ROCKERPARIS' list of TOP 10 Rock concerts of 2014 & The Worsts...

ROCKERPARIS' list of TOP 10 Rock concerts of 2014 & The Worst...

THE BEST CONCERTS:

1) THE ROLLING STONES
We attended only 3 shows on this Tour @ Stade de France, Circo Massimo & Werchter festival and I have to say that we had a blast each time even though they were probably far from being their best shows on the tour.
Each time we were in the Golden Pit ( Platinum for Paris) with a great view, we took some nice Pics, our favourite was probably Rome @ Circo Massimo (though not their best show) because of the location and the fun we had for 3 days in Rome, probably the most beautiful city in the world.

2) AC/DC Video shooting for "Rock or Bust" in London, Black Island Studios.

A dream come true : attending a video shoot with AC/DC. Not a proper concert but the highlight of the year for us.

 Too bad Phil Rudd was NOT there but being with the boys for a couple of hours in such an intimate setting was perfect. If you're looking closely at the official video and extras you can see Rockerparis in the audience. That was Christmas before it's time.

3) ENNIO MORRICONE @ Paris Bercy Feb 04

Just in the middle of the Rolling Stones's rehearsing @ Bondy Studios, Ennio Morricone playing his famous soundtracks in front of a sold-out Bercy.  I've never seen so many people on a stage: 86 piece orchestra and 75 voice choir.

Amazing concert and we could met him before the show and get my "Good Bad Ugly " American Vinyl signed by the master himself. 

Then we did a few other concerts that we will remember for 2014:

Jeff Beck @ Grand Rex, Paris May 27 2014
Fantastic guitar player

 Prince, concert n°1, 6:00 pm @ Zénith, Paris June 01st 2014
 Two shows in one day, you don't do this everyday

 Prince @ Zénith, Paris, show n° 2 , June 01 2014
 second show was better and longer than the first one

 Buddy Guy + Quinn Sullivan @ Olympia, Paris July 03 2014

legendary bluesman with great support: a young virtuoso.

Scorpions @ Fête de l'Humanité, la Courneuve, Sept 13 2014

Rocking like never before , great setlist though too many ballads and we were on stage for this one in front of more than 80 000 people

Babyshambles @ Chorus Live fest, Paris , March 29 2014
 Peter still rocking, last babyshambles album is great and when peter is not out of it , he doing great performances

 Rodriguez @ Olympia, Paris March 16 2014
come back show after the disastrous concerts from last year at the Zénith , glad to see Sixto in better health

 Jello Biafra & the GSM @ 104, Paris April 23 2014
kick ass show from Jello

 Anna Calvi + Daughter @ Cité de la Musique for "Days Off", Paris July 07 2014
Sexy as hell and great guitar player

 Ty Segall @ Cigale, Paris Oct 21 2014
Rocking like a maniac

 The Strypes @ Gaité Lyrique, Paris April 30 2014
new band kicking ass

THE WORST show of 2014:
 YES @ Grand Rex, Paris May 13 2014
By far the worst of the year is YES, After reading our review written straight after the show, I Guess that we were a bit rough... in fact NO. Boring music played for & by boring old farts.
We have nothing against Prog, we're great fans of RUSH but this crap was beyond everything...

We've also attended a few disappointing , average or boring concerts:
Bryan Ferry @ Palais des Sports, Paris , Nov 21 2014
I guess he was sick. Very average show
 Mlle K @ L'Album de la Semaine, Canal+, Paris Dec 08 2014
just boring, no good songs at all
 The Do @ "Coming up session #1" France Inter, Paris Sept 24 2014
electro pop boring
 Herbie Hancock & Wayne Shorter @ Olympia, Paris July 15 2014
 Very disappointing concert, we were expecting a lot from these two legends but it turned out very... de-constructed and experimental...

 We can ad this two as well:

Jack White (2nd show) @ Olympia, Paris June 30 2014
New record not as good as the previous one and a bit disappointed by the show even though it was an overall good show

Cat Power solo @ Gaité Lyrique, Paris Oct 30 2014
Very strange concert, she was confused for the whole set, ending songs prematurely, not remembering her own songs, but we still love her very much , she's so sweet.

The Year in Rock 2014 by ROCKERPARIS

2014 is now over and we've done a short list of concerts, month by month, that we will remember for this year. 2014 was  very quiet concertwise, several times we only went to a handful of shows for a whole month so this short selection isn't our list of the Best shows we've been to this year. 

Just a good way to remember this year 2014:

L'Année 2014 a été assez calme, petit récapitulatif de quelques concerts, pour chaque mois, afin d'avoir une vision d'ensemble de l'année qui vient de s'écouler...

