Soundgarden @ Zénith, Paris May 29 2012

Soundgarden @ Zénith, Paris May 29 2012

Small audience for SOUNDGARDEN

This is the first show for Soundgarden in Paris in 15 years, last show was at the very same place on Oct 09 1996 (with Moby opening).
This is one of the very few indoor show on this European Tour as the band is playing Festivals.
It's hot as hell and It's far from being full tonight with lots of empty seats in the stalls, lots of room in the back of the pit and even in the front rows there's enough space.
It's a small capacity Zénith so there's probably no more than 4000 people.

First on stage is The Gaslight Anthem, an American "Punk" band, but they do sound like a good old fashioned pop-rock band, enjoyable: not good not bad.

It's 9:00pm sharp when Soundgarden is taking the stage one by one, they have changed...well not that much in 15 years.
No big production tonight, a clean stage, a powerful and bright lightshow and a backdrop with different images all along the show. It's a well-oiled show that is running smoothly with a band on auto-pilot

.

It's a trip back into Soundgarden's history as they're playing songs from all their albums including many old ones (see setlist below for details).
They're playing the hits, some more obscure songs and brand new single "Live to Rise".

If you're a soundgarden maniac it's a dream come true setlist.

From where we are standing, down the front, we have a good sound (we have earplugs) but all my friends told me that the sound was very bad, I've noticed a few larsens, that can happened,but the overall sensation of the audience was that it was too loud and that it sounded horrible.

Chris , even though he has a good voice is sometimes singing off key but we're used to that.

Overall good 2 hour show but it could have been better with a bit more passion from the band and a good sound.

Chris Cornell will be back in Paris shortly with a solo acoustic show @ Trianon on June 22.

setlist & Merchandising

I've been told that Lars & Kirk from Metallica were in the audience tonight

Mudhoney @ La Villette Sonique, Paris, May 27 2012

Mudhoney @ La Villette Sonique, Paris, May 27 2012

Mudhoney 2012: Guy Maddison/Dan Peters/ Mark Arm/ Steve Turner

This week-end has been hot & sunny, summer time is here at last as May has been awful with rain almost very day for the last couple of weeks.
The Parc de la Villette is rammed on this sunny sunday with people having a late lunch on the grass with their kids.
Nice to see many sexy girls in skinny tee-shirts, mini skirts and shorts, that's summer to me...finally.

We're not hanging around on this sunday afternoon in the Park for the chicks but to attend Mudhoney's gig outdoor.
The stage is set up just by the Canal with the Zénith arena nearby (Soundgarden is playing there on May 29) and the Cité des Sciences in the back.
After leaving our friends still laying in the sun having some red wine, organic cheese and fruit salad we're making our way to the concert area that is packed with several thousands music freaks. Free gigs are always attracting people.

Mudhoney is taking the stage @ 4:30 pm as we're baking under the sun, the sound is loud , clear and the guitar sound is distorted the way we like it.
The band is rocking out their best songs in front of a well behaved audience.
There's a small gap between the stage and the first row with no crash barrier but just a couple of security guys, they will get some work to do when the band is playing their heavier and fastest songs including a great rendition of "Touch me I'm sick" (here on video).
Finally the audience is getting wilder halfway through, starting pogoing and crowd-surfing down the front still with a "sunday family gathering " attitude.
Everyone is well behaved and good natured.

Surprisingly Mudhoney is doing a pretty long set, with several songs played for the encore ("Blinding sun","Here comes sickness","The money will roll right in", "Hate the police" & "Fix Me"), almost 90 min in all.
The band seems happy by its performance and so are we, even though Mark Arm told us after the show that he had trouble with his voice.
It's unusual to rock so early and in daylight but it was very entertaining and fun.
First time I was seeing them and we all had a great time.

setlist without Encore, Check videos of the last 3 songs HERE

"Touch Me I'm Sick"

The Waterboys @ Bataclan, Paris May 24 2012

The Waterboys @ Bataclan, Paris May 24 2012

Sorry , didn't have the time to write the review before, I've been busy.
A friend kindly invited me, didn't really know what to expect as I've never heard The Waterboys' music, even though I'm familiar wih their name and that they've been in the buziness for a long time.
It's far from being full @ Bataclan, the balcony is closed.
I wasn't disappointed, great kick ass rock 'n roll music with a bit of Irish folk music thrown in courtesy of some great fiddle, Pedal steel guitar and gorgeous organ.

Hard to believe this band is not more popular considering the music that they're playing: a mix of Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers" era with Irish folk.
It was as simple as that: not a bad or average song for the whole set.
The band left the stage twice to let Mike Scott play a couple of songs on acoustic guitar, there was some theatrical effects with some reading with a mask (see pic above).

