After many weeks of delays, GRDF finally came to make the gas connection to the house, and now the band members could officially take some hot showers - everyone was most relieved.

After our practice sessions with Lisa singing with the band, we realised that we needed a fallback speaker so that she could coordinate her singing to the music. So we made another trip to MusicZone, and once again Jerome, the proprietor, was more than helpful in making sure we got what we needed at minimal cost.

In the afternoon, all the vehicles drove over to pick up Jane from Aiguillon Station, where she was arriving from Paris via Bordeaux. Her arrival time came and went and we wondered where she was. Rita then got a phone call from her saying that, unfortunately, her train from Paris had run a little late and hence she missed the local train connection to Aiguillon. But the staff at Bordeaux Station were very helpful and gave her a first-class ticket on the TGV to Agen, which she was now sitting on. Since this train did not stop at Aiguillon, however, we dispatched Bob and Gillian to meet her in Agen and bring her to Damazan, where we were playing our first proper gig that night.

In the meantime, we all went for a walk around Aiguillon, where I found that the art of Fresco Painting on the side of houses was not entirely a lost art.

Around 1700h we all departed Aguillon and headed across the River Garonne to Damazan for our Night Market concert. The weather was threatening, but we were hoping for the best anyway for later that night. When we arrived at the Market Square in Damazan, we were blown away by the Australian flags hung around the town. We were expected!

After setting up and a quick sound-check, we were treated to a banquet by the local organising committee, with many band members eager to try some classic French food, such as snails etc.

Despite our best efforts at prayer, the rain arrived and stayed for most of the evening. As a result, the crowd was about half the size of the normal crowd (limited to those who could fit under the Mairie building), but they were definitely enthusiastic. They clapped along with the French tunes, listened in silence to Bohemian Rhapsody and danced along to Netty Netty and other faster numbers. They also bought lots of our Recovery CDs.

In the meantime, Asher was making friends with a painter who had set up at the other end of the dance-floor (I still reckon we should have bought the painting as a memento of our first French gig!)

My personal favourite photo of the night was at the end of “Stand by Me” with the rest of the band waiting for the last note, and me and Isaac trying to fake each other out with the final B-flat.

This concert was a great way to start the Tour. Up till now we had been a bit concerned about how the French would take to our music. After tonight, we had no worries. They loved it, and the first question from the concert organisor was whether we could return to play again next year!