A Musical July

One of the highlights of summer in many places is music festivals. And we are fortunate to have access to two fantastic festivals back-to-back in July:  San Sebastian hosted its 58th Jazzaldia, and Bilbao hosted its 2nd Blues Festival.

Jazzaldia has numerous free outdoor concerts as well as ticketed concerts in various venues. The kickoff concert this year was – we kid you not – The Village People. While they don’t fit the definition of jazz, they do meet the definition of fun. And what self-respecting American wouldn’t go seem for free on the beach? We met up with a group of friends, two of whom are also American, together with some Spaniards and joined many thousands of others waiting to hear YMCA. Of course, they saved that for last, after Macho Man (a song that did not age well), Go West, and In the Navy, among others that all sounded the same. Only one member is original (the policeman), and honestly, they were, well … not good. Still, the crowd had a great time singing along and it was a beautiful night.

I won tickets from the local newspaper to see Enrico Rava with his band, Fearless Five. He is the best-known Italian jazz musician in the world. He was quite good. We also paid to see Joss Stone, the British singer, who is touring in commemoration of the 20^th anniversary of her first album. The performances were on consecutive nights at a very special venue, the Trinitate Plaza, an outdoor multi-purpose venue in the old city area. The stage is covered; the seats are not. Both nights we got rained on, and not just a little bit. Thankfully we were prepared, and they even provided ponchos (a clear way of saying the show will go on, so don’t expect a refund). Joss is a terrific performer, and we’d highly recommend seeing her – she ventured out into the audience multiple times, even in the rain.

The following weekend we headed to Bilbao where all the concerts were free and outdoors. This year we enjoyed the afternoon concerts even more than the evening events. These concerts took place at a smaller kiosk in a park. We found a bench, enjoyed the music, and watched the dogs, kids and people go by. It was incredibly relaxing. The second afternoon, between concerts, a small band paraded by, accompanied by Blues Brothers Jake and Elwood.

The night before we had seen The Original Blues Brothers Band play (2 original members), which was good, other than it rained before their show. We stayed on our bench, where we had watched the previous concert, under an umbrella and waited, not wanting to give up our seats.

On Sunday morning, before the music started, we stopped in at the Guggenheim to catch the Yayoi Kusuma exhibition. She’s a Japanese artist and some of her work has a Seussical style to it. Her use of color is fantastic.

It’s been a pleasant summer so far, albeit overly humid and a bit rainy. We’ve been lucky to only have had a few very hot days while the rest of Spain has seen terrible heatwaves. In addition to music, we’ve also been out paddle boarding in the bay – thankfully on a day without any jellyfish, which have been responsible for several beach closures so far this year.

Semana Grande is this week, so there will be plenty more music and other festivities. We also will start to see a steady stream of guests coming our way.

That’s all for now,

Shana & Jeff