BASHUNG @ Fete de l' Humanité Sept 13th 2008

First time i'm seeing this french singer live . he's popular in france and unlike many other french singer he has a credibility ( a bit like Gainsbourg ).
It's really crowdy , it's saturday, lots of youngsters ( for the Babyshambles ) and old geezers too ; Belgium singer ARNO played just before, but we arrived just in time ( 7 pm ) to see Bashung .
Nice bluesy pop rock set , the poor chap has lung cancer and is being treated so he's seating for most of the gig.
He may be a bit frail but the voice is perfect .
Nice show but i'm still wondering why he's inviting his wife to sing.

With his wife Chloé Mons

OASIS @ Bataclan Paris Sept 13th 2008 ( for the show of the 30th )

Fans waiting for tickets ...

Hi there
Tickets for OASIS' next show were on sale this morning Sept 13th @ the Bataclan for their concert in this venue at the end of the month ( sept 30th ). Price is 39 euros .
1000 tickets were on sale at noon ( 1200 capacity ), the queue was impressive going around the block.

N*E*R*D @ Fete de l' Humanité Paris, Parc du Bourget Sept 12 th 2008

For METALLICA @ Taratata , please scroll down a bit ...

Baby-face in action ...

Hi there
Well... there was another Taratata recording tonight with Carla Bruni & Roger Hodgson ( former Supertramp ) but it wasn't worth going just to see 2 songs from Roger so i' ve been to see N*E*R*D @ La fete de l' Humanité.

It was a fucking nightmare to go there ( it's in Paris' suburb ), lots of traffic .
Luckily we arrived in front of the stage just as the band was being introduced .
Many people down there, around 50 000 .
I went straight to the VIP area, which is a little bit crap , on the right of stage but it was too late to sneak in down the front with the audience as it was packed, at least i had some space around me

Patrice Guino , our photographer , went into the pit ( enjoy his pictures !!! ) and with his contacts could managed to get ON stage , once again , for the rest of the show ( Bastard ! )
Needless to tell you that they've Rap-Rock the mother-fucking place. I really dig their music a very intelligent mix of rock & rap with bits of soul thrown in .
Their record " fly or die" is absolutly fantastic , i haven't heard the new one .

The 3 rappers ( or 4 ) walked that stage to death. Amazing how Pharrel Williams looks young, he really has a baby face. the show was very lively , for the last 2-3 songs they asked people to come on stage to rousing applauses. Then they get rid of all the boys and kept the girls for the last song which included a few seconds of the White Stripes' "7 nation army".
Some of the girls made it backstage , i don't know if they took'em back to their hotel as they were barely 17 .
Absolutely BRILLIANT .

As if you were ON stage with'em ...

Can't wait to see THE BABYSHAMBLES tomorrow ( and Roger Hodgson as well ) @ "la fete de l' Huma... " . Babyshambles' drummer is playing a late night show with his own band @ Truskell in Paris after Babyshambles' set.

Review + photos and videos of Pete Doherty's show @ truskell in June :
http://rockerparis.blogspot.com/2008/06/pete-doherty-shambles-grand-rex-paris.html

METALLICA @ TARATATA & Virgin Radio Paris Sept 10th 2008

James & Rob

Kirk & Lars

Long day with The Almighty METALLICA in Paris
First was Virgin radio in the afternoon and then TARATATA
It was a KILLER ...

Metallica was in Paris for a short promotional trip. they arrived here on the 9th around 9 PM. They stayed in the same hotel as Coldplay , Tony Parker & Eva Longoria. From what i heard they all went ( Metallica ) to the restaurant that night and then Lars & Kirk went to a dancing club coming back very late ... hum ... very early in the morning. Lars was staying in another hotel two minutes walk from the others.
On the 10th they went to the rehearsals for Taratata ( see picture below ).
Lars & Rob did an interview for Virgin Radio @ 6 pm ( Lars arriving late ) , we couldn't get into the studio so we had to stay in the lobby to listen to the interview.Around 30 fans were there and Lars & Kirk pose for pictures and sign autographs for everyone They left @ 7pm to go back to Taratata.

