Duffy + Jamie Lidell @ Bataclan Paris Dec 19th 2008

Contact : irockinparis@yahoo.fr

Duffy + Jamie Lidell @ Bataclan Paris Dec 19th 2008 , Virgin radio tour .

Other artists were supposed to play tonight and were announced at the very beginning but were cancelled later : Keziah Jones & Yael Naim .

Jamie doing the show

Of course the Bataclan is Sold- out , some people have payed ( 25 euros ) to be here tonight but as it's a radio show ( part of the show was broadcasted live on Virgin radio ) there are a lots of invits .
It's 70 % female audience , many think Jamie's cute but most of' 'em are here for Duffy who's very popular in France .
Early start , Jamie's on at 7:45 PM , He's a real showman always dancing, jumping, playing percussions and so on ... in the end it's getting on my nerves, he's doing a bit too much.
As long as he's playing his " Light" funk that's allright but when he starts doing the DJ on his own with his sample machine it's quite boring ( his last show at the Rock en Seine was like this and it was sooo bad ).
Nice hour gig but ...

Still doing it

Setlist

Duffy 's next .
Her record is probably( one of ) the best selling this year.
I saw her for the first time just 9 months ago in February @ Canal+, tv show " l' Album de la semaine" in front of a 100 people and she was completely unknown.
It's amazing how fast singers can become famous .
Same happened with Amy Winehouse after seeing her at the very same tv show she was selling out huge venues a few months later.

Unfortunately for Duffy her music is far from being as exciting and she's far from having the charisma of Amy. She's like a nice polish version but without the " spark" that makes Amy so special .
At least she's sexy now , she has dropped her silly country girl dresses she used to wear a few months ago. Good point she's sexy but is still dressed like the girl's nextdoor . I like that .
She's more confortable on stage now than last time , she's walking the stage , but she should let it go a bit more .
The show is nice but way too nice , it's like going to a Razorlight or a Stereophonics concert : everything is too perfect , its good but there's no excitement at all.
Enjoyable though but too short less than 1 hour with no encore
Come on Duffy i'm sure you can do better .

Setlist

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
That was my last gig for 2008 ( the 208th ).

Pete Doherty is playing the Bataclan on March 9th 2009.

Los Campesinos ! + Sky Larkin + Lovvers + Archwoodman @ Maroquinerie Dec 18th 2008 ( Inrocks indie club " Wichita" )

Los Campesinos ! + Sky Larkin + Lovvers + Archwoodman @ Maroquinerie for the Wichita Inrocks Indie Club. Paris dec 18th 2008.

review tomorrow morning

The bill

french band Archwoodman

Lovvers

Sky Larkin

Los Campesinos !

Setlist

Bob Dylan @ Palais des Congres Paris 2009

Bob Dylan will play @ Palais des Congres in Paris on Avril 7th and 8th 2009
Tickets are already on sale and once again it's expensive up to 90 euros .
The Palais des Congres has a capacity of 2500 people .

AC/DC 's concert @ Stade de France in Paris on June 12th is SOLD OUT
Hope they will add a second one.

Morrissey is playing The Grand Rex beginning of June.
Tickets already on sale.

Carbon/Silicon + Laetitia Sheriff @ Trabendo Paris Dec 17th 2008

Carbon/Silicon @ Trabendo Dec 17th 2008 with french opening artist Laetitia Sheriff.
Here's the review at last :

Crosswords before the show ( left ) Laetitia Sheriff ( right )

Laetitia Sheriff opened the show tonight on her own with a guitar to play a " minimalist" dark pop-rock-folk.
Strange how all these french girls are playing that kind of music . Last time i was at the Trabendo another french girl ( Marie - Flore )opened for Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan, playing a similar music. They're young and beautiful and living in Paris there should be a " Joie de vivre " in their music but no that's the opposite , they look ( or sound ) like they wanna commit suicide. Doesn't mean it wasn't good but where's the " Joie de vivre " ?
Difficult to open for a Punk band but she did very good ( well she wasn't booed off stage ) even tough her music is too " minimalist" for me.
People welcomed her nicely.
Here's a video here :
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8ulhYg1wc

These boots are made for playing ...

