Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam @ Bercy, Paris May 26 2011

Contact: irockinparis((@))yahoo(dot))fr
Updated may 31 with setlist

Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam @ Bercy
Paris, May 26 2011

First concert in Paris for Yusuf Islam as he's calling himself now. We're gonna call him Cat Stevens if you don't mind.
We were lucky @ Rockerparis to attend the very first time he came back on a stage after converting to Islam, that was 10 years ago @ RAH in London for a charity gig , he only sung a couple of songs if I can remember well.

The Peace Train (far right)

This time it's different it's a real concert, his first in Paris for 35 years.
Strangely enough I've been told that tickets sold badly, they were VERY expensive, the promoter had to sell some of them on websites (Vente Privée to name it) with a 50% discount.
Considering that, I was a bit surprised when the show started ( a bit late @ 8:15 pm) to see that the, all seated, floor is full , the lower blocks in the stalls are full too, empty seats are on the upper blocks on the side and in the back. So I guess there was a bit more than 10 000 out of the 16500 capacity.

The 1st set started very slowly with Cat Stevens on his own on the acoustic guitar for a few songs then his musicians came in to play a mix of new and old stuff.
Cat Stevens played his Musical so he was introducing each song with the translation on the screens on each side of the stage.
Songs are good but talking before each song cuts the rhythm of the gig.
Good 1st set but it could have been better.

Official Setlist (check Here for official Pics from Paris)

After a 30 min intermission Cat & band came back on the stage to play more classics, a couple of times he played the first chords to "Wild World" stopping immediately and saying " Well , not Now !".
There's a huge screen in the back with some nice projections, strangely after a few songs Cat Stevens left the stage for a break and left the band play a song ( the one with Dolly Parton and Macca).
As the hits kept coming in the audience started to react and finally stood up for the last songs... at last.
Funny enough there were lots of pretty young girls in the audience some of them screaming " I Love you" several times which made him laugh and saying " My wife is here and I Love ONLY my wife... but there are different kinds of love...".
He didn't talk politics at all, just telling us the story when he wasn't welcomed in the USA a few years ago and was sent back to England. There was a funny cartoon relating this on the huge screen.
The show couldn't be complete without 'Wild World" of course but he DID NOT play " Lady D'Arbanville".

Good show overall.
Full setlist shortly, check this official website for more.

Peace Brothers & Sisters !

Merchandising & 2nd Poster

Last song of the show:

Judas Priest performs @ American Idol with Richie Faulkner for first time

Judas Priest performed yesterday night @ American Idol with singer James Turbin (from American Idol) & for the first time with new guitar player Richie Faulkner, who really looks like a younger KK Downing.
They've done a medley of Priest's classics : "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking The Law".

Check our reviews of Heavy Metal concerts including the Mighty Judas Priest @ Zénith in 2009, Saxon @ Bataclan 2011, Megadeth @ Zénith in 2009 & 2011 with Slayer , Heaven & Hell @ Casino de Paris in 2009 + Hellfest 2010 with KISS, Twisted Sister, Alice Cooper ...and many more.
We also have several AC/DC concerts...
check our search engine on the left.

Kitty Daisy & Lewis @ L'Album de la Semaine, Paris May 24 2011

Kitty Daisy & Lewis @ L'Album de la Semaine

Paris, May 24 2011

setlist

Kitty Daisy & Lewis from Durham , England are doing this famous Canal+ tv show to promote the new album "Smoking in Heaven" to be released at the end of the month.
Still the same vintage rock 'n roll with a bit of reggae thrown in, they have a guest on a couple of songs on the trumpet (for the reggae songs), he was already there when they've played in Paris @ Café de la Danse in March last year.
The girls are as sexy as ever with their tight dresses and long hair.
They ended this 7 song set with an instrumental which is the title of the new album
Good show

Queens of the Stone Age @ Olympia, Paris May 23 2011

UPDATED May 25: WITH LINKS TO VIDEOS

Queens of the Stone Age + The Dough Rollers @ Olympia
Paris, May 23 2011

Dough Rollers

This gig sold -out in ten minutes when tix were sold but they had saved a few tickets at the box office on the night so you could get one, at the balcony only, face value.
Nice support band with Dough Rollers playing some vintage Rock'n Roll, 50's style.

QOTSA, That's simple: IT WAS A MOTHER FUCKIN' KILLER SET, The first album is, by far, my favorite so it's a dream come true to hear that album in it's entirety in Paris.

GREAT !

"Give the Mule what he wants" :

After the 1st Encore they played a few songs that this time are far from being my favorite songs from the QOTSA catalogue( apart from "Little Sister")
Second Encore was a killer -no filler. see setlist for details.

SETLIST : 1) Regular John 2) Avon 3) If Only 4) Walkin' on the sidewalks 5) You would Know 6) How to handle a rope 7) Mexicola 8) Hispanic Impressions 9) The Bronze 10) Give the mule what he wants 11) I was a teenage hand model 12) You can't quit me baby ENCORE 13) Monsters in the Parasol 14) Turnin' on the screw 15) Into the hallow 16) Make it with Chu 17) Little sister ENCORE 2 18) Go with the flow 19) No one knows 20) A song for the dead

ENJOY !!!

all footage (apart from one) are TOP QUALITY, thanks to the the recorders and postings.
This young man posted a 78 min long video on Youtube from the gig : congratulations.

A Happy audience & Merchandising

Pass sheet



Check our reviews of Them Crooked Vultures @ Rock en Seine 2009, @ L'Album de la Semaine for canal+ & @ Zénith on June 08 2010
QOTSA @ Rock en Seine 2010

TriggerFinger + Lydia Lunch @ La Machine, Paris May 21 2011

TriggerFinger + Lydia Lunch + Dona Confuse @ La Machine du Moulin Rouge
Paris May 21 2011

Dona Confuse (far left)

When French band Dona Confuse is getting on stage in the basement room of La Machine, which is the smallest room of a capacity of 400 people, the place is nearly empty.
Very experi-me(n)tal-ambiant band between Radiohead when they're playing their electro shit and a very soft version of A Perfect Circle-Deftones.

TriggerFinger

The we have TriggerFinger from Belgium. The place is packed, there are a few Flemish behind me, of course these bastards don't speak French anyway...
It was the first time I was seeing this band, i've heard many good things about them and I wasn't disappointed.
That's the kind of music we like at ROCKERPARIS : some greasy heavy rock blues.
As you can see on the Pics , the band is smartly dressed.
The drummer is a killing machine (see video), cool guitar licks and funny bass player who's probably twice my size.
The band knows how to create an atmosphere with the red curtain in the back, nice lightning + dress code.

The audience is having fun, 90 min set
Hard to believe that this band is not more wellknown, if they were americans they would probably sell shit-loads of records.
A must see if you're into that kind of music.

GREAT gig

Lydia Lunch

Only a handful of people stayed after Trigger Finger, mostly girls to attend Lydia Lunch's set. She played without the help of a band only singing to the music of a cd: strange.
She started with "The Spy" from The Doors' "Morrison Hotel" and sung several covers before singing her own songs.
Really weird to see someone alone on a stage singing over some music without musicians but she did a very good 8-9 songs set for 30 min.
I was a bit surprised that it ended so quickly without any Encore so sorry no video.