ROCKERPARIS

mercredi 8 juillet 2009

SEAL @ Paris Bercy July 8th 2009

SEAL @ Paris Bercy
July 8th 2009

Opening Band ?

3rd show in 3 days in Bercy for our team at ROCKERPARIS , we should be back for Madonna tomorrow ( or maybe we'll go to see Canned Heat @ Bataclan or Anthony & the johnsons @ Salle Pleyel or Chris Cornell @ Black Calavados , we don't know yet )
Almost sod-out tonight , Seal is VERY popular in France , he sold more than 1 Million of his last album " Soul".One third of the woldwide sales of his last cd were in France.
I saw him before chritmas at a Canal+ TV show " La Musicale" ( click on link for the review ) and I thought he was brilliant.

Can't tell you anything about the folk - rock support band ( even their name ) we just saw the last song , people seemed to have enjoyed it

Lots of soul cover in the first half with SEAL ( "Papa was a rolling stone" , "a change is gonna come" , "I've been loving you too long" , "Knock on wood" + one from Al Green , The Impressions ... )
Songs are great but when you're singing Soul music , you need SOUL and there isn't any SOUL in Bercy tonight , it sounds more like an easy-listening version of soul covers.
He's not helped by some totally uninspired musicians.

The second part is more focus on his songs which are much more electronic and dance than I thought , it's better but far from being fantastic.
He stayed most of the time on a small catwalk to be in contact with his fans shaking hands with them very often and even taking request ( He did " Ne me quitte pas" in English and a cappela ) and is also making the effort to communicate with the audience.

Nevertheless it was a very disappointing concert

Sorry the pictures are crap Patrice Guino our photographer didn't bother taking any for this one.

" Crazy " probably the best song tonight :

Leonard Cohen @ Paris Bercy July 7th 2009

Leonard Cohen @ Paris Bercy
July 7th 2009

On his knees

Back to Bercy for a very different concert than yesterday ( Britney Spears ) , this time we have a real composer & a real singer.
I' m not too familiar with Leonard's catalogue apart from his most famous songs , the place is packed but not sold-out in this all seated arena.
So there's around 12-13000 people.
Leonard is playing over two sets for almost 3 hours.
He has a deep and low voice, he's dressed smartly and is with 7 musicians and 3 girls on backing vocals.
Maybe some songs are sounding the same if you're not too familiar with his songs like I am.

SETLIST ( Courtesy of Leonard Cohen site & 1heckofAGuy )

• Dance Me To The End Of Love
• The Future
• Ain't No Cure For Love
• Bird On The Wire
• Everybody Knows
• In My Secret Life
• Who By Fire
• Chelsea Hotel #2
• Waiting For The Miracle
• Anthem

Second Set

• Tower Of Song
• Avalanche
• Suzanne
• Sisters Of Mercy
• The Partisan
• Boogie Street
• Hallelujah
• I'm Your Man
• Take This Waltz

First Encore

• So Long, Marianne
• First We Take Manhattan

Second Encore

• Famous Blue Raincoat
• If It Be Your Will
• Closing Time

Final Encore

• I Tried To Leave You
• Whither Thou Goest (tutti a cappella)

The best is to , Watch this :

" Suzanne" :

"The Partisan"

mardi 7 juillet 2009

Blur NOT PLAYING @ Parvis Hotel de Ville Paris August 5th 2009

UPDATED JULY 9th:

BLUR HAS OFFICIALLY DENIED PLAYING IN PARIS ON AUGUST 5th
Sorry , you should never rely on French journalists especially in music.
These morons don't know shit.

BREAKING NEWS :
BLUR will play their last ever show In Paris on August 5th 2009
This will be a free show on the Parvis de L' Hotel de ville.

Updated July 8th:
Hold on baby ! NOTHING has been confirmed so don't buy your eurostar tickets to come to Paris before it's confirmed officialy.
I tried to get more info and got nothing , the journalist who said that might have been confused with Damon Albarn 's african project with Amadou & Mariam who are playing that day.
Paris Match original news

Britney Spears @ Bercy Paris july 6th 2009

Britney Spears @ Bercy
Paris July 6th 2009

Circus

Last show for Britney Spears lots of empty seats in the back covered with black curtains , the other two were sold-out.

