Sofia Coppola @ Fnac Montparnasse Paris Nov 06 2010
Sofia Coppola is doing promotion for her new movie "Somewhere" with Stephen Dorff. The Fnac Store organized a master-class , it was invit' only and as it's saturday afternoon the place is rammed. A shame we couldn't see the movie before that meeting, it will be out in January 2011, strange to hear her talking about it when you don't know anything about it. It was very interesting though. She stayed for an hour, answering questions from the audience about her career at the end. Cool !
I've found this lovely Beatles-KISS artwork on a wall of the Rue Dauphine @ Carrefour Buci Paris VI.
Free Energy, Surf Blood, Carl Barat & The Drums Surfer Blood
We arrived too late to see Free Energy which we already saw a couple of days ago @ L' Album de la semaine TV show for Canal+, we didn't really liked them but all my friends told me they were very good, much more better than @ Canal+ I guess I can trust them.
Surfer Blood
Surfer Blood is next, half of the songs are sounding like The Smiths or Morrissey , the other half like Vampire Weekend and we hate that shitty band, so part good, part average. Even the singer is acting like Morrissey on stage. They invited Free Energy to fool around on the stage for a song (see pic above) Just above average.
Carl Barat with great lightning... not !
We saw Carl Barat a couple of days ago @ L' Album de la Semaine(click for review Pics & setlist) playing his new solo album. Some of it is quite good ,some of it is a bit too slow for us. We were a bit disappointed by his performance. Tonight it's night and day compare to Canal+. First song from the new record " Je Regrette" with more balls, then his new single which is the fastest song on the album (here on video) plus some Libertines songs to rausing applause from the audience , great atmosphere and lots of pogoing in the pit. We had some quieter songs from the new album but they were fitting all right. Carl Barat is much more involved and rocking. Great set.
setlist
"Playing with the Boys":
Cool song
Last is The Drums, They are OK for 3-4 songs than teir pop-rock is getting boring, luckily the singer is acting like a ballet dancer playing tennis or maybe was he avoiding imaginary bullets, same with the guitar player from the left who's also acting strangely so they were funny to watch but the music...
Suzanne Vega + Mame " Close -Up Tour" @ Théatre Marigny, Paris Nov 4 2010 Close-up Tour"
MAME
Paris is a mess The Chinese President is in town so they've closed down some tube stations on the Champs Elysées, cops are everywhere, too bad The beautiful Théatre Marigny is in the middle of all this mess, we're lucky the weather is warm even though we're in november, a good walk won't do us any harm.
This old Théatre is beautiful ... and packed for Suzanne Vega. She has just released a reworking of her classics called "Close-up", this is the Volume 2 "People & Places" ( Vol 1 was "Love Songs"). There will be other volumes for the next few months. Nice to rediscover her classics with just an acoustic guitar , a bass and a few effects as the production of her early records are bit daté.
First we have an African guy from Senegal on acoustic guitar Mame, well not really our cup of tea, it was ok a bit of a quiet Keziah Jones but much more african.
Then we have Suzanne Vega with on electric guitar and loops & effects Gerry Leonard who has played the last World Tours with David Bowie. As you can see on the pictures the stage couldn't be more simple, in case you haven't noticed this is NOT a KISS show but who cares when tou have the songs. Don't need no pyro, just an acoustic guitar and the job is done... perfectly. We have a "Best of..." (see setlist for details) ans as we're in Paris we're treated with a very nice cover of Serge Gainsbourg (& Brigitte Bardot) "Bonnie & Clyde", here on video. She will also play a song by Sparklehorse ( That's on the new cd) as a tribute to Mark Linkous who commited suicide a few months ago.
She told us the Genèse of a couple of songs, with some funny bits. She also mentionned a show she did a few months ago in Paris , Did we miss something here or what? Can't fucking believe that we didn't know about it. Anyway, Gerry is doing a great job on electric guitar , loops & effects. She has some great songs so the arrangements are kept to a minimum and it's working perfectly. Same with Divine Comedy , well... Neil Hannon (click for review of his show @ Salle Pleyel), with great songs you don't need a full orchestra, just a guitar or a piano and you can have a very good time That's what we had tonight. Another great show by Suzanne and you know we love her very mush here @ ROCKERPARIS.
As usual just after the show she came to the merchandise table to sign cds...
Gerry Leonard on guitar
setlist & After Show meeting
"Bonnie & Clyde" By Serge Gainsbourg
Thanks to Pias !
Suzanne Vega played @ French TV show ONE SHOT NOT yesterday on Nov 3 Watch her playing HERE
First "real" show for Carl Barat as a solo artist in Paris before his sold-out show@ Cigale for the Inrocks festival. He already played last month a song @ Le Grand Journal for Canal+.
Many musicians on stage for this gig on drums, upright bass, guitar, keys, 2 horns, 1 cello, 4 violins (2 of them also on backing vocals) and carl's wife on backing vocals. 13 people in all on the stage. Carl started with his latest single which is the more lively song on the record. All the other songs are more "cabaret" or very slow songs with violin. There were good parts and less interesting parts ( the slower songs) Rock is no more Now for Carl which is not a bad thing as I've never liked The Dirty Pretty Things. It's funny how Carl is following the same path for a solo artist as Peter Doherty with a record with lots of musicians and classical arrangements... for good We prefered the more up-tempo songs , nice ending with an acoustic version (with his brother on guitar solo) of The Libertines' "France".
Not sure if a rock festival @ La Cigale is the perfect place to see such a gig, the Salle Pleyel would be perfect.
We had a quick chat with him afterwards , Carl was nice to everyone.
setlist signed
Check our previous reviews of The Dirty Pretty Things @ Rock en Seine Fest in 2008, Carl Barat & Adam Green @ Pompidou Center on Sept 18 2009.
Early start tonight as it's the holidays , so no "spitting Image" (Guignols de l'info) before the concert.
Free Energy never heard before , well... good little American band playing a kind of poppy - classic rock, songs are sounding all the same though. They're dressed a bit funny. Good band for a saturday night with friends but no more, too light for me. They will open on the 5th @ Cigale for Carl Barat (who's playing tomorrow night @ L' Album de la Semaine)
Nov 2: Free Energy @ L'Album de la Semaine Nov 3: Carl Barat @ L' Album de la Semaine (Invit only ,sold out) Nov 4: The Pretty Things @ Bus Palladium Suzanne Vega @ Théatre Marigny Nov 5: Carl Barat + Others @ Cigale (sold out) Nov 6: Master class with Sophia Coppola @ Fnac Montparnasse 5:00PM (invit' only) Nov 7: Oliver Peel session Nov 8: Dweezil Zappa @ Olympia Arno @ Casino The Gossip Live @ Grand Journal (for one song only) Nov 9: The Black Keys @ Bataclan (sold out) Nov 10: Deep Purple @ Zénith The Blood Arm @ Fleche d'Or
