ROCKERPARIS

mardi 7 avril 2009

Bob Dylan @ Palais des Congres Paris April 7th 2009

UPDATED APRIL 9TH : Carla Bruni Sarkozy was at the gig ( with her husband ? ) , i've been told about it yesterday but as i didn't noticed it myself on the night I didn't talked about it. According to the press Carla even get Bob's Harmonica. BITCH

Bob Dylan @ Palais des Congres Paris

1st show April 7th 2009

1st show in Paris , it was sold-out a long time ago and many people were looking for tickets outside , you could get one from the scalpers for 250 Euros.
Patrice Guino, our photographer, who has connections all over the world could get us invitations on the 20th row , not the best seats in the house but who's gonna complain ?
Well... maybe him as he couldn't do any decent pictures.

Anyway , Bob is still stuck to his keyboards most of the time , only playing the guitar for a couple of songs ,and he's playing on all but 3 songs almost in complete dark ( " a fucking nightmare for me" dixit Patrice )
Of course when you go to a Bob Dylan concert don't expect the best , you go to see a Legend.
His glory days are long behind him and the poor sucker just CANNOT sing anymore at all.
Some songs , the most well-known ones , are barely recognizable.
Nevertheless there are some very good moments when the band is playing an extended version or solo and Bob is NOT singing.
Overall good 2 hour show.

SETLIST :

Bob Dylan did a photo session for Rolling Stone US between 1PM & 3PM today in a private building next to the Parc Monceau in Paris.

" All along the watchtower" :

See you tomorrow .
Contact : irockinparis (@ ) yahoo.fr

Kurt Cobain 15 years already

It's hard to believe that he died 15 years ago.
He lives on with his music

lundi 6 avril 2009

Alela Diane @ Bataclan ( + William Elliott Whitmore ) April 6th 2009

Alela Diane + William Elliott Whitmore
Bataclan April 6th 2009

Alela Diane is very popular in France , she's signed to a French label Fargo Records , tonight's show is sold-out but it's an all seated event so there is around 900 people.
First on is William Elliott Whitmore playing banjo and acoustic guitar , he has a low voice , nice if you're into that kind of Folk-country -blues music.

Alela has released a couple of records and is coming very often in Paris , this was a first for me, I just came without knowing or hearing anything about her .
So I didn't know what to expect.
The gig started really softly singing on her own then for the next number came her guitar player and so on for the rest of the band.
She has a lovely voice and is totally folk with a bit of country ( some slide guitar parts ) and Irish folk.
Cool set but a bit short ( around 75 min ) i've been told that we were lucky as she has played a longer set than usual.
When she signed the setlist she told me that she changed a couple of songs so don't get fooled .
Straight after the gig she went ( with the backing vocalist ) to sign ( and sell ) cds and vinyls at the merchendise stall.

Setlist not accurate

Sexy Alela

Alela Diane will play a promotional show @ the " Salle de Billard " ( 300 capacity ) of the Olympia Theatre on April 13th.

America @ Théatre Marigny Paris April 5th 2009

America in Paris @ Théatre Marigny
April 5th 2009

The Everly Brothers ?

NO ! AMERICA

Afetr seeing Metallica playing two sold-out shows in front of 18000 metal maniacs in Bercy a couple of days ago.
Completely different style of music and venue.
Tonight folk-rockers AMERICA are playing a sold-out gig in one of the most beautiful theatre in Paris just next to the famous Champs Elysées.
This is their last show on the European tour before heading back to... America
Lots of posh people in here.
No warm-up act and America get right into it with " Riverside " & " Ventura".
The sound is perfect and so are the harmony vocals between Gerry Beckley & Dewey bunnell, the original members ( there was a 3rd one many years ago).
They're back up by a tight band.

These guys have so many classic songs , it' hard to believe ; needless to say they've played 'em all. We also had songs for their recent album " Hear & Now " ( 2007 ) co-produced by James Iha ( former Smashing Pumpkins ).

George Martin produced seven of their records so they played " Eleanor Rigby" as a tribute to The Beatles. They also played Mamas & Papas ' " california dreaming".
The stage is very simple, there is just a huge screen in the back with projections of their album artwork or images of american landscapes to nice effects.
The 90 min show wouldn't be complete without " sandman" which made everybody stand up.
And of course their N°1 hit single on both sides of the Atlantic " A horse with no name" with the beautiful daughter of Dewey as a guest vocalist.

Great show !

Both of them were really nice and chatty when we could met them after the show at the bar