FESTIVAL DE MONTEREAU
JULY, 12/13/14, 2003
by Dominique Turgot (words & photos) - July 2003

With much more people in the audience than there were, this festival could have been a monster one, but many parameters came out together so the crowd was not as present as expected for the three days (strikes and social problems, holidays, July 14th is a national day in France...). But anyway, during these three days, we've got great music and great moments. A great thanks to all the people involved in the organization of the festival.

Saturday, July 12th :
Festival opening with Still Life, an accoustique duet, followed by D Day with a singer reminding me Iggy Pop, with his attitude, and with melodies sometimes close to U2's. Then, it was time for rock'n roll made in US with the Georgia Satellites led by the legendary Dan Baird, and the great guitar player, Ken Mc Mahan. No doubt about the joy these two guys have when they play together and the crowd was easily conquered. End of the evening with a great performance with the english men from Status Quo, led by the two legendary guitar players, Rick Parfitt and Francis ROssi.

Sunday, July 13th :
First show of the evening started at noon and up to 8pm, this is the "blues afternoon". The first band to open the afternoon was Arnaud Coukal, from Montpellier, and his trio playing something between hard blues and heavy blues. "Mick and the Delta Raiders" followed him on stage and revisited some of the greatest classics blues songs with a feeling and a talent really impressive for such a young band. Then, we had, "Ca va mal finir c'te histoire blues band" and his blues full of groovy and funk, led by two great guitar players and a great singer. Now, Mauro Serri and his trio takes the stage in front of only a few dozens of people. Anyway, Mauro will play a great set, full of feeling, sensibility and melody, playing songs from Robben Ford, Eric Clapton, Jilmi Hendrix, among others. He also played an original song he wrote as a tribute to one of his favorite guitar player, Jimi Hendrix. Then, it's Marc Loy's turn, followed by Miguel M and his horn section for a real r'n'b show. We'll have some folk music with Elliot Murphy who will do a perfect show, followed by Chris Spedding. Then is the irish evening with the Barry Mc Cabe Band and his irish rock mixed xith traditional irish music for such a great show. He'll also do such an emotional tribute to Rory Gallagher. For the last show, we'll have a great performance by the Commitments with Joe Walsh on lead vocals.

Monday, July 14th :
First concert in the evening with an accoutis duet from Arles with great vocal harmonies. Then, "Jesus Volt" hits the stage with their blues-rock, followed by "Peter Alexander Band" who will cover "Free man" from "Point Blank" just before "Mercy" takes the stage with his blues real close to Stevie Ray Vaighan. Then is the beginning of the Texas night with Van Wilks, from Austin, TX, and a friend of Billy Gibbons, who will play a great show, a bit too demonstrative to me. For the end of the evening, and the end of the festival, we'll have a well oiled show by the legendary band from Texas, the ZZ Top. Very professional show in front of a few thousands of people (we've heard about 7000 people).

Ken Mc Mahan and Dan Baird from the Georgia Satellites

Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt from Status Quo

Bryan Mc Cabe

Joe Walsh from the Commitments

Van Wilks

Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons from ZZTop

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