A friend of mine just send me this : this is the cover of Bruce Springsteen's bootleg @ Parc des Princes they took Patrice Guino 's photos for their cover . "Bastards" was his only answer . But i know that deep down inside he's very proud. ;-))) Just check his pictures from the very same gig on this site : http://rockerparis.blogspot.com/2008/06/bruce-springsteen-e-street-band-paris.html
Stray Cats are playing the Zénith for their farewell tour ( so they say ) . Once again prices are silly , up to 65 euros . It's 80 % full up but it's a " small zénith " so there are around 3500 rockers tonight . The evening started badly as i had trouble getting my tix so i've missed the first 2 songs as the band started at 9 pm sharp . As always with rockers , they are trying to play the tough guys maybe to impress their ugly girlfriend, so don't push any of them or they would give you their meanest look. On stage things are getting ok even if it seems that the band is playing in slow motion . Where's their anger they're on auto-pilot.
Slim Jim Phantom is on the left with his traditionnal drum kit , Lee Rocker on the right and Brian Setzer dead center. They alternate their Hits with more obscure songs ( " sweet Gene Vincent" a cover of Ian Dury ). The audience is relax, maybe too much ( but not for long ) and on stage things are going smoothly, way too smoothly... Should it be like this at a Stray Cats gig ? What's missing on stage the audience will give it but not the right way ... Unfortunately 75 min into the gig after playing the first encore ( already ? ) " I fought the law" some stupid fucker threw what appears to be a knife on stage ,Brian has warned people not to throw any shit on stage earlier, the whole band decided to leave the stage for good . What a shame that their last show in Paris ended up like this. They fought the law and the law won , tonight they fought Paris and Paris won
Here's the official statement on Brian setzer's website :
"A regrettable note from the road: During last night's Stray Cats performance in Paris, France, what appeared to be a switchblade knife was thrown onstage late in the show. Brian was struck in the hand by the object. Although he was quite shaken but not seriously injured by this act of complete stupidity, he tried to carry on and complete all of the songs that the Cats had intended to perform. This incident and the fear that the next item thrown may have seriously injured himself, Slim Jim Phantom or Lee Rocker made continuing the show impossible.
Because of the dangerous actions of 1 spectator, the sold-out crowd was robbed of a full program. 5999 people came out to have fun and celebrate the last Stray Cats show in Paris and 1 nutter tarnished what could have been an incredible memory for all who filled the Zenith. Thankfully, Brian's hand was only bruised and at last report, he will be fine. Had that blade taken another path, we may have been reporting a much different situation. Thankfully we are not."
Go Cat Go !!!
SETLIST: ( Courtesy of http://www.straycats.com/ ) RUMBLE IN BRIGHTON 7 NIGHTS TO ROCK DOUBLE TALKIN’ BABY SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH MY RADIO CRY BABY LUST N’ LOVE STRAY CAT STRUT RUNAWAY BOYS SEXY + 17 GENE & EDDIE GINA SWEET GENE VINCENT BLAST OFF BRING IT BACK AGAIN FISHNET STOCKINGS ROCK THIS TOWN ------------------------- I FOUGHT THE LAW
On Sept 5th Keziah Jones is playing a show ( before the one tomorow in the tube ) @ TheCentre Pompidou in Paris for a radio show . Free entrance first come first serve . Show start 7:15 pm .
Another show from Keziah Jones in the parisian tube , the third one this week , this time in Montparnasse . I though he would change of style for every gig, that was advertised like this : one concert blues , one nusoul , one afrobeat and one funk . In fact he's playing his trademark blue-funk each time on his own and acoustic . So quite the same gig as yesterday , he played 9 songs for a good 30 min including his hit " rythm is love"; He ended the set with " Beautiful Emily ". So good set but seen yesterday.
But this time , as opposed to yesterday where the gig took place in a hall for 200 or 300 people , he played in a fucking corridor , which means that if you were not in the firsts rows you couldn't see anything. Which is a real shame as it was packed and many people didn't see anything at all. Of course our photographer ( Guino Patrice )managed to get , once more , down the front for you to enjoy his pictures and videos Rock on Baby ...
Video " rythm is love "
For anyone interested The Stooges will play tonight around 9:30 pm at the Showcase.
Keziah Jones is back in the tube ( where he was discovered a few years ago ) for a second private show this week . He already played on Sept 1st at the station Miromesnil for a mere 20 min. Very good marketing to promote his new cd as it was all over the news in France . He will play two other gigs in the tube this week in other secret tube stations that will be revealed on the day to only a happy few. For this second gig we have a very nice blues band opening RENE MILLER . They started around 3:00 pm as the station was getting more and more crowdy; They've played for a good forty min.
A solo acoustic set of his new songs with a couple of oldies thrown in including his smash hit song and last one for this afternoon "Rythm is love" . With his shiny smile , his incredible way of playing the guitar and his songs, of course, he just played to an already conquered audience . Very good 30 min plus afternoon show .
Tomorrow , There will be a private listening party ( only open to journalists ) to have a taste of THE NEW AC/DC : " Black ice ".
Hope i'll be able to get there as it's gonna be busy tomorrow , The Fuckin' STOOGES are playing a private show in a club and The Stray Cats are playing the Zénith. Hard to choose i'll try both ;-)))
Next KEZIAH JONES SECRET GIGS ON SEPT 4th and SEPT 6th ( all 3 PM ) in the tube.
If you wanna contact us , it's here : irockinparis@yahoo.fr
Metallica will be in Paris on Sept 10th to play 3 songs at french tv show "Taratata" ( a french Jools Holland ). They should do another tv show " Le grand Journal " for Canal+ for a interview . Speaking of Metallica the album has been sold by mistake in Paris' record shop Gibert Jeune in Saint Michel on Sept 2nd ( instead of Sept 12th ) . You should know about it if you're a Metallica fan , it's been all over the news . Only 50 copies have been sold.
Black Kids will do a private gig for french tv show " L' album de la semaine " on Canal+ on sept 9th
Ravi Shankar is in Paris for what is supposed to be his last ever european shows. He's with his daughter Anoushka . He played a "normal" concert @ la salle Pleyel yesterday which i couldn't go to . But tonight is different , this is a Master Class with the Master of indian music in the very same theatre. Of course, both shows are Sold Out because it's probably the last time ever that a french audience will have the pleasure to hear such a gifted musician. For the people who don't know him , he's a sitar player from India , as a kid he was a dancer ( he first came in Paris in 1933 ) and then turn to the sitar . He's wellknown in western countries for playing the Monterey & Woodstock festivals and for co-organising "the concert for Bangladesh" in 1971 with Beatles' George Harrison. He's also the father of Norah Jones( yes , the one ). I really did not know what to expect tonight. First he started talking about his life then about indian music ( what it is, where it comes from , how you play it , the different rhythms and so on ... ) I thought he would never stop . You can't imagine how complicated this music is . After a good hour , we still haven't listen to a single note of music. He started introducing each instrument ( tabla , flute ... ) with a demonstration of each instrument by each musician ... at last. The end was more interesting with a real song played while Ravi was leading on vocals. Sad he didn't play at all sitar . As you can guess you really have to be into Indian music to fully appreciate this Master Class ( which is not my case ). Nevertheless on our way home we felt that we have lived a very special event in the company of such a great player who popularized Indian music in western countries , the kind of event that only happens once in your life. I only wish i was there yesterday to hear him play. Olivia Harrison widow from Beatles' George Harrison was there Backstage . Last song from the Master Class :
