" les indépendants montent le son " Free concert Palais Royal Paris Oct 24th 2008

To celebrate the end of "les Arènes européennes de l’indépendance" ( i won't translate i don't know what it is ), the French Ministry for Culture ( Ministère de la Culture ) is organizing a free concert in the gardens of Palais Royal in the heart of Paris.
Tickets were to be collected this morning. there's around 1000 people here.
Each band is playing 3 or 4 songs.

The Courtyard with the "Big Balls" statue ( left ) French band Grégoire ( right )

Grégoire did a very decent job opening the free gigs at 7:30pm on the second stage in the gardens - Jardin du Palais Royal-.

Bloc Party

Bloc Party :1st band on the main stage in the main courtyard - Cour d' Honneur- , they look a bit tired , too much promo for their new cd ? they were ok

Keziah Jones

Very good set ( 4 songs ) then they rush to play Star Academy ( french Pop Idol ) tomorrow they are recording french tv show Taratata

Amadou & mariam ( left ) Time tables ( right )

I didn't really saw them as i was hanging backstage with a couple of friends, just the last song , people like them over here , they are from Bamako.

Time tables for make-up ( left )
The office of the Minister for the Culture Christine Albanel all set up for a performance

Christophe praying the Lord( left )
Wristbands :Red = all access . Black = cocktail upstairs. Yellow =aftershow party upstairs
I HAD THEM ALL !!!

Christophe did a decent set but refused to play his big hits and stick to the new songs, everything was recorded for a tv show to be broadcast next month on France 2
We missed Vincent delerm as we were having a few drinks upstairs in the main lounge, but i don't give a shit of him at all.

Travis

Travis ended the concert ( only 3 songs ) with a couple of new songs .
Then the audience is asked to leave the gardens and we made our way upstairs for the AfterShow in the office of the Minister for the culture and the lounge next door.

Camille performing IN the office of the Minister for the Culture

French singer Camille performed a couple of songs, we were a bit late so we could not get in ( sold -out : 15 people in there ) but we saw her as they left the doors open.

AYO performing in a lounge nextdoor - salon Jérome-

Tv Crew set up the cameras then Ayo rehearsed a bit so we were asked to go on the balcony ( it's getting chilly now ) for 15 min then called back to take a seat ( for only 20 people )and she did ONE song ( WHAT THE FUCK ??? ) All this shit for just one song !!!

Then we went into the office of the Minister for an interview with 2 french shitty writer who are telling us that they are independant because they have signed to a small publisher, so they only have to deal with a couple of people, even tough this publisher is owned by a company as big as Universal and they enjoy the huge distribution and publicity because it's a huge company, but they are still "Indie"
I' ve never heard some much crap is such a short time . These people are in the twilight zone.

Napoléon ( left ) and Julius Caesar ( ? ) were among us tonight !!!
Correction : In fact it's not Napoleon but his little brother Jérome Bonaparte and
the lounge is called - Salon Jérome-

FANTASTIC NIGHT !!! Bands were playing one after another so we didn't wait at all ( well almost ) Nice cocktail upstairs but i missed most of it as i was rocking with the crowd.
Nice aftershow "gigs" upstairs , in a hour we just had 3 songs but you're not invited every week In the office of the Minister for the Culture. So we won't ask for our money back .

"Melody Nelson" by Serge Gainsbourg @ Cité de la Musique Paris Oct 23rd 2008

UPDATED OCT 25th WITH 2 NEW PICTURES with BRIAN MOLKO

UPDATED OCT 24th with new video featuring Daniel Darc !!!

Jean Claude Vannier conducting the whole orchestra

Special Night @ La Cité de la Musique as we're gonna hear , at last , Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg live in its entirety for the second time.

First time was at the Barbican Center in London on Oct 21st 2006.
In 1971 when the album was released it had no success at all .
This album is credited only to Serge Gainsbourg but it is as much the album of Jean Claude Vannier as he wrote all the music and did the arrangements. Some music were written even before Serge put a pen to paper.

The concert was divided in 3 parts :
1st : 9 songs are played with JC on piano and vocals or instrumentals with JC conducting the orchestra ( see setlist for details ). Instrumentals were top .

