Suzanne Vega + Mame @ Théatre Marigny, Paris Nov 4 2010

Suzanne Vega + Mame " Close -Up Tour"
@ Théatre Marigny, Paris Nov 4 2010

Close-up Tour"

MAME

Paris is a mess The Chinese President is in town so they've closed down some tube stations on the Champs Elysées, cops are everywhere, too bad The beautiful Théatre Marigny is in the middle of all this mess, we're lucky the weather is warm even though we're in november, a good walk won't do us any harm.

This old Théatre is beautiful ... and packed for Suzanne Vega.
She has just released a reworking of her classics called "Close-up", this is the Volume 2 "People & Places" ( Vol 1 was "Love Songs"). There will be other volumes for the next few months.
Nice to rediscover her classics with just an acoustic guitar , a bass and a few effects as the production of her early records are bit daté.

First we have an African guy from Senegal on acoustic guitar Mame, well not really our cup of tea, it was ok a bit of a quiet Keziah Jones but much more african.

Then we have Suzanne Vega with on electric guitar and loops & effects Gerry Leonard who has played the last World Tours with David Bowie.
As you can see on the pictures the stage couldn't be more simple, in case you haven't noticed this is NOT a KISS show but who cares when tou have the songs.
Don't need no pyro, just an acoustic guitar and the job is done... perfectly.
We have a "Best of..." (see setlist for details) ans as we're in Paris we're treated with a very nice cover of Serge Gainsbourg (& Brigitte Bardot) "Bonnie & Clyde", here on video.
She will also play a song by Sparklehorse ( That's on the new cd) as a tribute to Mark Linkous who commited suicide a few months ago.

She told us the Genèse of a couple of songs, with some funny bits. She also mentionned a show she did a few months ago in Paris , Did we miss something here or what? Can't fucking believe that we didn't know about it.
Anyway, Gerry is doing a great job on electric guitar , loops & effects.
She has some great songs so the arrangements are kept to a minimum and it's working perfectly.
Same with Divine Comedy , well... Neil Hannon (click for review of his show @ Salle Pleyel), with great songs you don't need a full orchestra, just a guitar or a piano and you can have a very good time
That's what we had tonight.
Another great show by Suzanne and you know we love her very mush here @ ROCKERPARIS.

As usual just after the show she came to the merchandise table to sign cds...

Gerry Leonard on guitar

setlist & After Show meeting

"Bonnie & Clyde" By Serge Gainsbourg

Thanks to Pias !

Suzanne Vega played @ French TV show ONE SHOT NOT yesterday on Nov 3
Watch her playing HERE

Carl Barat @ L'Album de la Semaine, Paris Nov 3 2010

Carl Barat " Concert Privé" for Canal+

Paris Nov 3 2010

First "real" show for Carl Barat as a solo artist in Paris before his sold-out show@ Cigale for the Inrocks festival.
He already played last month a song @ Le Grand Journal for Canal+.

Many musicians on stage for this gig on drums, upright bass, guitar, keys, 2 horns, 1 cello, 4 violins (2 of them also on backing vocals) and carl's wife on backing vocals.
13 people in all on the stage.
Carl started with his latest single which is the more lively song on the record.
All the other songs are more "cabaret" or very slow songs with violin.
There were good parts and less interesting parts ( the slower songs)
Rock is no more Now for Carl which is not a bad thing as I've never liked The Dirty Pretty Things.
It's funny how Carl is following the same path for a solo artist as Peter Doherty with a record with lots of musicians and classical arrangements... for good
We prefered the more up-tempo songs , nice ending with an acoustic version (with his brother on guitar solo) of The Libertines' "France".

Not sure if a rock festival @ La Cigale is the perfect place to see such a gig, the Salle Pleyel would be perfect.

We had a quick chat with him afterwards , Carl was nice to everyone.

setlist signed

Check our previous reviews of The Dirty Pretty Things @ Rock en Seine Fest in 2008, Carl Barat & Adam Green @ Pompidou Center on Sept 18 2009.

Free Energy @ L'Album de la Semaine Canal+, Paris Nov 2 2010

setlist

Early start tonight as it's the holidays , so no "spitting Image" (Guignols de l'info) before the concert.

Free Energy never heard before , well... good little American band playing a kind of poppy - classic rock, songs are sounding all the same though.
They're dressed a bit funny.
Good band for a saturday night with friends but no more, too light for me.
They will open on the 5th @ Cigale for Carl Barat (who's playing tomorrow night @ L' Album de la Semaine)

Next shows in Paris for November 2010

Contact: irockinparis((@))yahoo(dot)fr

Nov 2:
Free Energy @ L'Album de la Semaine
Nov 3:
Carl Barat @ L' Album de la Semaine (Invit only ,sold out)
Nov 4:
The Pretty Things @ Bus Palladium
Suzanne Vega @ Théatre Marigny
Nov 5:
Carl Barat + Others @ Cigale (sold out)
Nov 6:
Master class with Sophia Coppola @ Fnac Montparnasse 5:00PM (invit' only)
Nov 7:
Oliver Peel session
Nov 8:
Dweezil Zappa @ Olympia
Arno @ Casino
The Gossip Live @ Grand Journal (for one song only)
Nov 9:
The Black Keys @ Bataclan (sold out)
Nov 10:
Deep Purple @ Zénith
The Blood Arm @ Fleche d'Or

Robert Plant "Electric Proms" performance in London @ Roundhouse available for Streaming

Click on picture above to listen to his performance

Robert Plant & The Band of Joy played the Roundhouse in London on Oct 29 as part of the BBC2 "Electric Proms" Festival.
You can listen to the whole show on the BBC website.

Unreleased Pics from his show in Paris on Oct 24

Robert Plant played a few days before on Oct 24 @ Palais des Sports in Paris (click for Pics, setlist, videos of the show).

Ray Davies @ Olympia, Paris Oct 31 2010

updated with correct setlist ( hope so...) and new links to videos

Ray Davies @ Olympia , Paris oct 31 2010

The Olympia is packed for the return of Ray Davies, can't remember the last time he played in Paris but it was probably more than 20 years ago.
First we have a French singer on acoustic guitar, nice warm voice and good guitar player but the songs really sucked.
The audience is welcoming him nicely.

Early start for Ray Davies , it's just past 8:30 PM and the show is starting very slowly with Ray seated and on acoustic guitar with a guitar player on his left.
Most of the people around me know all the lyrics and Ray is having the audience singing half of the songs

all day and all night !

After 5-6 songs the band is joining in and then things are starting to be more lively and interesting.Ray's playing songs from his solo records and Kinks songs of course (see setlist for details).
The atmosphere is relax and Ray is chatty.
All the classics are played and for "You Really Got Me" (click for video) everyone is standing up ( it was all seated).
"Till the end of the day", "Sunny Afternoon" & "Moments" ( on video)
The end of the show is much more ROCK than the beginning with a great rendition of "Lola" (click for video)
That's what we like.

Good Bye Paris

Great show even though the beginning was a bit boring.

Merchandising

This should be the correct setlist