July 7th 2016.

Six hours on the road, a whole day driving and a new dream come true. We had just arrived to a beautiful outdoors area, with a carefully stepped grass, that would be the scenery to our new adventure. Although from a distance, we could enjoy the soundchecks, where four renewed and already passionate The Cranberries played “Desperate Andy”, “Free To Decide”, and “Just My Imagination”. Noel, Fergal and Mike continued with “Animal Instinct” and a breathtaking instrumental version of “Schizophrenic Playboys”.

Once they had finished, we were lucky enough to meet Fergal. We did not want to interrupt his moment of peace and well earned rest for pictures or autographs, so we just said hi, we reminded him of our meeting in Barcelona, with our whole team, and we congratulated him on the soundcheck we had just enjoyed. Like Mike, Noel and Dolores, Fergal was bursting with friendliness and humbleness. We had never seen other musicians more devoted to their fans than The Cranberries are, and this ennobles their souls.

And eventually the so long awaited moment arrived and we got into the open area to enjoy another magical evening by the hand of those who, in our opinions, are and will always be the best band in the music scene. The stage was quite reduced, what made them all share the same space, creating a more intimate, familiar atmosphere than in previous gigs. The setlist did not present great differences, we only missed “Dreaming My Dreams”, but The Cranberries knew how to compensate this absence:

Dolores noticed the host of emotions, feelings, energy and euphoria they were making us feel, and she would go down the stage several times, getting on the acoustic box, so she could be closer to us. It was almost unreal having her just in front, singing to us, dedicating us those so pure smiles of hers, pointing at us, stretching her arms almost touching ours. The Cranberries were committed and happy, the enjoyed playing passionately, there was true interpretation and dramatization… there were the typical fun and games between Noel and Dolores, the knowing smiles between all band members and of course, the interaction with the audience. You could notice their nearness, their understanding and improvisation… it was as if none of us wanted that evening to be over.

                                                                               Picture by: Christophe Rennes

We are sorry we can’t offer pictures (but for the one from soundchecks) or videos, due to the fact that cameras were not allowed as a security measure. From this web, we would like to congratulate the security at Cognac Blues Passions Festival, who made controls at the entrance, with metal detectors included, that guaranteed our security and the band’s. We will share the pictures and videos we find on the net, like those of friends of ours like Christophe or of ours fellow friends at Cranberries World, to whom we would like to thank for all the help provided in France.