The Black Keys @ Studio de la Grande Armée for OUI FM, Paris May 1st 2014

The Black Keys @ Studio de la Grande Armée for OUI FM, Paris May 1st 2014

  

On this very quiet May 1st Labour Day we're not demonstrating in the Streets of Paris. We prefered to stay in bed very late and have a drink at the top of the Hyatt Regency hotel on the 33rd floor with a nice view over Paris despite the shitty weather.

Why this hotel ? Simply because The BLACK KEYS are playing a very private concert on the ground floor of this building in the famous Studio de la Grande Armée for OUI FM.

We already saw FRANZ FERDINAND(click for review) in this very same place a few weeks ago

We've already attended many exclusive concerts but this one is probably one of the more intimate with only 100 people, most of them record Cie executives & friends and a few competition winners from french radio OUI FM.

So intimate that I can almost touch the drum kit. 

The band is on time 20:08 pm Patrick on the left and Dan on the right with a couple of additional guys in the back on bass and keys/backing vocals.
Needless to tell you that conditions are perfect and so is the sound.
The audience is very quiet, like hypnotized... the band is playing a couple of new songs from the new album "Turn Blue" including brand new single "Fever" that is sounding SO MUCH better Live that on the record. New songs are a bit like the songs from "El Camino", they've  played a couple from that one too.
The band is tight and focus on their job, no communication with the audience apart for a "Thank You" at the end. Probably a 6-7 songs (can't remember) set for a mere 22 min concert.
Nice to see them in such an intimate place but I guess they could have played a bit longer...

Archives:

The Black Keys @ Rock en Seine 2012

 

The Strypes @ Gaité Lyrique, Paris April 30 2014

The Strypes @ Gaité Lyrique, Paris April 30 2014

Everybody's talking about this new band for months, they've already played in Paris supporting other bands, even Rock&Folk magazine had their front page with them a couple of months ago.
I'm always suspicious when a band out of nowhere is becoming the media darling suddenly.

The Gaité Lyrique is really packed (500 capacity), it was sold-out weeks ago. All teenager girls are down the front but the band is also attracting, funnily enough,  grey hair French Rockers in their 40's and 50's who are all standing up in the back.
Members of The Strypes are very young no more than 18 years old and Fuck me these kids can play... they've been compared to The Kinks, I Guess these kids are playing much better than the Kinks when they were the same age. hard to believe. Lots of very short -no more than 2 min long songs- no temps mort.
The singer looks a little bit like a very young Miles Kane/Alex Turner playing it cool with his shades and costume.
They're having fun and so are we.
The singer stopped singing and couldn't stop laughing when a kid missed his stage-diving and ended up on the floor.

Great gig !

Merchandising + setlist

Jello Biafra & the GSM @ 104, Paris April 23 2014

Jello Biafra & the GSM @ 104, Paris April 23 2014

Former Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School of Medicine are back in Paris after playing last August @ Glazart, too bad that we couldn't attend as we were on holidays.
This time we won't miss him. Strangely enough he's playing @ 104. This is our first concert in this venue, we saw Lou Reed here for a reading of his texts in 2008.

They took away all the chairs from the room that is full of mainly 50 years old Punk rockers, good point as there were lots of pogoing and a bit of crowd surfing including Jello Biafra who's on top form. He came on stage almost dressed as Alice Cooper with leather jacket, hat and stick in hand, to undressed little by little until he's bare chest.

Doesn't really sound like a Punk band , more like a heavy rock band with gust. Each song is introduced with a political statement, I guess we had everything from Bankers, Crises, fracking (Hydraulic fracturing), National Front and a few more...
Always kept it interesting... walking the stage like a maniac and playing every song like a actor.
I'm not too familiar with his back catalogue but it reminded me of Henry Rollins when he was playing with his heavy Metal band Mother Superior. So lots of heavy & fast tunes.
With an audience that was really into it straight from the beginning.

A 2 hour set of heavy/Punk Rock for one of the best show we attended in 2014
Encore 1
Police Truck
Pets eat their master
Encore 2:
Hollywood Goof disease
Holiday in cambodgia
Encore 3:
Too drunk to Fuck
Crapture

Merchandising, Setlist (complete)

"California Ubber Alles":


Archives:
Jello Biafra @ Rock en Seine Paris 2010

Kaiser Chiefs @ Fleche d'Or, Paris April 22 2014

Kaiser Chiefs @ Fleche d'Or, Paris April 22 2014

This show is sold-out for weeks and strangely enough when you arrive at the Fleche d'Or there's no sign at all of a gig, people have arrived slowly one by one with no big queue outside the venue.
We're making our way in just as the band is getting on stage, it's packed inside.
We have not been to this venue for ages, there used to be many interesting gigs and showcases.

Good to be back in the famous hot & sweaty Flèche d'Or.
Lots of die-hards fans down the front singing every word to every song including the new ones.
The  band has now a new drummer and trying to recover the success they had a few years ago, it looks like job is done in England where the album has been N°1 in the charts for the last two weeks.
Tonight we're treated to songs from all of their albums including a few songs from the new one,  that are really sounding very good.
As usual the singer Rickie Wilson is doing the show getting a girl on stage to have a dance and carrying her on his shoulders, he also went singing from the back of the venue with a bit of crowd surfing. He's sweating buckets of water and so we are...
Really nice set in this sauna that is the Fleche d'Or

Ass kicking set by KAISER CHIEFS

 setlist (far right)