The Black Keys, Paris, 01.03.07

Konzertbericht The Black Keys
Datum: 01.03.2007
Ort: La Cigale, Paris
Zuschauer: voll und wild

Neulich habe ich einen lustigen Film bei Canal+ gesehen ("The 40 year old virgin"). In einer der besten Szenen des Streifens machen sich zwei befreundete Arbeitskollegen gegenseitig fertig, indem sie immer abwechselnd Gründe dafür finden, warum der jeweils andere schwul sei. Das "beste" Argument war folgendes: "Du bist schwul, weil du Coldplay magst!"

Ich mußte laut auflachen, weil der Band um Chris Martin, trotz aller Qualitäten, natürlich etwas Seichtes anhaftet. Wer also Angst hat, als schwul zu gelten, weil er die englischen Softrocker mag, sollte vielleicht als Gegenmittel hierzu mal zu den amerikanischen Blues-Rockern von den Black Keys gehen. Kaum eine andere aktuelle Band spielt nämlich ähnlich trocken, roh, hart und kompromisslos. In der internationalen Musikpresse habe ich bezüglich des Stils des Duos einen sehr treffenden Ausdruck gelesen: "Their style is raw and close-to the bone! Nah am Knochen, eine wunderbare Metapher, die die Sache sehr gut beschreibt...

Als ich die sehr gut gefüllte Cigale gegen 21 Uhr betrat, hatten die beiden Typen aus Akron, Ohio bereits mit ihrem Set begonnen. Wie ich von einem Zuschauer erfuhr, war mir allerdings nur das allererste Lied durch die Lappen gegangen. Von Anfang an machten der Sänger und Gitarrist Dan Auerbach und der dynamische Drummer Patrick Carney deutlich, daß sie hier keine Zeit vergeuden wollten. Keine langen Ansagen, keine Anekdoten, sondern kerniger Blues-Rock pur war angesagt. Das dritte Stück wurde als "The Brakes" angekündigt, das kannte ich nicht, da ich erst mit dem aktuellen Album "The Magic Potion" zur Fangemeinde der Black Keys hinzugestoßen bin. Eine Fangemeinde im übrigen, die jetzt schon sehr groß ist, wofür u.a. über 500 000 Seitenaufrufe bei MySpace sprechen! "The Magic Potion" ist bereits das vierte Album, der im Jahre 2001 gegründeten Band. Insofern war es kein Wunder, daß ich dann auch viele weitere Lieder des Sets nicht kannte, aber ich habe mir fest vorgenommen diese Lücke zu schließen. Das Highlight der Show kannte ich dann aber: "Your touch" vom aktuellen Longplayer. Schon als die ersten Gitarrenriffs dieses Knüllers ertönten, waren die Leute aus dem Häuschen und als dann die harten und trockenen Drums einsetzten, ging im Publikum unglaublich der Punk ab. Die vorderen Reihen tanzten wild und ungestüm Pogo und natürlich kam es auch zum ausgiebigen "crowsurfing". So aufgeheizt habe ich die Cigale seit dem überragenden Konzert der Gang of Four im letzten November nicht mehr erlebt! Ich schaute mir allerdings das Ganze aus sicherer Entfernung vom Balkon aus an, ich bin ja schließlich nicht mehr der Jüngste und wer soll denn bitteschön die tollen Artikel aus Paris schreiben, wenn ich mich verletze?

Auch nach "Your touch" wurde das hohe Tempo gehalten, was allerdings auch damit zusammenhing, daß das Konzert mit genau einer Stunde Spielzeit ziemlich kurz ausfiel. Aber ich sagte ja bereits, daß die Black Keys keine Zeit verschwenden. So war das dann auch eine schnelle, rohe und kurzweilige Sache, ein Sprint vom Anfang bis Ende mit dem fabelhaften Titel "The Flame" als einer der beiden Zugaben.

Auszug aus der Set-List The Black Keys:

- The Brakes
- Just got to be
- Your touch
- Modern times
- The Flame

von Oliver

Little Barrie, Paris, 27.02.07

Konzert: Little Barrie

Ort: Le Nouveau Casino, Paris
Datum: 27.02.2007

Little Barrie is a band that I definitely know thru the Morgans Hotel CD. I do not know them thru yrock. This show was sold once I decided that I should go there. When I first got the flyer for the concert I started wondering about where I had heard their name before, then I realized from where I knew them. Then I decided that I should maybe go to the show, well at that point it was already sold out.

I wrote them a message and that’s how landed on the guest list again! How do I do it? That’s a question that I started asking myself lately.

I got to the Nouveau Casino a bit after 5pm., actually it’s amazing that I got there at that time seen that I had a sort of odyssey before I got there, it’s a long story and I might tell it another time. Where was I? Oh yes, when I got to the venue the guys from Little Barrie were standing outside the door, I said hi and introduced myself. They were in the middle of a photo shoot so they could not really talk to me. Before the concert I had a great time, talking about music with a real Little Barrie fan.