 Ennio & Rolling Stones with Bobby Keys

Jan 2014 

Depeche Mode @ Paris Bercy Jan 29 2014

 Warpaint @ Album de la Semaine

Feb 2014

rolling stones rehearsals: one month of rehearsals in Paris which culminated with a secret private show for 27 lucky fans in the rehearsals studio in Bondy. After numerous attempts to organize a proper club gig in Paris that never materialized.

Ennio Morricone @ Bercy:
the best of the numerous soundtracks of the Master with more than a 100 musicians and chorists on stage in a sold-out Bercy.

March 2014

 Babyshambles @ Chorus Fest
With a very good new album Babyshambles did a very good set much better than their previous concert at the Zénith in Paris

Rodriguez @ Olympia
Back for this sold-out and only gig in Paris after the disastrous gigs a few months earlier @ Zénith (Cigale show was better) This one was very nice

 April  2014

The Strypes @ Gaité Lyrique

up & coming band rocking, nice discovery

 Jello Biafra @ 104
Punk legend for a kick-ass set

 Eumir Deodato @ Pan Piper Club
Brazilian legend playing a small club gig in Paris

 May 2014

Manic Street Preachers @ Bataclan
First gig in Paris for more than 15 years bt the band did just the minimum

Ben Harper for 3 shows @ Folies bergere 
3 sold-out shows for Ben with 3 different setlists with his mother as a guest on a couple of songs

 Cat Power @ We Love Green Fest
Chan Marshall on her own for a solo spot, everyone listened to her songs religiously even though it was a festival in day light

Jeff Beck @ Grand Rex
fantastic concert by guitar virtuoso

Black Keys @ Album de la semaine & Studio de la grande Armée
The band is now very successful playing festivals and sold-out arenas and we were lucky to attend two shows in front of less than 150 people @ canal+ and no more than 100 lucky guests @ Studio Grande Armée

June 2014

 Rolling Stones @ Stade de France, Circo Massimo & Werchter festival
3 great shows by the Stones, We had a blast in Rome as the location was fantastic and we had a fantastic stay in Rome for 3 days, visiting the city...

Prince @ Zénith (two shows: 1st show, 2nd show)
Great shows by the midget, two shows, one in the afternoon and one later that night

July 2014

Nick Oliveri @ truskel
Acoustic and killer set, the man is crazy and it was heavy

Sinead O Connor + Plaza Francia @ Théatre de Paris
Sinead better than ever, fantastic voice, great set by Plaza Francia

Buddy Guy + Quinn Sullivan @ Olympia
Great set by the Blues legend and with superb young guitar virtuoso Quinn Sullivan

Anna Calvi @ Cité de la Musique
Great guitar player and so sexy

August 2014

Holidays

Sept 2014

Scorpions @ La Courneuve (Fete de l'Humanité)
Rockin like never before and we we were on stage for the whole set

Oct 2014

Cat Power Solo @ Gaité Lyrique
Strange concert by Shawn, acting strange for most of the set but still adorable

Morrissey @ Grand Rex
the return of the Moz 

Ty Segall @ Cigale + Album de la semaine
Killer set by Ty, rockin and smokin'

Patti Smith/ John Cale @ Fondation Cartier
First show together since 1977 (?)

Nov 2014

Bryan Ferry @ Palais des Sports
Average concert

Slash @ Zénith
Overall good show but very boring 20 min  guitar solo

Motorhead + The Damned @ Zénith
return of lemmy for a overall good show, glad to see Lemmy in better health 

Billy Cobham @ New morning
Jazz legend, fantastic drummer

Elliott Murphy @ Bibliotheque Buffon

Dec 2014

Blondie @ Vuitton Store
Private concert in the very posh Vuitton store Avenue montaigne, good set

Smashing Pumpkins @ Trabendo
Special line up for this show with Brad Wylke from RATM & the bass player from The Killers

Royal Blood @ Point Ephémere
Media darling playing a club, last time to see them in such an intimate place , next year they will headline the Olympia (2500 capacity)

Festival "Bring the Noise" with Royal Blood, Loading Data, Spark Gap @ Point Ephemere, Paris Dec 18 2014

Festival "Bring the Noise" for OUI FM with Royal Blood, Loading Data, Spark Gap @ Point Ephemere, Paris Dec 18 2014

Media darling ROYAL BLOOD playing this Festival.
Probably the last time to be able to see them in a club as they are playing the Olympia next year.

Drums, Drums & more Drums & a bit of bass too.

