Elton John @ Paris Bercy, Nov 19 2014

 Elton John @ Paris Bercy, Nov 19 2014

Yesterday night MOTORHEAD, tonight ELTON JOHN, I guess nobody can say that we are NOT open minded.
Well... to a certain point as the support band Bright Light Bright Light ( Yes, "Bright Light" twice ) was complete crap. Would have been perfect at the Gay Pride.

Anyway we're here to see ELTON JOHN, he already played a few months ago @ Olympia Theatre and the show was really good.
Once again price tickets are mad, up to 220 euros for the best seats, it's a full house and the promoter could get people in the stalls on each side of the stage with restricted view... a euro is a euro.
 As you can see on the setlist below , lots of old songs unfortunately when he's not playing the Hits , there are too many average songs.
The middle part when he's on his own on the piano is great, he told us he had a sore throat but you couldn't really tell. He still has his funny guitar player who's tall, skinny with bleach white hair and an Orange face, he probably stayed too long at the tan center. Matt Bissonette is on bass ( he played with Joe Satriani, Ringo Starr and  David Lee Roth among many others).
Every thing is perfect and you have to wait for the final songs , when the audience is rushing to the front of the stage, the get the band really having fun, with "I'm still standing" (here on video) being the best song for the night.

 

Changement radical entre hier avec le Punk Rock des Damned,  le Rock sur-vitaminé de Motorhead et la pop easy-listening d' Elton John ce soir à Bercy. La salle est pleine malgré les prix prohibitifs pratiqués, jusqu'à 220 euros le billet, il y a même des gens dans les tribunes sur les cotés un peu derrière la scène. Configuration en -tout assis- il faut dire que la moyenne d'age du public est assez élevée. On passe rapidement sur la première partie le trio Bright light Bright Light et sa musique electro-pop digne d'une gay pride, pour passer directement à la vedette Sir Elton John. Ce soir il s'est déguisé en verre luisant façon Michou, tout en bleu, y compris les Ray-Ban.La scène est dépouillée et réduite à son strict minimum mais avec un bel écran géant au fond proposant de belles projections (voir vidéo). Il est accompagné de ses fidèles musiciens dont le guitariste Davey Johnstone, toujours aussi drôle à regarder avec son look bien particulier, Kitsch à souhait. Le bon Elton est en forme, si on peut dire,en tout cas bien enveloppé, et en voix malgré quelques légères petites défaillances presqu'inaudibles pour le commun des mortels, il s'en excusera, il a un peu mal à la gorge ce soir. Comme vous pouvez le voir sur la setlist (plus bas) , plein d'anciens morceaux malheureusement pas tous de la qualité de ses tubes, on s'est un peu ennuyé par moments, mais malgré ses petits doigts boudinés, il assure grâve, comme disent les djeuns, au piano. Le groupe s'est un peu lâché sur les derniers titres, tout comme le public qui s'est précipité devant la scène pour obtenir des autographes au rappel, donnant un petit coté festif à la prestation qui manquait un peu pendant la première partie du show. On a particulièrement apprécié la partie Piano solo en milieu de concert, comme quoi, pas besoin d'avoir 200 musiciens pour assurer.

Un concert en dents de scie mais globalement appréciable.

Overall good show with some average parts and a great finale.

 Setlist and Elton signing on stage

 Merchandising

MOTORHEAD + The Damned @ Zénith, Paris Nov 18 2014

MOTORHEAD + The Damned + Skew Siskin @ Zénith, Paris Nov 18 2014

We arrived on the site of the Zénith very early as we didn't wanna miss The Damned, in fact we were there before the very first band Skew Siskin.
Had a quick chat backstage with Captain Sensible , who was charming, we talked about Philty "The Animal" Taylor who showed up at the Motorhead gig in Birmingham (along with Fast Eddie Clark who played on one song with Motorhead). He told us that Philty couldn't play as he just had a brain operation but was fine. Glad to hear that.

Skew Siskin was first on stage, the girl on vocals tried hard to get the audience going, the Zénith was still half empty at that time, but that was a bit difficult as their show was a bit average.

The Damned was next, huge backdrop, Captain Sensible on the left on guitar,dressed smartly and Dave Vanian on Vocals. Great set even thought there were some suspicious backing vocals.
Lots of catchy songs including "New Rose" Lively atmosphere down the front.

Great set by English Punk Rockers The Damned

Then MOTORHEAD...

Lemmy was very frail and scary a few months ago, he has lost lots of weight with his two skinny legs but tonight he looks fine but still a bit shaky and frail.
After the first song "Shoot you in the Back" we're all relieve, he's OK, the voice is there and cavernous . MOTORHEAD  is still a war machine with Mikey on Drums and Phil on guitars. We have a guitar solo and Drum solo so that Lemmy can have a rest behind his trademark "Murder one" amp. The Tour is also very short with only 9 shows in Europe. I guess for the fans who saw the band on each tour it's "same as usual"...

Overal good show by Lemmy & Co, just hope he's gonna get better & better as MOTORHEAD will be playing @ Hellfest next year.

SETLIST:

Shoot You in the Back
Damage Case
Stay Clean
Metropolis
Over the Top
Guitar Solo
Suicide
Rock It
Do You Believe
The Chase Is Better Than the Catch
Lost Woman Blues
Doctor Rock ( inc drum solo)
Just 'Cos You Got the Power
Going to Brazil
No Class
Ace of Spades
Encore:
Overkill

 Merchandising

archives:

Motorhead + Anthrax @ Zénith, Paris Nov 21 2012
 Motorhead + No One Is Innocent @ Zénith Paris, Nov 21 2011
 Motorhead @ Hellfest, Clisson June 20 2010, 8:50 PM
 Motorhead & Izia @ Zénith Paris Nov 4th 2009