Red Hot Chili Peppers Broadcast @ Grand Rex, Paris August 30 2011

No don't get mad they're NOT playing a small show @ Grand Rex tonight !

It's a "live" broadcast from their gig in Koln, Germany, it's also LIVE in 40 cinemas in France, check the list here. It's 19 Euros. 8:00PM.

There were talks for a secret show in Paris mid-Sept but it looks like it's be shelved.
For more info on the Peppers check the French website HERE.

Anna Calvi + Deftones + Archive + Lykke Li @ Rock en Seine - St Cloud, August 28 2011

Anna Calvi + Deftones + Nneka + Archive + Lykke Li
@ Rock en Seine - St Cloud, August 28 2011

Anna Calvi

I don't khow how she's doing , it's probably her 7th show in Paris this year (she played @ L'Album de la Semaine in January 2011 @ Nouveau Casino in Feb 2011, @ Trianon in April, that show was broadcasted live on arte tv, @ Fnac Montparnasse on June 15 for a free show, @ Black session radio show on France Inter two days later and she opened for Grinderman @ Cité de la Musique in October 2010. And we probably missed one or two of her shows.

She only has one album out so she's playing the same songs again but always with a charming smile and perfectly. Even if we saw her a few times over here in Paris her show is still as enjoyable as the first time. Technically it's perfect , her guitar playing and voice is just perfect.
As usual the audience is very dedicated, you could hear a pin drop.
Great performance.

We thought that it would be the end of the festival for us but we decided to check Deftones before going home. Good point , I remember them from 15 years ago and I wasn't impressed.
It's not as heavy as i thought they were, it's very ambiant aprt formt he last two songs that were much more heavy.
Chino, the singer is still funny to watch running that stage from one side to the other and getting down in the photographer's pit to sing in front of the fans.
Very good show.

Nadéah (far left)

Now we have nothing to do, we heard music coming out from a marquee and Nadéah was doing a showcase there, too bad we get there as she was playing her last song (pics above far left).

Nneka

We had a walk on the site to see what was going on, we stopped by the second stage for a few minutes for Nneka : easy listening reggae music, just boring.
Trentemoller were playing on the 4th stage: We stayed a couple of minutes , horrible electro music.

Archive

Archive on the main stage with an orchestra, we just stayed two songs, a bit boring.

Lykke Li

Another electro-pop artist with Lykke Li, enjoyable set, great voice.

Miles Kane + The La's + Concrete Knives + Cat's Eyes @ Rock en Seine - St Cloud, August 28 2011

The Vaccines + Cat's Eyes + Concret Knives + The La's + Miles Kane
@ Rock en Seine - St Cloud, August 28 2011

The Vaccines (far left) & some pretty Girls (far right)

Last day for the Rock en Seine Festival in St Cloud, we get there early but too late to see The Vaccines, well we only saw the last song.

Cat's Eyes

Went to see Cat's Eyes, the band from the singer of The Horrors with his wife on keys and vocals, they were playing on the 4th and smaller stage. Dedicated audience for a treat of 60's psyche with a bit of Joy Division thrown in, the sound was not perfect and it's not really the kind of music for a festival in daylight.
Hope to see them again in a club or a theatre.

The female singer from Concrete Knives fist-fucked by Security (far right)

French electro-pop Concrete Knives was playing nearby on the 3rd stage so saw them for a few songs before heading to the 2nd stage for The La's.
I remember now that they were opening for Arctic Monkeys @ Cigale in June.
Lively and cool electro-pop, not our style but entertaining.

The La's

The La's have just reformed so there were lots of expectations. Lee Mavers is on guitar & vocals, Gary Murphy on bass. I was expecting a full band as there is a drum kit in the back but after a few songs it is clear that they will play as a duet.
So we had electro-acoustic version of their songs, it looks like they just don't give a fuck.
Couldn't they afford a drummer and rhythm guitar player ?
The drum kit was used once, between two songs when Lee played drums for a couple of minutes for a jam (?!?).
Disappointing.

