Porretta Soul Festival : Final.day

The final day at Porretta traditionally features short sets by the performers. Several artists had already left town this year but the final session was still great, with some artists coming across more strongly than in their main sets earlier in the weekend.
The Sweethearts from Australia set things off and their exuberance and enthusiasm was catching. Tony Wilson joined them for 'Papa's Got a Brand New Bag' and there were short contributions from fellow Aussie Georgia Van Etten and violinist Judy Lei.
Anthony Paule's band took over from there on  with a jazzy vocal by Anthony himself and short stints from backing singer Larry Batiste and the somewhat screechy Khylah B. Willie West came across more strongly this time with 'Never Found A Girl Like You' and an Allen Toussaint song. Georgia Van Etten returned with some more mouth trumpet on a jazzy number and LaRhonda Steele, who had sung gospel in the local church that morning, was effective on 'Rock Me Baby' and 'Spirit In The Dark'.
Things really took off with the arrival on stage of Curtis Delgado who shared  a blistering duet with Wee Willie Walker on 'Soothe Me' and possibly the most soulful version of 'Help' ever performed. Willie continued on stupendous form on a new song, 'Let's Talk About It' and a brilliant rendition of Mable John's 'Your Good Thing Is About To End'. Sheer magic for half an hour or so.
After a break Chilly Bill Rankin returned with   'Slip Away' and Jerry Jones reprised 'If Loving You Is  Wrong' before the two of them combined on 'When Something Is Wrong With My Baby'. Wendy Moten,  one of the finds of the weekend, did a couple of Aretha numbers before Tony Wilson returned to the stage, glittery and energetic as ever. His version of 'Good Foot' involved brief solos from the four horn men in the band plus six horn players from the Sweethearts but as he moved into 'Sex Machine', with violin accompaniment, he was forgiven his excesses by the excited audience. Finally it was finale time and most of the artists gathered on stage for a lively version of 'I Can't Turn You Loose',  led by MC Rick Hutton, doing a sterling job as usual, and the man who makes it all possible year after year Graziano Uliani, who was dressed briefly in Tony Wilson's sparkly jacket and hat. A great send off to another tremendous festival.