In the heat of the night

A rather different vibe from last night's concert. T had reserved seats at a concert in the modern music festival in Narbonne for herself and her visiting friend E. On a whim, since the tickets were free, she booked an extra and asked me if I wanted it. Having googled Renaud Garcia-Fons, I eagerly accepted. He's an internationally renowned double bass player (another Catalan as it happens) with unique techniques and enormous virtuosity.

We set off very early to give us time to have some leisurely tapas beforehand. A bit of a nightmare negotiating numerous roadworks in Narbonne -- inexplicably they have decided to resurface several major city centre roads and on-street parking in the middle of summer -- but we finally found a space. We ate at L'Aladin, which I remember as being a slightly scruffy, homely Moroccan restaurant 25 years ago. I'm sure it closed down more than a decade ago, but I haven't been in this part of town for a while and it's been spruced up and reopened. We shared a platter of really delicious Moroccan tapas and drinks for a total bill of 16 euros each -- excellent value. Service was very slow though -- I got the impression the owner was doing everything including the cooking.There certainly weren't any other staff in evidence. Worth the wait though. I'll be back to try the tajines that other customers were having, because they looked and smelt delicious.

The concert was in the Cour de la Madeleine, a large courtyard behind the former bishop's palace (now the town hall). We were later than we hoped but there's good visibility from all the seats so it didn't matter that we were quite far back. As you can see the lurid lighting was a bit more intelligently placed here.

Garcia-Fons is amazing. He played his unusual five-stringed double bass solo for an hour and a half, including three encores. The material was all from a CD he recorded some years ago in Marcevols Abbey. The theme was journeying and pilgrimage so we had Catalan, Celtic, Andalusian, American, Iranian, Kurd music -- with a flourish of an Irish jig towards the end, which enthused T and E (both Irish). His virtuosity and musicianship are amazing; he kept the audience spellbound throughout. Fantastic to have this quality of concert for free. Have a listen.

Getting out of Narbonne was a challenge too, given closed roads and absence of diversion signs but we eventually found our way through a warren of back streets and were home by midnight. A lovely evening.