extremely well organised and very successful. Bags of credit must go to all who arranged and helped to provide such excellent entertainment. 

However, I will say that I found the volume levels often unnecessarily high. I was staying more than 1 kilometre away from the Festival Village, and the two shows I did not stay to the end, I could still hear very clearly from that distance. 

I am not adverse to jacking up the volume when listening to my blues or rock - at home or in the car. It is, after all, important to feel the music. But care must be taken not to distort the music, it must be respected - and so too are the rights of those that, for whatever reason, may not wish to share the same music. I do feel that being able to hear the words of a song 1 kilometre away rather excessive.

Despite my one or two negative comments my complete admiration goes to all who performed. Although some were better than others they all had to be good to be there.

And this brings me to my list of favourites. To name who I thought was best is not possible because of the diverse talents and different styles. So, I will list them in the order that they appeared:

• Viktor Huganet - Rocker extraordinaire
• Malted Milk - A real blues band
• Cisco Herzhaft - Fantastic entertainment
• The Honeymen - I bought the CD, they must be good!
• Connie Lush - The belle of the Festival
• Nine Below Zero - Great blues, great rock, great fun
• Rachelle Plas - One to watch

Oh, and the Tour de France? It was won by Alberto Contador.

Coming next : Dr Feelgood, JJ Milteau, Mannish Boys, and Alex Henley Band

A bientôt