Madness + Les Wampas @ Zénith, Paris May 14th 2010

Madness + Les Wampas @ Zénith
Paris May 14th 2010

Les Wampas

We are @ the Zénith a little bit late so we've missed half of French Punk-rock band Les Wampas' set.
We can sneak easily in the first rows down the front as the pit isn't really packed, it's a small Zénith so there's probably 2500 Frenchies in there, well less than that as there are lots of our mates from England.

Les Wampas are ALWAYS fun to watch, and i've seen them many times now , thanks to their leader & singer Didier Wampas who's making the show on his own, running everywhere including at the back of the venue or crowdsurfing on a chair.(see Pics)

Kid wanna rock

A young kid went on a stage to sing " C'est Noel" and as usual many girls went on stage as well for the last song of the set.
There are always beautiful girls at a Wampas gig.

Kiss Kiss Kiss & Hug Hug Hug

Girls, Girls, Girls...

Madness, They call it ... Madness

Then it's time for Madness to play thier first real headlining show in Paris for many years.
They've played 3 times in the French capital last year:
first one was a showcase at the Ciné Aqua (click for review Pics & videos)
Second & Third was @ Rock en Seine festival as Oasis exploded in Paris before playing the festival and Madness was asked to play a second gig on the same day as" headliner". the best substitute you could ever find.
That was our day as we don't give a shit about Oasis and came mainly to see Madness.

They haven't changed things that much since last year.
I mean Who would ? They are at the top of their game.

Always starting the gig with "One step beyond" then straight into "Ambarassment".
The atmosphere is really cool in the front , lots of people jumping up and down or dancing.

Like the Wampas, in a different way Madness is always fun to watch.
The guys as smart as ever in jackets & ties.

Lots of fun and smiles from the band and from the audience.

They've played many songs from the first record ( the best) and some from the last one (see setlist for details).
With all the records they have done maybe they could have played a bit longer, 80 min is a bit short isn't it ?
Short but... great fun !

Setlist for Paris zénith

Sorry no videos from ROCKERPARIS this time but CHECK THIS :
Nightboat to Cairo, Our House, One step Beyond

The Faces are back...without Rod Stewart

The Faces were supposed to reform, they had a few rehearsals last year with Ronnie Wood.
It led to...nothing as Rod Stewart is making so much money in the States with his " American Shitbook" vol I, II, III, IV...that he didn't wanna get involved.

They will be back anyway with Glen Matlock ( Sex Pistols) on bass , he's a good friend of Ian McLagan and... Mick Hucknall ( Simply red) on vocals.

Don't know if we can call them Faces but it should be fun to see them live this August (?).

Source: My mate Raysgigs

Dead Weather to play Bataclan on June 30th 2010

Last month I told you that The Dead Weather might come back to Paris for a secret show at the end of may , in fact it's a small gig at the end of June ( the 30th) @ Bataclan.
On sale in a few days.

June Madrona + Christina Antipa @ Pop'In, Paris May 12th 2010

June Madrona + Christina Antipa @ Pop'In
Paris May 12th 2010

Christina Antipa

After playing an Oliver Peel session on saturday Christina Antipa is still in Paris this time at the Pop'In, same music but different set as she never plays the same show twice.
As no one is working tomorrow the basement is packed.

June Madrona

Headlining is June Madrona from Olympia , Washington, another band which already played an Oliver Peel session ( with Mia Doi Todd ) a few weeks ago. It's folk but much more country with banjo & cello.
And always ending their set with audience participation on wine glasses.

THIN LIZZY 2010 line-up revealed

THIN LIZZY 2010 LINE-UP
© Ross Halfin

One of my favorite band is back in 2010 but WHAT THE FUCK?
Where's John Sykes now that Brian Downey is back in the band ?
Ricky Warwick ? Vivian Campbell ? Is Def Leppard dead and gone ?

Universal will released a series of re-issue, deluxe of the classic THIN LIZZY... over the next few months, that's the only good news so far.

Ben's Symphonic Orchestra + Lisa Portelli @ L' International, Paris May 11th 2010

Ben's Symphonic Orchestra + Lisa Portelli
@ L'International, Paris May 11th 2010

Lisa Portelli

The famous Oliver Peel is co-organising this "Mon petit club" session @ L'international.
This is the first one of its kind and it's a success , I've never seen so many people at the International on a tuesday night, the place is packed, feels like we're on saturday.
We arrived too late to see Lisa portelli's set, we were there for the last song, she was on her own with an electric guitar, she rocked.

Ben's Symphonic Orchestra

Then we had Ben's Symphonic Orchestra.
A power trio playing some indie rock, cool gig.

Too bad they just blew it by ending their set slaughtering a David Bowie song

Listen to the new album " Brothers" by The Black Keys Here

" Brothers" The new album by The Black Keys in online legally

Listen to it HERE or HERE

if you're in the UK you can listen to the whole record , outside the UK you're only allowed 30 seconds of each song , Sorry !

Tonight ( Tuesday May 11th) there's a nice gig @ L' International 9:00PM in Paris' Menilmontant with Lisa Portelli & Ben Symphonic Orchestra. Don't miss it,
And it's free.

Emmanuelle Seigner @ Le Palace, Paris May 10th 2010

Emmanuelle Seigner @ Le Palace

Paris May 10th 2010

French actress Emmanuelle Seigner is playing the beautiful Palace Theatre.
This place is very famous for having the best wild parties back in the late 70's -early 80's ( A French Studio 54) and lots of gigs too ( Johnny Thunders, Stray Cats...).
It's just been re-opened after more than 15 years.

First time I'm going to this mythic theatre, well , it's really beautiful and it is as it was back then.
We have great seats on the second row. Thanks to Marie -Claire ;-)
It looks like most of the people attending the gig were on the guest lists, many of them ( or all of them) coming from the movie industry or friends & relatives.
Not the usual rock punter.

I already saw Emmanuelle Seigner when she did a showcase at the Fnac forum a few months ago when the record was released and I was less than impress, songs were a bit lame and her singing was average.

This time she's rocking !
She opened the set with the theme from Rosemary's baby ( a movie by her husband Roman Polanski who's detained in Switzerland)
The first songs were really rock, it calmed down a bit afterwards with mid-tempo songs.
We had a couple of acoustic songs and then back to some rockier tunes.
She's singing songs in french and others in English.
She's much more confident with her voice, even if she's singing sometimes flat and you can see that she practised a lot her stage moves.
We had nice covers of Jacques Dutronc's " on nous cache tout , on nous dit rien" and Nico's "Femme fatale".

It's a nice surprise , this gig and much better than i thought it would be, in fact we enjoyed it a lot.
She wasn't on stage for a long time only 65 min.
She could have played a bit more as she had a standing ovation from her friends from the showbizzzz.

setlist

Jacques Dutronc cover:

There was an aftershow party at the bar downstairs for the happy few, Emanuelle came to say hello to her friends. French actresses Anne Parillaud ( Nikita) and Agathe de la Fontaine were there among others.
Champagne and canopes were flowing for a couple of hours, when we left the party was still on.
Nice evening.