Mick Jones & Tony James

First concert in Paris for Carbon/Silicon, far from being full here tonight and many people are on the guest list ( including myself i have to admit )Shame it's not sold out when a Clash is in town but i've heard their new cd and i can't really say that I liked it , Songs are lame .
Had my fear about the show.
They were both in Paris last month to promote the album and these guys are really nice and funny so at least i was expecting some funny moments.
Some songs might be a bit too long but live they sound good , Mick Jones is a character always ready for a laugh. the band seem very happy to be with us and the audience seem very happy to be with them.
Nice 80 min of rock' n roll in a very relax atmosphere they both entered the stage with a bottle in hand. Tony James told us that the last time he played in Paris was 20 years ago at the famous Gibus Club with Johnny Thunders.
They don't really look like punks anymore , these days are long gone, but more like Dandies ( for Mick ) or Bankers ( for Tony ).
Sad they only played songs from their cds maybe a couple of covers ( not necessarilly Clash's ) could have been nice.
Mick picked someone up from the audience to come and sing with him for the last song ( another lad sneaked in too )
Enjoyable evening.

Mick & Leo " Eezykill " Williams on bass

Mick and Tony went to meet the audience after the show and signed many autographs to fans , they were nice and chatty to everyone and pose for pictures .

Setlist + Mick signing stuff backstage

Here's a video " reasons to believe ":

The ( International ) Noise Conspiracy @ Maroquinerie Paris Dec 16th 2008

The (International) Noise Conspiracy , Live @ the Maroquinerie Dec 16th 2008
Far from being full tonight ( many people went to see Gogol Bordello @ Bataclan ) , it's a shame .

The singer's a real entertainer

I just saw the last song of the french heavy rock who was opening tonight , hard to judge in 3 min but they sounded promising . I'll try to find out who they were.

Kids wanna ROCK

First time i was seeing The ( International ) Noise Conspiracy Live and i wasn't disappointed , i like their kick ass rock ' n roll. They' re 60's influenced , with a keyboard ( organ ) to nice effects even though i couldn't really hear it as i was standing in front of the guitar player.
These guys have to jump around all the time and are giving it all on stage.
A nice change after seeing all those indie english bands who are looking at their shoes while playing.
These guys FUCKING ROCK !!! No time to breath for 90 min.
Very good show.

Setlist

Don't forget Carbon/Silicon ( with former CLASH guitar player : MICK JONES ) are playing the Trabendo tomorrow.
See Ya there

GUNS N ROSES to play Paris Bercy summer 2009

The new GUNS N ROSES ( Axl & Co ) are ready to go on tour in Europe this summer to promote long awaited and finally released last november "Chinese democracy" .
They should play in Paris Bercy.

In the US " Chinese democracy " is far from being a success.
After entering charts at N° 3 it has dropped to N° 18 for its second week in the charts.
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+200&pageNumber=Top+11-50&g=Albums

AC/DC Black Ice European Tour 2009

13 May 2009	Leipzig		DE	Zentralstadium	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
15 May 2009	Munich		DE	Olympic Stadium	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
17 May 2009	Gelsenkirchen		DE	Veltins Arena	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
19 May 2009	Cologne		DE	Stadion	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
22 May 2009	Hockenheimring		DE	Formula 1 Racing Track	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
24 May 2009	Vienna		AT	Ernst-Happel Stadium	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
12 Jun 2009	Paris		FR	Stadt de France	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
15 Jun 2009	Oslo		NO	Valle Hovin	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
17 Jun 2009	Helsinki		FI	Olympic Stadium	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
19 Jun 2009	Copenhagen		DK	Parken	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
21 Jun 2009	Gothenberg		SE	Ullevi Stadium	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
23 Jun 2009	Amsterdam		NL	Amsterdam Arena	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
26 Jun 2009	London		GB	Wembley Stadium	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
28 Jun 2009	Dublin		IE	Punchestown Racetrack	Coming Soon	COMING SOON
30 Jun 2009	Glasgow		GB	Hampden Park	Coming Soon	COMING SOON

Michael Lee RIP 1969 - 2008

It's with great sadness that we've been told that drummer Mickael Lee has been found dead in his home on Nov 25th . He apparently died of a seizure .

Michael Lee started playing drums with english hard rock band Little Angels before joining The Cult , Echo & the Bunnymen, The Quireboys and more recently Thin Lizzy.
He will be remembered best for his work with Robert Plant on the " Fate of nations " tour and the Page & Plant reunion tours and cds " Unledded " and " Walking into Clarcksdale " between 1993 and 1999 .

Funeral services were held at the Darlington Crematorium in Darlington UK on Dec 3rd , Jimmy Page attended the funeral.
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/3948610.Guitar_legend_at_funeral_of_drummer/

He was only 39 .

