Lenny Kravitz & Chris Cornell @ Paris Bercy May 20th 2009

Lenny Kravitz & Chris Cornell
Paris Bercy May 20th 2009

SOLD-OUT Bercy for Mr Lenny Kravitz, they even sold tickets behind the stage, Bastards.
Not a surprise it's a Gérard Drouot Production ,
Chris Cornell , formely of Soundgarden & Audioslave , is opening tonight in a half empty Bercy.
Do you remember his horrible show @ La Cigale in February ? : He played his whole new shitty cd produced by Timbaland. ( see review Pics and video from his show @ La Cigale HERE )
Well things haven't really changed , lots of new songs: soooo boring ! Thank God , we had " Black hole sun " ( out of key on vocals ) , a very good " Spoonman" ( soundgarden ) & " Cochise" ( Audioslave ).
Poor guy , he's ruining his solo career.

[ According to Vicky Cornell , Chris' wife , Prince was in Bercy watching the show ]

Lenny Kravitz is back in Paris after playing La Cigale in March 2008 , the show was really kicking ass.
This time he's not here to promote the new cd but to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first ( and best ) album "Let love rule" .
Not the best start as he's playing mid-tempo songs at the beginning. Then things started to get hot as we had lots of songs from " Let love rule" ( setlist shortly ).
Craig Ross is on fire and to give an extra funky & soul atmosphere there are saxo & trumpet players ( 4 in all ). The bass player has a very groovy sound.

SETLIST : ( corrected )
Freedom train
Bring it on
It ain't over til it's over
Where Are We Runnin’?
I belong to you
Flower child
Believe
Dancin' till dawn
I'll be waiting
Mr Cab Driver
Always on the Run
American Woman
Fly away

Stillness Of Heart
Let love rule

Are you gonna go my way

A few songs are streched to more than 10 min ( including the title song " Let love rule " here on video and incomplete, sorry ), Lenny is playing the rock star... maybe too much for me, but the " black jew" as he describes himself knows how to entertain his mainly female audience.
Incredible , ladies are everywhere and all of 'em Hot babes.
Quite a change from the Metallica audience.
He went a couple of times in the pit to sing and check hands with the first row and even take pictures of his fans.
The concert ended with lots of pyro on a rocking version of " Are you gonna go my way".
Back to the basics on this tour for a very nice gig.
It remember me the first time I saw him in Bercy with Keziah Jones opening... a long time ago.

"Spoon-Man with Led Zep's Good times Bad times" :

"Let love rule" BABY !!!

Adam Ficek @ 5e Disque Rue Mouffetard Paris May 20th 2009

Adam Ficek aka Roses Kings Castles
5e Disque Rue Mouffetard Paris
May 20th 2009 6:00 PM

Adam is in Paris to promote his cd so he had a couple of solo acoustic performances organised, one was yesterday @ Motel Bar ( see review , Pics & Video HERE ) which was packed.
Today he's playing in a very tiny record store in one of the most 'pittoresque' street of Paris La Rue Mouffetard.
Very odd choice ( to be polite ) to do a gig in such a small store ( He should have a word with the "Promoter" ) nevertheless Adam took it nicely and greeted fans who came ( mostly the same as yesterday ) with very relax and laid back songs from his back catalogue, including a couple of favorites , with audience participation and some brand new songs to feature on his next EP.
As usual with Adam everything went smoothly.
Strange to see him play in such a small place while the tv screen was playing in the back the Woodstock movie in which John Sebastian & Joe Mc Donald are playing their acoustic set in front of half a million people.
Here's a video from Mathilde ( Not rockerparis ):

Adam Ficek aka Roses Kings Castles @ Motel bar Paris May 19th 2009

Adam Ficek @ Motel bar Paris May 19th 2009

Escaping from the drums of Babyshambles , Adam Ficek is taking his acoustic guitar and playing in clubs and bars. This time he's @ Motel not too far from Bastille.
Lots of cool and laid back songs in the packed bar , lots of familiar faces here tonight.
We had the primeur of a couple of new songs.

See Ya tomorrow in the record store of Rue Mouffetard M° Place Monge @ 6 :00 PM for another acoustic show.
he will be mixing @ Social Club around midnight

Gossip @ L' Album de la Semaine Canal+ Paris May 19th 2009

setlist

Gossip are doing famous Canal+ tv show " L' Album de la Semaine" , they are here to promote their new album .
They've played yesterday a long sold-out gig @ Boule Noire.
In front of a selected audience of less than 200 people , Beth Ditto are friends are only playing songs from their new cd ( see setlist ).
They used to be more rock , it seems that new songs are much more orientated with a 80's sound with weird keyboard and all... not for the best.
Beth still has a voice but the music is less interesting, too bad .
The gig was quite short , around 30 min and Beth came to sing the last one in the stalls with the audience.
Hey guys come back to some real rock'n roll.
( sorry no pictures it's forbidden )

Tomorrow May 20th Adam Ficek is playing another gig in a record store at 6:00 Pm @ -5e disque- Rue Mouffetard M° Place Monge in the Latin quarter. 5e district

Then I 'll go to Bercy for the Chris Cornell / Lenny Kravitz concert.

see ya there

PJ Harvey & John Parish @ Bataclan 2 May 18th 2009

UPDATED MAY 25th
with a link to listen to the WHOLE SHOW ( click ) on Deezer

PJ Harvey & John Parish @ Bataclan
2nd show Paris May 18th 2009

The Marquee

Hey Boys , It's hard to make a living in Paris these days !

Once again American artist Tom Brusseau opened the show on his own , oh Boy he was alone! Like yesterday many people in the back were talking as he was playing his sweet folk country music.
He thanked the audience a couple of times for listening to him.
The guy has a good sens of humour.
He has the voice of an angel à la Jeff buckley , frenchies only showed him support when he ended one of his songs a cappela.
Fine job in difficult conditions.

Well , What can I say about this gig ?
They played songs from their 2 records ( setlist below ) , she was wearing the same black dress as yesterday , the band wore the same black suits like a country band would do.
I noticed that John changed his horrible brown colour shoes from yesterday to some black ones.

Polly was in fine form , her voice was crystal clear , dancing barefoot ( remember someone ? ).
John was discreet playing guitar , banjo , ukulele ... only singing lead on one song at the end.

The music went from very quiet songs to nice indie rock spat out lyrics.
They could have changed a couple of things as we had the same songs as yesterday in the same order for a too short 90 min show.

Once again great set !

Setlist