The concert was really good. I was not all that happy with the opening band, my advice to the French bands who actually do know how to make music is please do not sing in English do your singing in French you will probably have more success. But I do not want to be to mean, the lyrics at least what I could make out sounded good, and the music was quite nice as well. I loved what the girl was wearing!

Once it was Little Barrie’s turn to perform it was just great! Even if they did not play the song that I knew before I came, but that really was not a problem. In the beginning they did not seem all that happy with the Parisian public, the people weren’t as motivated as they should have been at a sold out concert! This did change I guess that everyone must have been just as tired as I was. I still do not know the names of the songs that they played. During the whole concert I was standing right in front of Barrie, this meant that after the show I was almost incapable of hearing.

After the show I got to talk to them again, which is something nice to do because how else can you thank them for a great concert and letting you in for free? It’s too bad that we were all kicked out of the venue quite quickly. I think that I got home around midnight, I did not check my watch.

von Solveig

Kasabian, Paris, 23.03.07

Konzert: Kasabian

Ort: Bataclan, Paris
Datum: 23.02.2007

I could start this by writing about the concert. But this time I decided to write about more than just the concert. This is because there is a long story that connects me to Kasabian.

I am not sure when I first heard something by Kasabian, maybe it was when my dad brought home the Morgan’s Hotel CD, or maybe it was when I hear Empire on yrock. I do not know, and to tell you the truth I don’t care that much about that fact. What I know is that it is thanks to yrock that I started listening to Kasabian and liking Kasabian a lot. At the beginning of the Fall (2006) I was listening to yrock and at one moment a Kasabian song came on. So I figured, why not search on Fnac.com if they aren’t coming to Paris anytime soon. To my surprise they were coming to Paris very, very soon, actually they were already there, the concert had started half an hour before I searched for the possibility of there being a concert.

I was really happy about the ypod “Kasabian” with the interview with Sergio. Oh man that guy has such a nice voice!

For Christmas I asked for “Empire”, which I got. Before Christmas I had seen that Kasabian would be coming back to Paris on February 23rd. I knew that this was a show that would probably sell out very fast. But seen the fact that it was before Christmas, I could not spend my money on tickets (you can’t be that selfish)! Right before Christmas I was shopping for presents and then I asked if they were still tickets left, and there were, so I just had to cross my fingers. On the 26th of December there were NO MORE TICKETS LEFT! Nothing left at the moment when I could actually buy a ticket!

The show was supposed to be in the middle of winter vacation how could I miss that?! The night before the concert I was advised by some people to ask the opening band to put me on their guest list. Well… this is where it started to get interesting. I had no clue who the opening band would was!

I got to the venue at 5pm. you might think that that’s early, but I was not the first person there. Five minutes after I got there, Tom came out of the Bataclan. I did not even think, I just went up to him and said: “ Hey, you are from the band right? I have no ticket for your show tonight, and I really, really want to go, so what can I do?” He answered with the word “beg”. So I said: “Please!” He sent me inside. Who did I meet inside? Sergio! (The only rock star I ever had a crush on up to now, and that was due to that ypod). I went up to him and said, “You are Sergio, right?” we shook hands. “You know I was actually just listening to an interview with you on my ipod.” He just said: “Really, how did you hear about that?” well how did I hear about it? Yrock is my favorite radio station ever! “What did I say in the interview?” “You talk about the States being your favorite place to tour!” He looked at me weirdly, “Wow, I was lying, I must have been high!” “No actually you sound normal.” Then he wanted to listen to it! How often do you have the rock star that you adore listen something on your ipod?

The concert was great; yeah I am also talking about the concert! I ended up in the front, well I am always in the front. The opening band was Black Daniel they were so amazing. I had never heard anything by them before, and they were just great. It was so original what they did. As I am writing this I am looking forward to seeing them again in concert. They are just tree and they knew how to make the public be exited for Kasabian.

Once Kasabian was on stage it was a fight for survival. Being in the front at a big concert can hurt a lot. I came out afterwards with my hips being blue and with my ribs hurting really bad, and all that hurting did not go away until 4 or 5 days after the concert, oh and yeah I can still feel where a foot hit me on the back of my head cause that part is still a little swollen. The first song was “Shoot the Runner”. Tom is a great stage performer! He gets everyone going crazy for him! At one point he put out his hands to touch the people I kind of got both of them and he squeezed them, the others around me weren’t in the same position that I was in. It’s true that I shook his hand at the moment when I landed on the guest list and all, but during the show it’s just a lot more exiting.

After the Encore was all played no one wanted to leave, we just kept on singing the refrain of the last song, but that did not bring them back either.

