Melissa Auf Der Maur @ Fleche d' Or, Paris April 11th 2010

Melissa Auf der Maur + Toybloid

@ Fleche d' Or, Paris April 11th 2010

At last ! Melissa Auf Der Maur is back in Paris. It's been a few years.
I couldn't go to The Smashing Pumpkins' last gig in Paris Bercy with Melissa as U2 were playing a show @ Man Ray club (500 capacity) on the same night, and I can't remember seeing HOLE on their last tour either.

I'm quite surprise as I'm approaching La Fleche d' Or there's no one waiting outside and the club is half empty.
French all (but the drummer) female punk rock band Toybloid is about to go on stage.
Nice "1-2-3-4" Rock band with Ramones influences. 30 min set

La Fleche d'Or is now PACKED. Sunday night people are coming in later than usual.
Before Melissa gets on the stage we have a 30 min+ art film with a cool soundtrack à la Pink Floyd ( Meddle era but more rock ).
Then there's an additional 5-10 min to have the stage ready.

It's 9:45 PM when Melissa is touching her bass for the first time.
One drummer , one guitar player and bass player all dressed in black MadM logo on their shirt.
Of Course Melissa is stunning all dressed in black either. As sexy as ever.
Fluent in French , she's from Canada and in a chatty mood with the audience.
Lots of very sexy poses with her bass like the cover from the first solo album.

The music is heavy, better than on the album which is a bit... average.
She has decent tunes but it's hard to single out one.She doesn't really have a Great song that could make the difference.
There are lots of Indochine fans as Melissa played bass with them a few years ago.
see setlist below for details.

She only played songs from her records, no cover from Hole or SP ( too bad) in her 60+ min set.

She came to greet people aftershow: chatting, signing stuff and posing with everybody.
A real Angel ! I'm in love !

setlist

The only "soft" song of the show :

Iggy Pop shooting a movie @ Le Touquet , France on saturday April 10th 2010

Iggy Pop & the Stooges are playing a few shows in France this week ( up until April 17th @ Lille)
They've played in Quimper on friday.
Saturday was a day off so he went to Le Touquet to shoot a scene for a movie,
He rehearsed it in the basement of the Westminster Hotel for several hours with French actor Denis Lavant under the direction of Sophie Blondy.
Then several hours of tape were recorded ( 4-5 hours) on the beaches of Cucq & Le Touquet.
Iggy then went to a private reception at the Westminster Hotel with the crew, some journalists and the mayor of the city.
The Movie is a rework of a Fritz Lang's

Original article HERE

Goldheart Assembly @ Maroquinerie, Paris April 10th 2010

Goldheart Assembly + Carly Sings @ Maroquinerie
Paris April 8th 2010

Saturday night @ Maroquinerie, it should be packed unfortunately very few people came.
Opening tonight is Carly Sings, yes it's another girl playing acoustic guitar, the kind of girl that should play an Oliver Peel session.

Carly Sings & friend on vocals

Setlist

Then we have English pop rock band Goldheart Assembly They are English but they should be from California, this 6-piece band has some great melodies typical from Pop-rock-folk bands from California.
Maybe some ELO ( Electric Light Orchestra) influences.

Lots of talking between ( band & audience) songs as the audience in the front is in a chatty mood ( maybe a bit drunk too for some girls).
Short set but they only have one album out.
A few days ago I've discover a great band ( Band of Horses),It's cool to discover another great band as I wasn't really lucky these last few weeks, each time I was going to a gig from a band I've never heard before It was crap ( The last 4 or 5 Black sessions ).

Cool cover of The Beatles' "One after 909" ( starting at 5')

Next shows:

April 11th:
Mellissa Auf Der Maur @ Fleche d'Or
April 12th:
Sharon Jones & the Dapkings @ L' Album de la Semaine Tv recording
April 16th:
NEW YORK DOLLS @ Trabendo

NYD in Paris

Slash & Lemmy performing " Doctor alibi" + Dave Grohl on " Ace of Spades" @ "Revolver Golden Gods Awards", Club Nokia LA April 8th 2010

Lemmy from MOTORHEAD special guest with SLASH's band @ Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles @ Club Nokia on April 8th 2010:



Always nice to see Lemmy !

" Ace of Spades" with Lemmy & Dave Grohl :


Enjoy !

Malcom McLaren dead at 64

Malcom McLaren former manager of the New York Dolls ( they're playing next week in Paris @ Trabendo) & Sex Pistols died of a cancer today in a hospital in Switzerland.
He was 64.
This man "created " Punk in old London town back in 1976.