They had 2 huge hits over here in the 80's which they played tonight ("A girl called Johnny" & "The whole of the moon") which are sounding different from the rest of the songs they've performed.
Great discovery -never late than never- for probably one of the best rock shows we've been to this year.
Watch the video below to see what you've been missing.

setlist & merchandising

That's what I call Rock 'n Roll !



Other shows this week:
May 25
Norah Jones @ Olympia (sold out)
May 26
Jimmy Cliff @ Bataclan
May 27
Mudhoney , free show @ La Villette 4:30pm
May 29
Soundgarden @ Zénith Paris
Elvis Costello @ Olympia (?)

From May 29 onwards:
Pop'Pea with Carl Barat @ Théatre du Chatelet

Aerosmith New album "Music from another dimension" tracklisting and art-work revealed

Aerosmith New album "Music from another dimension" track listing and art-work revealed

1st single is "Legendary Child" (art-work on left) Album art-work on right

The album is called "Music from another Dimension", it will be out on August 28
Tracklisting:
01. What Could Have Been Love
02. Beautiful
03. Street Jesus
04. Legendary Child (click on link to listen to the song)
05. Oh Yeah
06. We All Fall Down
07. Another Last Goodbye
08. Out Go the Lights
09. Love Three Times a Day (Hello Goodbye)
10. Closer
11. Shakey Ground
12. Lover A Lot
13. Freedom Fighter
14. Up On The Mountain

Reminder: Aerosmith last show in Paris (Bercy) on June 29 2010, check our Pics, setlist & video (Part 2 HERE) and we have more HERE

Here's the new song LIVE on American Idol with "Walk this way" (sorry for the quality)

Dionne Warwick @ Olympia, Paris May 23 2012

Dionne Warwick @ Olympia, Paris May 23 2012

Soul Legend Dionne Warwick first concert in Paris in a very long time, we couldn't miss that. We saw her 12-13 years ago at the Royal Albert Hall for a tribute Concert to songwritters Burt Bacharah & Hal David with Sacha Distel, Petula Clarck, Elvis Costello, Edwin Starr and a few others, but she only performed a few songs.
It's a full house for this headlining show @ Olympia.
First we have a duet on piano & saxophone playing a few instrumental jazz songs that was well received by the senior audience.
It's just past 9:00pm when her 5 piece band is getting on the stage, Dionne at age 71 is looking splendid and very elegant herself.
No introduction as the first song is her hit "Walk on by", it took her a two songs to get her voice , she even cough a couple of times but then it was perfect.
Her vocal technique is incredible, like Al Green, even when she's singing softly, her voice is faultless and fluent.
I thought it would have been more soul but in fact the sound was more "easy listening", specially when when you see that the whole band is dressed with tuxedos and bow ties, I felt like attending a concert on a cruise on the Love Boat on our way to the shores of the Caribbeans.
I was expecting the bartender Isaac Washington to offer me a Pina Colada but I'm still waiting.
This feeling was even more marked when she played a few Brazilian songs.
She walked carefully on stage and sometimes sat down.
"A Little prayer for you" was re-arranged and she played a few soft tunes ( "I'll never stop loving you", "What the world needs now is love" "That's what friends are for").
Great version of the Bee Gees' "Heartbreaker" (here on video)
Short set, only 75 min with no encore, too bad as it was great !
We were lucky to meet her after the show and she signed us a couple of things (Picture below)

a satisfied audience

a program from 1965 and ticket signed

"HeartBreaker"

Electric Guest @ Fnac Forum, Paris May 22 2012 6:00 pm

Electric Guest @ Fnac Forum, Paris May 22 2012 6:00 pm

New up & coming pop band Electric Guest is playing a free showcase @ Fnac store before their sold-out show tonight @ Maroquinerie.
Lots of young & sexy young girls in the audience, that was the only interest as the music is crap and the singer has ridiculous stage moves.
I'm sure the Inrockuptibles mag looooove this band (sic!)
They only played 3 songs (out of the 7 they were supposed to play) for a 20 min set as the singer was sick.

Black Sabbath @ O2 Academy, Birmingham May 19 2012

Updated May 21: with links to more videos
and full audio

Black Sabbath @ O2 Academy, Birmingham May 19 2012

More to come so stay tuned

setlist: (click for videos) [corrected]

01. Into The Void
02. Under The Sun
03. Snowblind
04. War Pigs
05. Wheels Of Confusion
06. Electric Funeral
07. Black Sabbath
08. The Wizard
09. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
10. N.I.B.
11. Fairies Wear Boots
12. Tomorrow's Dream
13. Sweet Leaf14. Symptom Of The Universe (intro)/
15. Drum Solo
16. Iron Man
17. Dirty Women
18. Children Of the Grave
19. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (intro)/

20. Paranoid (another video)



Full Audio is available HERE

Vocals ...... Ozzy Osbourne
Guitar ...... Tony Iommi
Bass ...... Geezer Butler
Drums ...... Tommy Clufetos
Keyboards ...... Adam Wakeman