What a night… 5 years we’ve lived here and I’m ashamed to say this is the first time we went to see this!  We have certainly been missing out on one of the biggest events in Perigueux and I’m kicking myself for not going on the previous years.  Me and Jeff both thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  There were 100’s of bands and musicians playing (I’m not exaggerating) all sorts of different music from serene and beautiful Traditional French Accordionists to loud and brash modern rock & punk bands.  Every square and street corner in the city had a different band playing to the crowds with many more inside the numerous bars and cafe’s, the evening weather was balmy with a beautiful sunset… perfect!

We arrived quite early at around 7pm as I wasn’t sure ‘what to expect’, it’s probably just as well as we struggled to find a parking spot then, even later would have been quite difficult. Anyway we found a spot on the Allees de Tourny (near the Préfecture offices) and strolled the short distance back towards the town and the action.

The crowds had already started arriving and the musicians were tuning up with some already playing.  Like this punk band ’Never Late‘ who were performing on stage that had been set-up on the Square Marius-Lévy.

By the way all this was amazingly totally free to everyone who came to ‘enjoy’.

These couple of guys were hidden away in one of the small square’s ‘Place Saint-Silain’ off the high street (Boulevard Michel de Montaigne) playing to the people who were sitting at the numerous café’s there.  I managed to find a ‘myspace’ page for them – see here!

This 4 piece band ‘Blues Bluster‘ were playing to the crowds on the corner of Rue du President Wilson. They were excellent, playing blues, rhythm n blue’s and boogie.

The night was still young and we just kept moving around trying to see all the bands… I’m sure we missed some that were hidden away down the narrow streets of the old town.

I’ve seen this ‘Spoof Gendarme‘ before at a Vide Grenier – he must be a ‘local character’.  Anyway he noticed I was trying to take his picture so he very kindly pulled this pose!

During all this excitement we never once saw a ‘real policeman or Gendarme’ which was amazing when you think of the thousands of people that had gathered. All ages were here including families with young children in pushchairs and prams – everyone was just thoroughly enjoying themselves.

We strolled around for an hour watching various bands and then stopped at Place Saint-Louis for a quick pizza and a beer… thirsty work all this walking you know!  This group of accordions who go by the name of ‘Euterpe‘ were playing to the diners.

Moving on we made our way back down the main high street to Place Bugeaud in front of the department store ‘Monoprix‘ where the ‘Périgueux Western Dance’ Line Dancers were putting on a show and it seemed some of the crowd were joining in although I’m not sure that was supposed to happen.

In complete contrast at the other end of the Place just about 50 meters away were this crazy punk/rock group called High Explosive.  Their music was really heavy and the lead singer (if you can call him that) was screaming from the back of his throat into his mic. Some of the older crowd were walking away completely unimpressed but the youngsters seemed to enjoy it.

I’ve seen this band before… they were at La Guinguette de Ranamont (near where we live) last year.  The band is made up of all ages from toddlers to pensioners and the band leader really seems to get them all worked up into a frenzy. Again I found information on the net for them, see here!

Here’s a few more shots as the night wore on just to show how many people turned out for this wonderful event…

And another couple of excellent bands -’Damocles‘ &’ Isoplane‘.

We had to call it a night unfortunately at around 10.30pm as I had stupidly put high heel shoes on that were crippling me.  It seemed as if the event was going to go strong for at least another couple of hours.

Just a last couple of shots to finish the night off.

Roll on 2010 but next year I’ll definately be wearing sensible shoes!!!

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