Reliving the 80's in Saint Trojan

We've arrived on Tuesday in île d'Oléron - after Corsica the largest French island.  Starting to search for a holiday place during August two weeks before your departure is quite problematic! Fortunately we've managed to find a lovely place, which is not requiring you to rob a bank to be able to stay there and offering parking for free (which can cost you 18-20€/day in other places).  We've arrived in grey rainy weather and took the car from Le Vert Bois where we stay to Saint Trojan, another village on the south of the island.  Fortunately we've decided to ask for a map at the tourist office and got the week's programme of the village too.  Most of the villages have a busy entertainment programme during July and August to keep the many tourists happy. 
To my surprise JL decided the sunset train, a little tourist train taking you from Saint Trojan to one of the beaches, combined with a concert with some 80's music seems like good entertainment.  Unfortunately for us we've mixed up the days and realised the Wednesday that the concert was the previous evening and that the other concert which interested us will take place that evening. A free concert in Saint Trojan with the Ronnie Caryl band - the programme indicated he was a guitarist of Phil Collins, to be followed by fireworks, synonym with France and summer. The concert was to start at 9.
As it was raining again in the morning, we could only start cycling the afternoon when the weather cleared up and the cycling ended with a cool down session in the hotel's pool.  Our good intentions of arriving early in Saint Trojan to be able to find parking and a restaurant with no pain did not materialise, we've arrived at about 8.30, after having to park along the main road towards Saint Trojan.  We've walked along the cycle road to avoid the cars driving along the road, as the pavement was taken up by vehicles.  And arriving in the village, started searching an available restaurant....finding only queues in front of the many restaurants lined along the little port below (the stage was set up at the barrier in the front of the photo). 

Finally we've managed to find a restaurant that could offer us a table and I told JL it is good timing, we'll be able to sit down in the restaurant during the concert and be in time for the fireworks starting at 10.30.  The food of the restaurant was nothing to write home about, but the timing was good, by 10.15 we were out of there. By then people were packed along the port, sitting down along the walls and people in the restaurants were also singing along and cheering.

Ronnie Caryl, even though unknown to us before the concert, turned out to be very talented and not only an excellent guitarist, but also a good singer, entertaining us on songs from the 80's and also some from the 60's.  And we were relieved that he continued his concert after the magnificent fireworks, as it helped to spread the departing traffic.  The French city fathers definitely have experience of organising these summer festivals!