Huge parking lot turned into a concert arena for eight thousand people, overlooked by medieval walls and a lighthouse shaped like a gothic spire. Wind blows hard, cloud shadows sweep the ground fast-forward like Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven. The air is loaded with Atlantic moisture and the huge structure above our heads shudders and squeaks under the gusts like the masts and sails of an old caravelle. Our friends join us for the party, Don Cavalli, Christine Salem and her percussionists Harry and David, Emily Loizeau… The whole gang is diggin’it and the songs played together are luminous. It’s Bastille day in La Rochelle so as a closing anthem we play the Whiteman’s Ballad with the creole percussions – remember where the wealth of this nation came from – and a few seconds after the final
notes the fireworks go off over the sea.
Later in the night around three, on the sidewalk we meet fellow musicians Giedré and We Were Evergreen and together improvise an outrageous song for all nighthawks to hear.
Moriarty on tour, Francofolies de La Rochelle, 14.07.2012.
