Porretta 35th year

The Porretta Soul Festival is with us again. Another chance to spend a few days im this sleepy hill town which has been welcoming the world's best soul stars for 35 years. The line up this year is not as impressive as in the past as so many artists have passed on but there is still enough of interest to make the trip worthwhile. And then there's the weather which this year is exceptionally hot in Italy, although slightly cooler in Porretta. This time I flew into Verona with Alan Lloyd and joined floods of tourists looking at places associated with Romeo and Juliet, including Juliet's balcony (put up in the 1930s), Romeo's House and Juliet's supposed tomb. Very attractive town however with lots to see. From there we went to Trento on the edge of the Alps which was cooler and another interesting town from a historical point of view with few tourists. The huge Castello Del Buonconsiglio was worth a look round. From there we took the train via Bologna to Porretta for the first night of the festival. The highlight was Terrie Odabi with the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra who was superb. She began with 'Breaking Up Somebody's Home' and continued with her own song 'Live My Life', 'After A While', a song which the late Wee Willie Walker recorded with Anthony Paule, which included a great sax break by Charles McNeal,the Staple Singers' 'Why Am I Treated So Bad', 'Aint Nobody Gonna Turn Me Around' and a couple of positive songs 'Hate Take A Holiday' and 'Love Trumps Hate'. her version of O V Wright's 'You're Gonna Make Me Cry' was brilliant - a real tour de force - and she ended with her ode to her home town of Oakland 'Gentrification Blues'. Anthony's band was as good as ever and this set was worth the entrance money on its own.

Earlier there was some fairly run of the mill Soul from Irish duo Eamonn Flynn and Conor Brady who were on the soundtrack of 'The Commitments'. Soul standards such as 'Try A Little Tenderness' and 'Mustang Sally' formed the bulk of their set but Eamonn's rather limited vocal ability made it all a bit dull. The other first night acts didn't really appeal but I did have a quick look at them. French band the Lehmanns Brothers seemed to be a young rock band without a lot of Soul, and I didn't really know what to make of the final act Mononeon who was dressed in a garish lime green hoodie and seemed to veer towards electronic music. Not for me. Plenty more to come though over the next three days.

River view in Verona.

Castle in Trento.