Fête de la musique

The summer solstice is the fête de la musique all over France. I remember a really nice one that I happened to be in Périgueux for in 2008. There were good bands in all the major squares in the city and you could easily wander around from one to the other. My experience of it in Paris is pretty different. We started out the evening in the 5th arrondissement, meeting Th at the bookstore where she is working this week. We had dinner near there but one band was drowning out the next and the crowds were pretty dense. So, we decided to head back to the 16th... I know the 16th is a little sleepy but the contrast was striking. This swing band was set up in our local place Jean Lorrain but when we were there they were taking a rather long break and drinking lots of beer.