Band Of Horses @ Fleche d'Or, Paris April 8th 2010

Band of Horses + Tyler Ramsey @ Fleche d'Or
Paris april 8th 2010

Tyler Ramsey opening for his own band

ROCKERPARIS is back @ Fleche d'Or to see for the second time in two days Band of Horses.
Yesterday they've played the first "gig" of their European Tour for famous Canal+ TV show L' Album de la semaine in front of a selected audience of 200 people.
This time it's much more as the Fleche d' Or is completely Sold-out, admission is only 8 euros at the door and once again many people couldn't get in like yesterday for Laura Marling.

First to play is Band of Horses' guitar player Tyler Ramsey, for a 30 min set a very relax and laid back songs on the acoustic guitar. It seemed that in the back nobody gave a shit as you could hear many people talking.

After a short break in a hot & sweaty Fleche d'Or. It's time for Band of Horses to play.
I saw ( and heard them) them for the first time yesterday and tonight confirmed what I thought of them, it's just a great band, I wish they had more guitar soli, they're like a light version of The Black Crowes ( or The Counting Crows) even tough the guys in the band are playing different guitars ( or bass) for EVERY songs.

Funny: they have a keyboard player that looks a bit like Ed King from Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The girls love them , lots of foreigners too.
Cool songs with a mix of atmospheric and rockier tunes.

See setlist for details.
1 hour 30 min set

setlist

Tyler Ramsey & merchandising

Laura Marling @ Fleche d'Or, Paris April 7th 2010 11:00PM

Laura Marling @ Fleche d' Or
Paris April 7th 2010 11:00PM

After seeing Band of Horses playing @ Canal+ TV show L' Album de la Semaine, we rushed to the other side of Paris to catch Laura Marling's performance, fortunately we're on the guest list as it's SOLD-OUT tonight.

I remember seeing her at the Inrockuptibles Fest in Nov 2007, she only had a 15 min spot between two other bands, playing acoustic guitar in front of the red curtain @ La Cigale.

It's almost 10:45PM when we get there and there are still people outside queueing to get in.
Can you believe it ? They opened the club @ 8:30PM and you could only get a ticket at the door.
So Hot in there, it feels like beeing at the Bataclan.

Laura Marling is a hot ticket now even in France , I don't talk about England where she's the media darling.
Quite strange considering the music that she's playing , It's really folk music old fashioned way.
Maybe is it because she's really young ( maybe she has good tunes too).

The set was divided in 3 parts : 1st with her band , then solo and she ended the gig with the band back on stage.

Lots, I mean LOTS of beautiful girls in the audience and all very young ( late teens) with many Englishes and swedishes.
Too bad she only played for an hour.

Aftershow & setlist

Neil Young's cover " the needle and the damage done" NOT on setlist:

Last song of the show:

Band Of Horses @ L' Album de la Semaine Canal+, Paris April 7th 2010 8:00 PM

Band Of Horses @ L' Album de la semaine, Canal+
Paris April 7th 2010 8:00 PM

Setlist

Great 50 min set from Band Of Horses as you can see on the setlist above they have played songs not only from the new album.
First time I was seeing them LIVE and first time I was listening to them as well.
Between Mercury Rev ( much more rock ) and The Black Crowes ( with less guitars).

Don't miss them tomorrow ( April 8th ) @ Fleche d'Or for the first show on their European Tour 2010

Luther Russell + Patrick Bower @ L' International, Paris April 6th 2010

Luther Russell + Patrick Bower
@ L' International, Paris April 6th 2010

Luther Russell

Nothing to do tonight and when there's nothing to do, it' s always interesting to check what's going on @ the International.
We're lucky ! We have two American singer/songwriters.
First one is Luther Russell who was in a band called The Freewheelers and who is now solo.
Very cool acoustic rock with bits of blues or country depends on the song.
The guy is also a producer for different artists.
He will be back in Paris next week for free shows:
@ Pop'In ( April 12), @ Fargo record store (April 13 4:00PM), @ Be There (April 14)

Patrick Bower is next on the tiny stage, it's more folk with English 60's pop influences.
Really cool set too.
Sounded a bit like Adam Green.
He'll be back in Paris next week for free shows :
@Pop'In ( April 12) @Motel (April 13),@Truskel (April 14)

There was another band playing afterwards: another French "babyRockers" band , the drummer from BB Brunes was in the audience with lots of wanabee friends and groupies, after one song we left.

Patrick Bower

Reunited SOUNDGARDEN to headline Lollapalooza 2010

It's official , it's been posted on SOUNDGARDEN 's official website.
Other headliners should be LADY GAGA, GREEN DAY, ARCADE FIRE, THE STROKES and PHOENIX

Check our review of Chris Cornell 's last shows in Paris :
Bercy HERE & Cigale HERE