I Went with my two little cousins who are on holidays in Paris ( i'm trying to find a cheap excuse ).

First on stage is French new Gay icon Sliimy thankfully get there for the last song , he was on stage with just a guy on acoustic guitar , I don't think the response he get from the audience was overwhelming.

Then we had a very cute female DJ ( Havana Brown ) She was sooo bad it was embarrassing , if she ever DJ like this in Ibiza this summer i'm sure someone 's gonna find her body mutilated in a plastic bag.

You can CLICK on each picture for the full size

Last but not least we had some dancers and jugglers for a good 20 min before Britney Spears got on the stage arriving from the ceiling.
I've been told that the show was stunning , well that's partly true , it's a center stage with perfect view wherever you are , the musicians are hidden in the pit.
There are 500 and 1000 euros tickets just in front the stage and you're sitting on a sofa but who would pay to see such crap.
She's not singing AT ALL for the whole show , yeah it's a show not a concert.
The pre-recorded voice is unbearable from start to finish drowned with distorted auto-tune.
Can we talk about the music ?
Well NOT , the biggest piece of shit I have ever listened to.
At least Madonna has some very decent tunes.
LOTS ...I mean LOTS of very beautiful girls in the audience tonight.
I had my camera with me so I kept myself busy for the whole show so enjoy !
After such crap I really had to listen to some real music , there's nothing better than "Painkiller" by Judas Priest to wake up the neighbors at 1:00 AM
Vengeance is sweet.

review © Guino Patrice

Hey dude watch out behind you !

If you like Madonna come and have a look at our review with lots of pictures from both nights last year at the Stade de France
Show 1 ( click on link )
Show 2

ALL PICTURES © Guino Patrice

The best for the end : Cute English girls

dimanche 5 juillet 2009

Next Shows in Paris july 2009

July 6th:

Foreigner @ Olympia
Fred Wesley @ new Morning

July 7th:

Léonard cohen @ Bercy
Roger Hodgson @ Olympia
Fred Wesley @ new morning

July 8th:

Seal @ bercy
Lee Ritenour @ new Morning

July 9th:

Madonna @ Bercy ( there are tickets left )
Canned Heat @ Nem Morning ( with Larry Taylor & Harvey Mendel )

CHRIS CORNELL @ Black Calavados ( Private Show )

July 10th:

John Butler @ Folies Bergere

July 11th & 12th :

U2 & Kaiser chiefs @ SdF

july 22nd:

BB King @ Palais des Congres

Crosby Stills & Nash Part 1 @ Olympia July 4th 2009

Crosby Stills & Nash @ Olympia Paris
July 4th 2009
Part 1
Part 2 ( click on link )

see our review ( with Pics ) of Stephen Stills 's concert in Oct 2008 @ Olympia( click on link )

Cool to see those legends back together in Paris , the show at the Olympia theatre near the Opera is long Sold-Out even though the tickets were once more VERY expensive ( between 80 and 100 Euros ).
Same promoter as usual. I won' t name the bastard.

ALL PICTURES © Guino Patrice

Nice introduction as the trio started very slowly on acoustic with " helplessly Hoping".
They've played songs we're not used to hear from CSN, covers from The Rolling Stones , Bob Dylan , Tim Hardin , The Grateful Dead.
For the last one David said that he would never have thought singing this one in a million years.

Each one of them had a solo spot during this first part of the show , Graham & David did a duet on one and Steven took the bass for " dream for him" ( from the album " Looking forward" )

" Our House" had the best ovation for the 1st part
Really cool 50 min+ 1st set.

Setlist Part 1

End of Part 1

Crosby Stills & Nash Part 2 @ Olympia Paris July 4th 2009

Crosby Stills & Nash @ Olympia Paris
July 4th 2009
Part 2
Part1 ( click on Link )

The second part of the show was much more electric starting with " Rock & Roll Woman" from then it was hits after hits.

It's hard to believe how many great songs this band has.

The atmosphere is also getting electric in the audience.
The band is on top form , Steven is stunning on guitar.

Funy to see how these guys seems to be such good friends on stage when they barely speak to each other the rest of the time and that they're travelling separately in their own tour bus.