Certainement la dernière chance pour voir Royal Blood, les chouchous des médias, dans une petite salle, l'année prochaine il faudra se déplacer dans la salle du Bd des Italiens, l'Olympia, le "groupe" y donnera un concert le 17 Mars 2015 pour la St Patrick, dommage que ce soit dans ce cloaque du Point Ephémère coincé entre un canal et la Place Stalingrad. Ça change de la moquette du 22 Avenue Montaigne pour le concert de Blondie de lundi dernier.
Loading Data assure la première partie, on n'a pas vu Spark Gap qui ouvrait ce mini-festival OUI FM, et de belle façon, fortement influencé par les QOTSA mais avec de bons titres, ce qui n'est plus trop le cas des Queens depuis quelques années.
L'Ambiance monte d'un cran après la pose, les nombreux photographes se positionnent et les filles se faufilent au premier rang.
 Deux musiciens, les White Stripes, Les Kills et les Black Keys y sont arrivés pourquoi pas eux, mais dans une formation inédite Royal Blood c'est un batteur et un bassiste c'est tout, euh... les mecs vous n'avez pas oublié quelque chose en route ? Eh Bien ... Non ! Bon, c'est vrai, un peu comme Lemmy mais en beaucoup plus mélodique, la basse sonne comme une guitare. Le plus dure pour eux, ça va être de se renouveler, d’étoffer leur son pour le second album ou alors d'assurer niveau compo en gardant la même formation. Pour le moment c'est le cas, les compos tiennent excellemment la route même après une première écoute en Live. Le duo semble promis à un bel avenir.
Une bonne découverte.

setlist & merchandising

Vernissage Exposition photos "Instants" @ Galerie Stardust, Paris Dec 18 2014

Vernissage "Instants" @ Galerie Stardust, Paris Dec 18 2014

see ya there tonight

unknown session with Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg & Renaud Verley for the "Les Chemins de Katmandou" movie from 1969

The Who, Hendrix & Chuck Berry

Blondie @ Vuitton Store, Paris Dec 15 2014

Blondie @ Louis Vuitton Store, Paris Dec 15 2014

Louis Vuitton is celebrating the re-opening of its store on the posh Avenue Montaigne with a party with surprise guest BLONDIE  for a proper concert.
The band has been in Paris for a few days now, first with a very short Debbie Harry set (4 songs) for the Paco Rabanne Perfume BlackXS @ Gaité Lyrique (click for the report) then Debbie & Chris did a signing session @ Marc Jacobs (click for a few pics) book store Bookmarc on sunday afternoon to promote Chris Stein's new book "Chris Stein/Negative : Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk". The store sold it for 55 euros when you can find it everywhere else for 40 euros. It is normally on sale for 55 dollars, funny way of doing the conversion.
Tonight the meeting place is at the huge Louis Vuitton store on Avenue Montaigne, lots of posh and sexy girls, we are wondering around the store a bit before going into the first main room where a DJ is playing then the opened the second room where the show is taking place , another huge room with a capacity of several hundreds.

It's a proper concert hall within the store (as big as the Gaité Lyrique) with a proper stage & lightning. The full band is here with Clem on drums is his " Glass cage".

The band is playing a Greatest Hits set and is in fine form and spirit. Chris has a wonderfully shaped guitar that looks like a HG Giger design (though i don't know if it is one)
We have a short medley of some groovy songs towards the end with snippets of the Beastie Boys' "Fight for your rights" and Dee Lite's "Groove is in the house".
BLONDIE ended their 60 min+ set with "Heart of Glass". No encore.
Very good show, now we can enjoy the buffet and champagne. Let's get waysted on the house.

Encore une journée passée en compagnie de Blondie après la courte prestation de Debbie Harry à la Gaité Lyrique pour les parfums Blackxs et la dédicace du livre de Chris Stein (par Debbie et Chris) au magasin de Marc Jacobs dimanche après-midi.
Cette fois-ci le rendez-vous est fixé Avenue Montaigne devant le magasin Louis Vuitton qui ré-ouvre ses portes. Après un rapide tour du propriétaire nous nous fixons dans la grande salle pour être aux premières loges pour le concert, un DJ amuse la galerie et les serveurs régalent les invités en champagne et petits fours.
Les rideaux s'ouvrent pour découvrir une autre grande salle et une véritable scène avec un écran géant au fond. On fait les choses en grand chez M. Arnault, pas de concert au rabais.
Le groupe au complet monte sur scène à 21h20 et c'est parti pour près de 75 min d'un concert très rock avec une Debbie en forme et en voix et un Chris Stein discret, tout en toucher alors que Tommy à la seconde guitare assure les parties les plus rock, derrière ses lunettes de soleil et sa superbe guitare au design très HG Giger. Clem derrière à la batterie (un grand fan de keith Moon) tient la baraque.
Le groupe n'est pas là pour nous vendre son dernier disque (heureusement) nous avons donc droit à un set composé quasi-exclusivement de tubes et on adore.
Excellente prestation, les invités peuvent être contents et lever leur coupe de champagne, attention toutefois à ne pas tacher la moquette, car oui c'est bien la première fois que j'assiste à un concert coupe de champagne à la main ( en verre svp) et avec de la moquette sous les pieds.
On peut être rock'n roll et garder un certain standing merci M. Vuitton.