Lou Reed @ Grand Rex, Paris July 05 2011

Lou Reed @ Grand Rex
Paris July 05 2011

Support Band (far left) Grand Rex (center) Poster signed by Lou Reed (far right)

Another show at the Grand Rex, our 5th in 8 days ( Brian Setzer was first then Gregg Allman, BB King & Jeff Beck) and tomorrow we're back for The Beach Boys.

Difficult choice tonight : going to Lou Reed or John Mellencamp @ Olympia ?
We chose Lou Reed even though we never saw John Mellencamp Live, that's his first concert in Paris since 1992(?).

First on stage in this beautiful theatre on the Grands Boulevards we have a duet on guitar & Bass... well Ok !

Lou Reed is taking the stage with many musicians : 2 guitar players, bass, drums, piano and sax.
It's starting with heavy rock songs with sax, considering the songs he's playing it's not really a Best of... setlist.
Things are calming down a bit with "Ecstasy" , "Small Town" & John Lennon's cover of "Mother".
Every song is streched out to maximum between 7 & 9 min for each one. Not really what I expected.

Things are slowling down a bit more with a few Velvet Underground's covers including "Venus in Fur" (see setlist below for details).
Lou Reed is always giving his musicians indications with his hands like "hit harder" "faster" " slow down"...He's the boss.
I'm not too convinced by the songs played tonight thankfully with have a long version of "Sweet Jane" with the guitar intro that's close to the one on the "Rock'n Roll Animal" live album.

The end of the set is great with " Charley's Girl" (here on video), "The Bells" and last Encore "Pale blue eyes".
Far from being my best Lou Reed concert as we're a bit disappointed by the setlist and most of the songs are stretched out too much.
Good show overall.

PS: Lou Reed just recorded an album with Metallica.
Kirk Hammett & Robert Trujillo were in the audience.(see pic below) They met him backstage before & after the show with some friends & family.

Check our Pics of Metallica @ Bercy on April 1st 2009 Part 1 , Part 2 & Part 3 and the day after April 2nd @ Bercy Part 1 , Part 2 & Part 3 (including setlists and videos feat Metallica/Biff Byford from SAXON on "Motorcycle man").
Also Metallica doing promo in Paris @ radio station & tv show Taratata for the release of the last album

setlist / Kirk & Rob from Metallica

"Charley's Girl":

Ray Manzarek & Robby Krieger of The Doors @ Bataclan July 03 2011

Robby Krieger & Ray Manzarek of The Doors
@ Bataclan, Paris july 03 2011

Ray & Robby not to be confused with Sly & Robbie

Today is the 40th anniversary of Jim Morrison's death in Paris, the surviving members of The Doors (minus John Densmore ) are playing a sold-out show @ Bataclan.
This morning they went to the Père Lachaise cemetary early in the morning to avoid people nevertheless we've been told it was crowded and they were assaulted by fans asking for autographs even when they were mourning.

Anyway tonight the Bataclan is packed and as usual it's hot as hell in here.
Ray's on the left, Robby's on the right, Ty Dennis on drums, Phil Chen on bass and Wild Child's Dave Brock on vocals.
Great start with "Roadhouse Blues" this song is always putting people in the mood.
First thing Patrice is noticing, and the poor bastard was furious, (He's our photographer) : The Lightning is COMPLETE SHIT .
Well he's right most of the time they play in the dark and when there's light it's from behind.
There's also a huge screen in the back playing videos and psyche images, including a short movie of their visit at the Pere Lachaise this morning.
Sound is good in the middle down in the pit.

They do have a good singer but the guy is a clone of Jim Morrison, same voice and same poses.
The setlist (see below for details) is terrific, the band is playing classics after classics and as it's the 40th anniversary of the released of "LA Woman" it was out a few days after Jim Morrison died, they're playing the album in its entirety.
They already did that just after they reformed when they've played a sold out Zénith in 2003.
The atmosphere down the front is hot with lots of kids and foreigners, for some of them it's probably the first time they're seeing the guys.

It looks like The Doors have two additional members as they do have security guys on each side of the drum kit all the time , just in case someone gets on the stage. It happened and the guy was violently pushed back by one of their roadie, another one crowdsurfed to the stage and was thrown out of the venue by staff. Why such violence ? How Peace & Love is that ?
Can't say that people working with them are very friendly maybe they're acting accordingly to some of the band members who are not very friendly either.
Funnily when people saw what happened they tried to get on stage as well only to jump quickly in the audience, nice way of teasing the security.
There's a good vibe in the audience but such a bad vibe on stage, hard to believe they're afraid of their own fans.
I remember when they played @ Palais des Congres a few years there was a stage invasion and they played a whole song with 50 people on stage and IT WAS GREAT. Only that they cut the gig short by not playing the second Encore.

