Passe Partout

I had the honor of being invited to the Justin Nozuka/Jason Mraz concert in Nimes last week. My friend Sim has been really great about inviting me out to the bands different tour spots around France. It was really nice seeing a familiar Montreal face, and hanging out with a good ol' Canadian band wasn't so bad either. The concert was held in les Arènes de Nimes, which is an old Colosseum in the heart of the city. It is a gorgeous venue, and being able to roam around wherever we pleased was a nice added bonus.

About five minutes after I stepped off the train, I found Sim's tour bus parked outside the venue and woke him up with a text message. For the rest of the day, we strolled around the city, ate some delicious free catered food and I listened to both bands do their sound check while he checked on his merchandise and schmoozed with Mr. Mraz's peeps.

During the sound check I became overwhelmed with what was going on; I realized the following: I'm in France. I'm hanging out with one of my friends from back home. I'm in this amazing ancient arena watching a shirtless Jason Mraz and his superawesome band do a sound check five feet away from me. I'm going to get to see a concert that I've wanted to see for years, in one of the coolest ways possible.

I was all over the place that night. I was in front of front row, I went up to the top steps of the venue (old rock and dirt stairs), I watched both bands play from side stage. It was amazing. Feeling the energy from the crowd and watching musicians do what they love from such a close distance, was really inspiring. Its safe to say that all further concerts will be compared to this one.

Everyone was so nice. Justin Nozuka and his band are a really fun group of down to earth guys. Even though no one's really heard of them in Canada, they're crazy famous here in France. Girls go crazy for them, well, mostly Justin. After the show, Jason Mraz came up and congratulated Justin's band on the good work that they did. Then he saw me and introduced himslef to me. "Hi, my name's Jason." he said as he reached out to shake my hand. Such. a. sweetheart. He asked what my contribution was to the show, and I let him know that I danced my pants off during his cover of Lionel Richie's All Night Long. I said it was a pleasure to meet him, and then he thanked me and then went on his way.

Sim scored me a free t-shirt from Jason's merch guy. We had a great time. I love France.
When my fun-filled day of music was over, I hopped in a cab, and headed back to my youth hostel. Because that's just how I roll.








Here are some more pics from the concert....