Then finally the crowd started getting thinner. I got myself a shirt. It’s a really nice one! When I bought it the guys from Black Daniel were standing right next to me. I started talking to them and I went backstage with them. Again I got to talk to someone representing of a record label. It’s become something common for me by now. They were so nice and I did not leave to catch my train for quite a while.

von Solveig

The Decemberists, Paris, 22.02.07

Konzert: The Decemberists
Ort: Maroquinerie, Paris
Datum: 22.02.2007

On February 22nd the Decemberists ended their European tour with a Concert in Paris at the Maroquinerie. I purchased my ticket right after Christmas, seen that I was not capable of getting a ticket for the Kasabian Concert, and seen that this turned out to be a sold out show it was a good thing to buy it then. This time I was not the first person at the venue, I must say that I had a hard time trying to find it. In the end I did find it, after having asked a lot of people for directions (I did have a map printed out from google with me).

The concert surprisingly started at 8pm. it is quite a rare thing for a concert to start at the time that is written on the ticket. The opening band was Lavender Diamond, they were really sweet and their music is really good too, it was just too bad that the girl had a voice that was not strong enough, she had a great voice, but it was not as strong as it should have been. At one point she excused herself because she was coughing and she talked about how they all just had had the flu. After she said that I started coughing, and she said to me: “I see you are sick too.” She also did us the honor of calling us the best public: “they don’t call Paris the city of Love for nothing”.

When Lavender Diamond had finished with playing their music for us, it was time for us to wait. It was a bit strange that they were playing “Peter and the Wolf” instead of some other music, concerts normally tend to be the place were you can here some Violent Femmes and tell everyone that that is “Blister in the Sun” by the Violent Femmes (I like doing things like that). During the pause in between the two bands, I at one point did not feel like standing anymore so I sat on the stage, not a very common thing to do either. This is a special stage, it does not even come up to you knee caps. Before the Decemberists came onto the stage I was standing again.

I have to say that the Decemberists are a very special band; they are so different from what I normally get to see. They seemed like a downsized orchestra. There were so many different instruments being used. Everything looked sophisticated. What type of guitar was Collin using? It was so small, but it can not have been a mandolin seen that it’s body was not round. In fact the instruments that were used were not the most common instruments. They were not the ones that you will see at any other rock concert. For some of them I was really wondering what they were. I also realized that the transport costs for the equipment must be sky-high, considering the amount of instruments that the Decemberists had brought with them to Europe. Well I guess that they are not the poorest band either, taken in consideration that their new album is a best seller in the United States.

Musically it was great, it was real music! One thing that annoyed me a bit was the facts that they did not play my favorite song, “The Sporting Life” nor did they play “Summersong” which is a song that gets played on yrock. The last song before the encore was done in collaboration with Lavender Diamond. They even brought a baby boy with them on stage. The last song of the whole concert was also done together with Lavender Diamond.

To make up for the fact that they did not play my favorite song I bought a copy of “Picaresque”. That was not the only thing I bought, I also treated myself to a shirt, the one with the mermaid on it. Well I should not be complaining I got a pick that was used by Collin and a drumstick, which is great even if it is an unused one.

von Solveig

Tokyo Police Club, Paris, 16.02.07

Konzert Tokyo Police Club
Ort: La Boule Noire, Paris
Datum: 16.02.2007

On the February 16th the Canadian band Tokyo Police Club had their first ever concert in Paris, at the Boule Noire. Normally when I go to concerts I am never the first person outside, this time I was. I must have been there at 17h. I spend quite some time waiting outside the door, with my CAKE! Ok, yeah you are probably asking yourself WTF is she doing at a rock concert with a damn CAKE? Well I made a CAKE because on the website of TPC I read that Graham, the keyboard player asked everyone to bring a CAKE for his birthday which was on the 16th of February.

When this guy from Jägermeister showed up and went inside I decided that I should just go inside myself, I was really getting bored waiting all alone outside the door. He talked to the guy that’s responsible for the club about the fact that he has got something for the band. He had received an email from Germany that stated that he should drop off the goody bag for the band, they were not around at that time. I asked at what time I could actually come in, I was told that I would have to wait until 20h!!

I must have waited for another hour, during this hour I went over to the magazine stand and purchased “Les Inrocks” I read every article that interested me, and there was also a review of TPC, well it only compared them to other bands, but did not really say if they are good or not.

I myself had only heard the song “Citizens of Tomorrow”, because it had been played on yrock, and because I had requested it every day of the week. I had heard bits of “Nature of the Experiment”.

The waiting fairytale ends with me actually being able to give my CAKE to Graham. I then had a great time with the band. All this great time resulted in me missing the opening band. I have to say that girl had an amazing voice!

I did not have to wait in line, nor did I have to wait during the opening band and TPC’s performance. Even buying my ticket had been a useless action, seen that I got in for free. The concert was just GREAT! I loved it, it’s true I normally do love concerts, but this one was special seen that I knew them a bit more than the other spectators in the room. I came out with me ears not being able to hear correctly for the next two days, but it was definitely worth it.

Believe me it was the CAKE and not the blonde hair and the long legs!

von Solveig