2nd : JC is playing his unreleased and now cult album " L' enfant assassin des mouches" for which Serge Gainsbourg wrote a few lines. Some parts were very good others average.

3rd : we had " Melody Nelson".

The whole cast

See complete setlist for details :
French actor Mathieu Amalric didn't sing as he had the spoken parts , his voice matched perfectly the original version same with Martine Topley Bird ( who's playing Melody ).

Brian Molko did the vocals for " Ballade de Melody ..." he sung it his own way ( with his high duck voice ) but did a very decent job on it ( see video )with a punchy version.
French singer Brigitte Fontaine was out of it for " Valse de Melody", sometimes out of key. a let down .

Daniel Darc was Perfect on " Ah Melody" , the best performance of the night for what is probably my favorite song on this album.
French singer Alain Chamfort, considering his voice, did well on " l' Hotel particulier".
Seaming To "sung" like Yoko Ono on "en melody" but the original version has screams and gasps like Yoko Ono would do so it was perfect.
French actress Clothilde Hesme probably had the longest part to " sing" and did well too on " Cargo Culte".
In fact the whole cast did very good apart from brigitte fontaine , they all stick to the original version excluding Brian Molko who sung his song in a different key ( much more higher ).
It's funny to see that 2 years ago he had short hair and was starting getting bald on the top and now he has thick long black hair !

Seaming To , Alain Chamfort, Daniel Darc ,Martina Topley Bird, Brian Molko

Mathieu Amalric, Brigitte fontaine & Clotilde Hesme

UPDATED WITH NEW VIDEO :
" Ah Melody" with Daniel Darc :
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=d31eM7pPxS4
Updated Oct 25 th with 2 new pictures below:

Herbie Flowers backstage : Bass on Melody Nelson & countless other records ( left )
Complete Setlist + program signed by Brian Molko , Melody Nelson cd signed by Herbie flowers & JC Vannier (right )

"Ballade de Melody Nelson" featuring Brian Molko" :

Jacques Higelin @ Studio SFR Paris Oct 22nd 2008

Private showcase @ Studio SFR in Paris to promote a new book on french singer Jacques Higelin by photographer Laurence Leblanc , words by Clémentine Dérouville.

Jacques Higelin with Laurence Leblanc ( left ) and
Clémentine Déroudille ( right )

First there is an interview, well... hard to say it is an interview as Jacques is fooling around all the time, the girls could hardly say a word. Clémentine is laughing but Laurence is clearly pissed off by the situation .
Note: Clémentine is the grand-daughter of famous french photographer Robert Doisneau.
Then, there is the concert : Jacques is still in high spirit and is still fooling around a lot.
He's playing a few songs in between reading his texts including a very long, and unreleased , one ( 15 min ).
First time i was seeing him and he was fun.
It's not really my cup of tea when he's reading texts but when he's playing on guitar or on piano , he's very talented musically ( and lyrically ) .
Good evening but lousy cocktail after.

"Chinese Democracy" tracklisting revealed ... GUNS 'N ROSES

GUNS ' N FUCKIN' ROSES IS BACK

The album will be out on Nov 24th.

"Chinese Democracy" tracklisting revealed :

'Chinese Democracy'
'Scraped'
'Shackler's Revenge'
'Street Of Dreams'
'If The World'
'Better'
'This I Love'
'There Was A Time'
'Riad N' The Bedovins'
'Sorry'
'I.R.S.'
'Catcher'
'Madagascar'
'Prostitute'

Lou Reed @ Virgin Megastore Champs Elysées paris Oct 21st 2008

Lou Reed has just released a book and he's here at the Virgin Megastore tonight to sign it , and only the book ... so they say !

A book of his lyrics has already been released a few years ago, how to make something new with something old. The french publisher needs some extra bucks.
This new book is crap , they did some effects on the text , like the one i was doing 20 years ago on my Amstrad computer , COMPLETE RUBBISH .
Lou is very late but is nice and takes time to speak to everyone, you could get your cd or vinyl sign too.

Tomorrow night Private party and concert for the launch of a new Jacques Higelin book at the Studio SFR near Madeleine in Paris.