Fête de la Musique à Tours

Last night was a very special night. Not just for me, but for the entire city, all of France, and, really, the whole world. It was La Fête de la Musique, an annual, national music festival started in Paris in 1982. Basically, all the streets of France are filled with music. And people. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and definitely unlike anything we have in the US. The closest thing we have is Record Store Day, and that does not compare, in terms of scope and global participation.

Seriously, the whole town was out. There was music everywhere–classical, jazz, traditional–as well as not one, but TWO samba groups, parading through the streets of Tours, at least 30 members apiece drumming and dancing.

Also there was lots of drinking, naturally, and a band where one guy played the bass while the other guy played the guitar with his hands and the drums with his feet (he’d set everything up with pedals, even his symbols)  and also sang. Awesomeness.

It was a gorgeous night, especially owing to the fact that the sun doesn’t set in the Loire valley until AT LEAST 10pm, and for the most part people were festive without being too rowdy. My only complaint was the garbage.

See, when Chase and I went to that outdoor concert/festival, I noticed that everyone was being really conscientious to keep things clean. When you bought your wine or beer there, the first cup was 50 (euro) cents extra, to pay for the hard plastic cup that you’d use for the rest of the night, which was great because not only did it mean a free souvenir (it had a picture of the event’s spokes-dude on it), but also that people were way less likely to throw used, disposable, cheapy plastic cups all over the ground. And I liked that.

But last night was more like the big parties/festivals/concerts we’ve all come to know and love, where the ground is basically a giant pile of trash after. Example:

Laura and I in Madrid, July 2008

Okay, so Spain is particularly bad on this count, but STILL. I expected more from you, France. I expected Plus.

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(Speaking of garbage, Chase and I definitely finished off the night by eating THIS):