Miles Kane

The third stage is packed for Miles Kane, he should have been playing on the second stage (and The La's here).
We already saw him a few months ago @ Canal+ tv show L' Album de la semaine ( click here for video) in March a day after his gig @ Point Ephémère club in Paris.
As they're getting on stage the kids are getting mad, the band is tight the sound is loud and clear.
When we saw them in March we thought they were not a "heavy" as The Rascals specially on cd. Live they fucking rock.
Great gig probably our favourite from the whole festival and Miles is always very nice, smiling to people, just having fun doing what he's doing.
Thumbs up, man.

Live acoustic from Rock en Seine:

Arctic Monkeys + Keren Ann + Jim Jones Revue @ Rock en Seine, St Cloud, August 27 2011

Arctic Monkeys + Keren Ann + The Jim Jones Revue @ Rock en Seine

St Cloud, August 27 2011

The Jim Jones Revue

Second day at the Rock en Seine festival, 22 bands are playing today and there's nothing really interesting apart from a couple of bands so we get there very late just in time for The Jim Jones Revue on the 4th stage, the smallest one just by the main entrance.

Kickin' ass show

Lots of kids here waiting for the JJR hurricane, as soon as the band gets on stage the pit down the front is complete chaos, after just a couple of songs all the young girls are kicked out, they just couldn't cope with people pogoing , slamming and crowd surfing.

This band is just dynamite from start to finish, hard to believe with the music they're playing that they are attracting such a young audience or maybe the old geezers were standing in the back, we were first row headbanging like maniacs.
Great Set

Keren Ann

It was hard to get into Keren Ann a few minutes after seeing The Jim Jones Revue.
Complete different audience with people in their 30's.
She started the show with a couple of very slow tempo songs, not the best to start with.

There's a bit of everything with Keren Ann: Pop-Rock songs, a couple of acoustic-folk songs and some electro.

I'm just wondering what the electro shit is doing here.
Very cool and relax gig, she's singing in English which is a good thing.

Nice to rest our ears a bit after The Jim Jones Revue and before Arctic monkeys.

Death From Above 1979

Nothing to do for an hour, Death from Above 1979 was playing on the second stage but after one song that was enough too noisy for us, so we went to the Pictures exhibition with some nice portraits of different artists including Sonic Youth, Mike Watt, Lou Reed, Anna Calvi & Kurt Cobain.

Renaud Monfourny's pics of Kurt, Lou & Anna

Arctic Monkeys

All the girls are trying to get the best seat for Arctic Monkeys headlining the main stage.
We already saw them a couple of times this year @ L'Album de la Semaine for Canal+ on June 15 and @ Cigale ( click for review with video and lots of Pics) the day after.
At the time we were disappointed: they are playing such a great music but they seem so bored on stage it's unbelievable.

The singer has cut his hair and comb it like a 50's rocker and is wearing a leather jacket, funny how young he looks.
The sound is great and as usual they do have a powerful white lightning, we tried to get down the front but the pit was dangerous with so many people pushing their way down the front and after all the rain at the beginning of the afternoon the grass turned into very slippery mud. Hard not to fall down and getting trampled.

SETLIST Rock en Seine 2011
01) Library Pics
02) Brainstorm
03) This house is...
04) Still take you home
05) Don't sit down
06) Pretty visitors
07) She's thunderstorms
08) Teddy Picker
09) Crying Lightning
10) Brick by Brick
11) The Hellcat...
12) The view from the ...
13) I Bet you look good...
14) All my own stunts
15) If You were there
16) Do me a favour
17) When the sun...
-------
18) Suck it and see
19) Fluo Ado
20) 505

Ze pit & Pass sheet for the fest.

The singer seems to be in a very good mood as he introduced a couple of songs and said a few "Thank yous": a fucking miracle as he usually barely even look at the audience.
They even played a few seconds of a Chuck Berry song as a tribute to Alex's hair cut. This band has many great songs and they left their early english style for a more american heavy sound à la QOSTA for the best.
The set was short: 80 min but terrific.

Last song of the show