ROCKERPARIS

lundi 6 octobre 2008

Stephen Stills Olympia Paris Oct 5th 2008

Stephen Stills Live at the Olympia Paris , once again prices are really silly , up to 85 euros , he's playing in Belgium for only 40 euros ( What's wrong in France, why is it so expensive ? )
So the balcony is half empty ( the pit is full ) and it's an all seated concert.
His fans are getting old ...;-)

First part of the show was a solo acoustic concert with the band only for the first song and ... the last song. Stephen is a great guitar player but he sometimes tends to overplay , his voice isn't as good as it used to be especially when he's pushing it a bit. Some very good songs ( see video ) and others a bit boring.
So mixed emotions for this short acoustic part of only 45 min .
Setlist acoustic set ( tbc ) :Helplessly Hoping( with band ) ,Then solo: Treetop Flyer, Girl from the North Country , Change Partners, 4 + 20( video here ), The Blind Fiddler, Johnny's Garden, Daylight Again/Cost of Freedom, Suite Judy blues eyes ( band joined in for the second part ).

Second part was electric and much better , in fact , it was great .
With an electric guitar in hand he's the boss, reminding me of Neil Young's playing for some parts but only some parts. Nice electric version of Buffalo Springfield 's "Rock ' n Roll woman" with extended guitar solo. ( see video here : http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=vDfY_ystklM )
Encore was kicking ass with Christopher Stills on guitar for a great version of " Dark Star" later joined by his mother, french singer Véronique Samson for a smashing rendition of " love the one you're with" full of meaning considering what happened when Stephen was married with Véronique.
Here's a link to the video of "Love the one you're with" on someone else's Youtube channel :
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=m3kSaNY-B2M

father & son

father , son & wife

Goodbye to you .

The Acoustic part " 4 + 20 ":

dimanche 5 octobre 2008

Patti Smith @ Eglise de Saint Germain des Pres "Nuit Blanche" Paris Oct 4th 2008

Patti Smith and her two children ( Jesse & Jackson )played live all night long @ the church of St Germain des Pres over 5 sets ( yes 5 sets ) lasting between 40 and 50 min starting at 9:30 PM ( Oct 4th ) last one 4 AM ( Oct 5th ) . Guest was actor Micheal Pitt playing guitar.
She was supposed to read some poetry from St François d' assise but in fact it wasn't that at all.
It was a proper concert from Patti smith.
So don't believe all the shit you read in the press, even this morning, saying she improvised all night , not true at all she did it on a couple of songs no more .
David Lynch was there for the first show .

We had the free tickets for the first 2 shows ( 9:30 PM and 11PM ) which we had collected a day earlier then it was first come first serve for the 3 other shows .
Going there we just thought of going to the first one ( and maybe the second ) as she was supposed to read poetry , seeing what we saw for the first gig we came back for the second and after meeting a few friends there thinking the same as us , we stayed for the whole fuckin' night .
YEAH BABE a whole night with Patti Smith
And we've been to all FIVE shows !!!

Jackson Smith 's setlist ( right )

I'll post a proper setlist for all 5 shows later but she performed songs from her repertoire , she just changed a couple of songs from gigs to gigs .
The first 2 sets were 50 min long ( 9 songs ) , then the next two were 40 min long and the last one 45 min finishing around 4: 40 AM.
There wasn't a long break between sets ( 30-40 min ) just the time to have a quick drink a walk around the church to get back in line for the next one . I didn't see the night passing through .
Setlists including : Wing , Southern cross , Ghost dance, dancing barefoot, because the night, people have the power , helpless , Are you experienced plus a few others including a couple referring directly to the events in the lyrics .
SETLIST Set n° 1 : 2 songs ( one is "wing" ), "grateful" ," beneath the southern cross", "Ghost dance", "dancing barefoot", "Helpless", "Because the night", "People have the power" ( 9 songs 50 min )
SETLIST Set n° 2 : " ? " , "grateful", "kimberly", " beneath the southern cross", "dancing barefoot", "helpless", "because the night"," people have the power" ( 9 songs 50 min )
SET n° 3: " wing"," beneath ...","ghost dance" with guests Michael Pitt and ? , "dancing barefoot","because the night" , "people have the power" ( 40 min ) maybe 1 other song ?
SET N°4 : "beneath..."," song written for this event ?" ," river ?", "ghost dance", "are you experienced", "dancing barefoot" , "because the night", "people have the power" (40 min)
Set N° 5 : NOT in order: " impro + my blakean year","helpless", " a song about St Francis ?", "are you experienced" and " people have the power" ending the white night. + other songs 50 min set . Michael Pitt as a guest on guitar for a few tunes.
She messed up a few songs along the night but as we were expecting poetry noboby cared .
All Shows were sold out and many people were turned down , inside the church Preacher Patti was listened to religiously , people standing up only for the last song ( people have the power ) .
The american actor Michael Pitt guesting on guitars and contributing vocals for a few numbers on the last 3 sets .

With Micheal Pitt ( or is it Kurt Cobain ??? )

FANTASTIC " nuit blanche " ( "white night" or " sleepless night " ) with Patti Smith.

Can you believe the shit ? 5 SHOWS IN ONE NIGHT in one of the most wellknown church in the world in the heart of the Latin quarter on the left bank of Paris.
FUCKING BRILLIANT !!!

Free daily newspaper -20 Minutes- has used one of Patrice's pictures from that night to illustrate Patti Smith's gigs at the Eglise de St Germain des Pres on their website :
http://nuit-blanche.20minutes-blogs.fr/archive/2008/10/04/vos-photos-de-la-nuit-blanche.html

Video to follow ...here :
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=R06kbFa2UX8