The show was running late and didn't start before 9 pm .
Metallica was the first band to play and did their new single " The day that never comes" .
What you have to know is that Taratata is the french Jools Holland , stage is central and stalls are all around for 400 people. We were second row, 3 meters behind James, facing the others.
You can't imagine how close we were from James. Sound was neat and not to loud. Perfect.
Just as they finished their song there was a power failure backstage so it took a good 10 min before they did their interview. Lars asked if there were any Metallica fans in the audience checking Metallica t-shirts in the crowd and talking to fans. They were very relax and chatty even though they show little signs of boredom as they had their plane to catch just after the show. After the interview in which James had a laugh at dave Mustaine as Nagui ( the host ) played some Megadeth in the PA ( Lars prefer to stay out of it ), they went back to their dressing room. Several other bands followed : Gabriella Cilmi, Sahara Hotnights ( an all girl band ) with Sting's son Joe Sumner , Joseph D' Anvers.
Metallica came back to play 2 songs "Cyanide" & " Enter sandman ". That was it.
Only 3 songs but that was mind blowing.
We went straight to the backstage area , Rob said hello and signed a few cds to a few fans and then they all left ( we didn't see the others ) by a small door to avoid people to get their plane in ...Reims as Le Bourget was closed.
As you wake up this morning they should take their breakfast in Denmark.
GREAT EVENING !!!

Sorry no live pictures from Taratata as our photographer PATRICE GUINO left his camera in the clockroom of the dressing rooms and couldn't get it back in time .
He was shattered , poor boy ;-(((

Remember that The Melvins are playing the Elysée Montmartre on the 11th !


the rehearsals sheet

live tv show part1 + all access wrisband & James' plectrum

Tv show part 2

Contact : irockinparis@yahoo.fr
Check our video of other artists here, you Metalheads :
http://fr.youtube.com/user/rockingparis

COLDPLAY + Albert Hammond Jr Paris Bercy Sept 9th 2008

NEW:
The Virgins will play " L'album de la semaine" Canal+ on Sept 15th
James Hunter same tv show on Sept 16th
http://www.myspace.com/jameshuntermusic
--For bookings call Bertrand on 01 55 93 40 48--
Metallica will do a interview live on Virgin radio today at 6pm ( they are recording Taratata tonight )

With its new record Coldplay is probably the biggest band of 2008, they've been N° 1 in more than 30 countries and they're playing in Paris for 2 Sold out nights @ Bercy ( 17 000 capacity ).
Albert Hammond Jr is opening , he's the guitar player of The Strokes .
The concert was very late as Albert hammond Jr started his set at 8:40 pm
He should go back with them as soon as he can as his gig was plain boring , his singing is monotonous and the songs are just average. I already saw him and it wasn't as boring as tonight.
What happened Albert ?

I'll upload a couple videos of Albert Hammond Jr tomorrow on Youtube ( link below ).

Then at 9:50 pm Coldplay came on stage , Live they 're much more exciting than on cd , they may only have 4 records but they have lots of hit songs. The singer is still funny to watch and the musicians could be easily replaced no one will noticed it. The stage is very simple with the cd cover as backdrop and then a big screen in the back . They've played a couple of songs on a small stage.
They've also played at the back of the venue and this time it wasn't on a proper stage but directly in the aisle in Bercy , first time i'm seeing this happen. Chris made an effort to speak an almost perfect french. Good point.
Funny how some songs are sounding like U2 , they even did like U2 when their drummer came up front to play some drums. Lots of confettis at the end ...
Enjoyable night.

SETLIST
Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks
In My Place
Speed Of Sound
Cemeteries Of London
Chinese Sleep Chant
42
Fix You
Strawberry Swing
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (partial - techno version)
Talk (partial - techno version)
The Hardest Part (piano - Chris)
Postcards From Far Away (piano instrumental)
Viva La Vida
Lost!
The Scientist (acoustic)
Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic - Will singing)
Viva La Vida (remix interlude)
-------
Politik
Reign Of Love
Lovers In Japan
Death And All His Friends
-------
Yellow
The Escapist

( Sorry no pictures for this gig as Patrice Guino, our photographer, didn't take any, he just didn't care at all. )
See our review of the small show they've done in Paris for W9 TV in June here :
http://rockerparis.blogspot.com/2008/06/coldplay-w9-tv-show-jun-19th.html