ROCKERPARIS

jeudi 27 juin 2013

The Black Crowes @ Cigale, Paris June 27 2013

The Black Crowes @ Cigale, Paris June 27 2013

Finally The Black Crowes are playing a proper concert in Paris, The first since their show @ Olympia in 2001, not counting the private gig they did for The "Album de la Semaine" -Canal+- tv show in April 2008.
Of course it was sold-out almost instantly, funnily enough people are getting to the venue very late, there's no support band and when the band is getting on stage at 8:15 there are still many seats left at the balcony.
The concert couldn't have started better with "Jealous again / Thick n Thin / Hotel Illness".
The sound is loud & clear, Rich Robinson is on the right, new guitar player Jackie Greene on the left hand side and Chris Robinson dead center attracting all the lights.
The band is tight and now things are getting serious with some extended jams on a couple of songs.

We're lucky tonight, the band is treated us with a "Best Of" setlist, maybe is it because the band hasn't been in Paris for such a long time. It's a dream setlist and probably the best one on this tour.

The Crowes are getting a very warm reception from the wild audience, we have a few covers for the last part of the set with The Velvet's "Oh Sweet nuthin" & "Hard To Handle/ Hush".
The band is leaving the stage for the second time the house light is on but no one wants to leave the premises and the audience is asking for more...

The Crowes are back, for the first time on this European Tour, for one more song ( not on the setlist) with a terrific rendition of the Stones' "JJF" (here on video)

Perfect 2 hour set.

The audience/ Merchandising/ setlist

"Jumping Jack Flash":

Mark Knopfler @ Bercy, Paris June 26 2013

Mark Knopfler @ Bercy, Paris June 26 2013

Mark Knopfler is still very popular in France, Bercy has been sold-out for ages, as the audience is very old, it's an all seated event so Bercy is sold-out with almost 12000 instead of the usual 17000 when the pit is "standing".
Support band is a nice girl with a crystal clear voice: Ruth Moody, but the music is sooo boring, Folk at its worse.

After a 30 min intermission it's Mark Knopfler and its 7 musicians band to grace the stage.

Lots of mid tempo songs, some with a very Irish feel and others sounding like the first album of JJ Cale.

I thought it would be a bit boring, in fact it's enjoyable.

He has the same soft spoken voice and the guitar playing is very subtle and intact after all these years: incredible.
The girl who opened the show,Ruth Moody is back to sing two songs with Mark.

Needless to tell you that it's not too loud and that the sound is PERFECT, probably one of the best I have ever heard @ Bercy.

Mainly songs from his solo albums and a couple of Dire Straits songs "Romeo & Juliet" (here on video) and a 10 min+ version of "Telegraph Road", both had the best ovation from the very quiet audience who finally stood up and rushed to the stage for the last 4 songs of the 2 hour set

Setlist:(from AFMK)
  1. What It Is
  2. Corned Beef City
  3. Privateering
  4. Father And Son
  5. Hill Farmer's Blues
  6. I Dug Up A Diamond [with Ruth Moody]
  7. Seattle [with Ruth Moody]
  8. I Used To Could
  9. Romeo And Juliet
  10. Gator Blood
  11. Haul Away
  12. Postcards From Paraguay
  13. Marbletown
  14. Speedway At Nazareth
  15. Telegraph Road
  16. So Far Away
  17. Piper To The End

Very good indeed, much better than expected.

Merchandising & Pass sheet

Archives:

Mark Knopfler + Bob Dylan @ Paris Bercy in 2011 (Pics + Setlist + Videos...)

mardi 25 juin 2013

Nile Rodgers @ Fnac St Lazare, Paris June 25 2013

Nile Rodgers @ Fnac St Lazare, Paris June 25 2013, 12:30 to 2:00PM

"Sugarhill Gang" guys coming into Nile's studio threatening him with guns (far right)

Very interesting Master Class with Nile Rodgers from CHIC fame and guitar player or producer of many great records (for Madonna, Bowie, Jagger, Earth Wind & Fire.. and recently the n°1 album of French duet Daft Punk).
The audience asked questions and Nile answered with always a smile and some funny stories while journalist Olivier Cachin was doing the translation
- Working with Daft Punk: album recorded a year ago, he was supposed to play on only one song, then they asked for another one and another one...
-Working on the next album from Etienne Daho.
-Working on David Bowie's "Let's Dance" album: It took them 2 weeks to record and master it.
-Working with low budgets: White musicians always had big budgets for their records whereas Black musicians always had low budget so they had to make things quicker.
-Sugarhill Gang and copyright infringement : interesting story on how he listened to the song for the first time in a club and was NOT pleased when he heard his parts on the song and that after tracking who it was they discovered that they were not credited and not getting any money.So they sued them and latter had 4 guys with guns threatening them in the studio. Everything was settled and contracts were negotiated and SugarHill Gang went to see them with a case full of cash...

As it was a Master Class he played some guitars and told us how he was playing on CHIC records with the different guitar parts... very interesting

Then there was a signing session