The Festival de Carcassonne (Carcassonne Festival) is one of the major cultural events for the South of France and is now one of France’s largest festivals with nearly 120 shows ranging from opera, dance, theatre, classical music, cirque, French and international popular music.  More than 80 of the 120 shows have free admission. It’s Carcassonne’s version of Arttown with an emphasis on the performing arts.  From the end of June to August, artists perform at 10 different venues, including the Roman theatre in the medieval fortress of la Cité de Carcassonne.

Adam and Liz just happened to be visiting us over Adam’s birthday.  As Karma would have it, one of Adam’s favorite bands, Smashing Pumpkins, was performing in Théâtre Jean-Deschamps inside la Cité de Carcassonne for Festival de Carcassonne on Adam’s birthday.  The only “band shirt” Adam brought on this trip just happened to be from Smashing Pumpkins’ “Zero” tour.

Smashing Pumpkins was performing at the Festival de Carcassonne as part of their European “Shamrocks and Shenanigans 2013” tour.  The universe had spoken and Adam and Liz were going to spend the evening of Adam’s 22nd birthday watching Smashing Pumpkins perform in the former Roman amphitheater of la Cité’s Théâtre Jean-Deschamps within the citadel’s fortified walls and in the shadow of the Basilique Saint-Nazaire-et-Saint-Celse de Carcassonne (Basilica of St. Nazaire and St. Celse.)

Adam and Liz arrived early at the theater to wait in line and were rewarded with seats in the second row from the stage.  While standing in line they had a long discussion with an English-speaking French couple from Toulouse about the music scene in Europe.

Adam and Liz had a great time at the concert, right up front to the stage, and they captured some great photos of the performance.

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And, of course, afterwards Liz got Adam a “Shamrocks and Shenanigans 2013” concert tour shirt for his birthday.