Here' s Michael Lee playing with Page & Plant + Birthday present :

Next ... and last shows for 2008

Carbon / Silicon ( with Mick jones ex-Clash & Tony James ex-Generation X )@ Trabendo Dec 17th

Tracy Chapman @ Palais des Congres Dec 19th ( without Joseph Arthur opening as he gave up after Lyon Dec 5th , I guess he was fed up being treated like shit by Tracy & her entourage )

Keziah jones , Duffy , Yael Naim , Jamie Lidell @ Bataclan Dec 19th ( radio Show )

Jean-Louis Aubert : Private radio show for RTL2 on a Boat on the river Seine in Paris.Dec 19th

That's it for 2008

Elton John Paris bercy Dec 9th 2008

Red Piano tour stops in Paris Bercy tonight .
Tickets once again are VERY expensive going up to 190 Euros .
It may not be sold -out but it's hard to find an empty seat even though there are huge gaps between blocks in the pit.. Around 12000 people here as it's an all seated concert .

In case no one remembers his name

Stage set is absolutely georgous, see all those beautiful " Tableaux "created by David La Chapelle.

Show started smoothly with a VERY slow version of " Bernie & the jets " and then i though well , this is gonna boring, Elton on piano , not much guitar , lots of keyboards. Sound is perfect.
A couple of mid-tempo songs. i'm about to sleep.
But then slowly you start getting into it, i may have only one of his records but going to an Elton John gig is like going to see Queen , Supertramp, or U2 . You don't have any cd at home but you know all the songs as tonight Elton is playing all his big hits mainly oldies.
For each song there's something going on on the stage , some inflatable or films on the HUGE screen in the back ( one of the biggest i've ever seen in Bercy ). Justin timberlake is impersonating Elton on " Rocket man " . Lots of dancers on the movies which are all very GAY , even the cops are played by Village People type guys .
Musicians are funny with their silly haicut and ridiculous stage clothes.

The Who's " Pinball Wizard"

Most of the movies are NOT politically correct with lots of tits and some are very suggestives which is a good thing. FUCK censorship .
By the time he's playing The Who' s " Pinball wizard " everybody's standing up rocking.
Elton makes the effort to speak french between songs and thanks the crowd many times.

Pamela Anderson's dancing on " the Bich's back "

" I' m still standing " with huge dicks ... sorry Bananas

Nice ending with 50 people getting on the stage around the red piano for " saturday night ... "

" Saturday night 's all right for fighting " with stage invasion

SETLIST :
Bennie & the jets , Philadelphia freedom , Believe , Daniel , Rocket Man , I guess that's why they call it the Blues , someone saved my life tonight , Goodbye yellow brick road , Sorry seems to be the hardest word , Tiny dancer + musician intro , Don't let the sun go down on me, Candle in the wind , - Break- pinball wizard, bitch' s back , i'm still standing , saturday's night... Encore : song for you . ( "Philadelphia freedom" was played so it is 2) or 6) )

Never thought i would say that but, after a difficult start, the show was just great.
This gig was broadcasted live around France and Europe in cinemas.

The Dandy Warhols @ Bataclan Dec 7th 2008

the title says it all

The Bataclan is SOLD-OUT for the return of The Dandy Warhols in Paris , France.
They're here to promote new cd " " . They're not on a Major anymore but who cares as long as they're still playing music.
First i have to admit , i didn't hear the new cd but with The dandy Warhols LIVE you know that they're gonna play many songs from the whole catalogue , as last time in the very same place they've played for more than 3 hours .
I arrived too late to watch support band The Sheep , well in fact i was talking to a couple of mates outside.
To fully appreciate the Dandy Warhols , you really have to be IN it and know the songs before seeing them in concert otherwise you'll get the impression that they're playing the same song over and over again ( well sort of ... ).
Of course , they're playing in the dark with some psychedelic lights behind them for the atmosphere .
Lots of mid-tempo songs to get you in the mood a few Hits to headbang or at least jump in rythm ( for the people down the front ) with a few stage-divers.
We even get a song for Christmas and an almost disco song ( sung partially in French : " 3rd world" ) and a couple of requests from the audience , so the initial setlist ( here pictured ) isn't accurate , Sorry .
With The Dandy you're never disappointed ( i can hear some people screaming to me : untrue ,when they opened for David Bowie a few years ago ), but they never played Fantastic gig either.
So i guess this one was a good one but could have been better.

Setlist ( incomplete ? )

Judge yourself :