SETLIST (with Links to videos) : 1) Roadhouse Blues 2) Break on Through 3) Strange days 4)Music's over 5) Peace Frog 6) Blue sunday 7)changeling 8) Love her madly 9) Been down so long 10) Cars hiss 11) LA woman 12) L'America 13) Hyancinth House 14) Crawling king snake 15) Texas radio 16) Riders on the storm Encore 17) Love me two times 18) Five to one 19) Light my fire

Show ended with a long version of " Light my Fire".
Note: they added a couple of songs that were not on the setlist.
Great gig.

setlist

Last song "Light My Fire":

Cat Power @ Salle Pleyel, Paris July 03 2011

(C) Oliver Peel

We didn't go but Oliver Peel has some nice Pics (on his flickr) from the show
I've heard the show was "sensationell" as they say in german
Check his website for a review in German AND IN FRENCH !

SETLIST (From Oliver Peel):
01: Bully
02: Dreams
03: Don't Explain (Billie Holiday)
04: Nilo/Song To Bobby
05: Woman Left Lonely (Janis Joplin)
06: Silver Stallion (The Highwaymen)
07: Lord Help (Jessie Mae Hemphill)
08: Real Life
09: Brave Liar
10: The Greatest

11: I Wanna Be Your Dog (The Stooges)
12: Cherokee
13: Horizon
14: Let Me Go
15: Monster
16: Woman Of My Word
17: Ruin
18: Angelitos Negros (Roberta Flack)
19: I Don't Blame You
"flower final"

Franck Margerin @ Gibus, Paris July 03 2011

Franck Margerin @ Gibus, Paris July 03 2011

@ Work

Before going to The Doors at the nearby Bataclan, we went to the Gibus and Franck Margerin was drawing for people. Incredible how fast and how good he is.

The Blues Brothers Band @ Enghien les Bains, July 2nd 2011

The Blues Brothers Band @ Enghien Les Bains Jazz festival
July 02 2011

Percy Sledge (far left) The Stage on Water (center)

Another day, Another gig. The Blues brothers band are playing their first show since the death of original member Alan "Mr Fabulous" Rubin on June 08 2011.
Enghien is a beautiful and posh city with a Casino situated 15 miles north of Paris.
The stage is on the lake and the audience in front on the shores.
Lots of people as are there lots of shops and other free gigs in the area.
We came a bit earlier and could meet the musicians at the hotel that is just in front of the stage, Lou Marini & Steve cropper, funny we bumped into Percy Sledge who's playing tomorow (on sunday) night.

There are only two original members (Steve & Lou) so it's more of a tribute band that will play all thoses R'N B classics for a couple of hours with a great response from the audience.
I didn't write down the setlist but it should be the same or close to this one.
By the water it's a bit windy & chilly but we have some great music.
Great night out even if our journey back to Paris was a nightmare as the show ended way past midnight.

Steve Cropper & Lou Marini (center)

"Soul Man":

Jeff Beck @ Grand Rex, Paris July 1st 2011

Jeff Beck @ Grand Rex, Paris July 1st 2011

Back at the beautiful Grand Rex for another rock show.
4th gig in 4 days in this theatre, After Brian Setzer, Gregg Allman & BB King it's time to see guitar virtuoso Jeff Beck. Our first time for Rockerparis.
Can you believe it ? after more than 20 years of rocking for some of us , this is the first time that we're gonne see Jeff Beck.

For this kind of gig : all instrumental , or you hate it and think it's boring to death or you think it's absolutely Fantastic from start to finish.
Well, What's for sure is that he's probably the most talented guitar player we've ever seen live.
Then there are the songs : you may like some of them, love others ( Fantastic version of The Beatles' " A day in a life" here on video) or find some songs a bit too jazz-rock (meaning boring).

There's a bit of everything, most of it being great, I have to say.
But whatever the song the guitar playing is STUNNING.

We stayed with some friends outside, talking in front of the venue and to avoid fans waiting for him at the backstage entrance , he left the concert hall by the main door surrounded by 4 security guys, Hidden underneath a hood, What an asshole.

setlist & Merchandising

Good Bye Paris

"A day in a Life":