Every once in a while a song comes around that just ends up getting in your head and you can't get it out. Sometime, if you're lucky, it's a song that is just so ridiculously terrific that it end up staying there for several years and the band goes on and creates other ear-worms and goes on to great success. That would be our headliner for the second night of La Fête Nationale, which took place in Saint-Hubert, Bleu Jeans Bleu. Comedy bands don't usually have a long shelf life, even less so Comedy Country Bands. But, when you're good, it doesn't matter what you play, the people will notice. After about six years, beginning in 2019, people finally began to notice. Bleu Jeans Bleu, the band with members named after different brands of blue jeans, had a hit on their hands in the form of 'Cotton ouaté'. It has been five years since the song was released
and not only does it still get the sing-a-long treatment when it hits the radio, but it has become a pop culture phrase here as soon as the temperature drops a little bit. A series of hits have followed, including 'J'ai mangé trop de patates frites' which is a favourite of The Heir Apparent when we end up bringing an order of french fries home for supper. It was also a top moment during the concert as singer Claude Cobra went in to the crowd and urged fans to shout out the popular phrase at the top of their lungs as a sort of spiritual release. Amen, indeed. Bleu Jeans Bleu released heir latest album, Top Minou, back in 2022 and the band just keeps on rolling. The songs will probably never be nominated for a Grammy, though they have been nominated for five Félix Awards, and their fans won't bat an eyelash. Not everything needs to be serious, everyone needs to have a little fun, and fun is what Bleu Jeans Bleu specializes in. The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1000sec, ISO 1600 at 55mm and the second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 1600 at 24mm. Here are several more photographs that I took of Bleu Jeans Bleu during their performance at La Fête Nationale.
Monday, 1 July 2024
Bleu Jeans Bleu At Fête Nationale
Reney Ray At Fête Nationale
It was in 1971 that Creedence Clearwater Revival asked us if we had ever seen the rain, and after most of La Fête Nationale weekend got washed away, those of us who attended saw way more rain than we wanted. After most of the holiday weekend ended up being washed away, the clouds finally cleared and the sun made a later afternoon appearance just in time for Reney Ray to hit the stage at the Parc de la Cité in Saint-Hubert. Even if the sun had failed to show, the people in attendance would have been warmed by the ray of sunshine up on the stage that is Reney Ray. Her latest album, "L'album temporaire", was released back in April and she describes it as being very personal album, dealing with real life problems and and learning to accept that we are all imperfect, will all continue to be imperfect and learning to live with
that realization and going forward by learning from our failures. She said the album title comes from telling herself than the bad times are only temporary and won't last. One would certainly hope that her 'bad times' have passed, because there were only smiles to be seen during her performance. Both from Reney Ray and her band up on the stage as well as the many fans who came out to see her performance. The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1000sec, ISO 400 at 53mm and the second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1250sec, ISO 400 at 31mm. Here are several more photographs of Reney Ray taken during her performance at La Fête Nationale.






































































