Most people know about the annual celebration of music that originated in France but is now held on the first day of summer in many other countries, too.
Le Lavandou had its little slice of the action. Paris will have been buzzing, Montpellier certainly was, but the event is not confined to the capital and bigger cities.
To my shame, I did not check the name of the band I encountered first, playing on a stage outside the Le Terminus hotel and bar - Le Lavandou once had a railway station - and which proved to be the best playing anywhere in town.
Mme Salut thought they were called 100% Recyclable, but that - I assured her knowingly - was simply the lead singer's description of the band. I thought Jubilé Michel, since all were wearing tops bearing that slogan, until learning from the same source that they were honouring their drummer Michel's imminent departure.
Sustained only by water - not very rock and roll - Notre Groupe de Rock Sans Nom offered a long, tireless selection of mostly British covers - Stones, Queen, Dire Straits among them. It even got me dancing, or that is how my desultory shuffling can be described with a straight face.
The mayor, Gil Bernardi, a fan of Anglo-Saxon rock, had chosen wisely where to spend his evening. I spotted him singing along to Honky Tonk Women and Jumping Jack Flash.
And here's an update. As of Monday morning, I now know their name. Um, 100% Recyclable.
Elsewhere, there was basic singalong fare, to be filed under Variété Française, on the seafront, jazz outside the Rackham le Rouge bar and restaurant and, partly hidden behind the plants at another on the marina, the excellent Zafra Moon, who played reggae and blues while we were listening.
And there was still time at the weekend for Le Lavandou's Fête des Pêcheurs, delayed from a week earlier by capricious weather. For €15 it was possible to share a plate of oysters, chunky whelks and prawns with two glasses of rosé. You pay nearly that just for drinks on seafront terraces.
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