The Black Crowes @ Olympia, Paris - October 5th, 2022

When The Black Crowes broke up in 2013 in a cloud of drugs and acrimony, it seemed pretty definitive. Rich Robinson denounced his brother Chris' attempted hostile takeover of the band, and everyone went their separate ways. The brothers formed offshoot bands The Magpie Salute and The Chris Robinson Brotherhood in an attempt to re-create the magic of the band, and drummer Steve Gorman's fantastic book Hard To Handle: The Life And Death Of The Back Crowes was seemingly the final nail in the coffin.

Foreigner @ Salle Pleyel, Paris - October 4th, 2022

According to the marquee, a band that calls itself Foreigner was playing at the Salle Pleyel last night. Yet on stage, not one of the musicians from the original band was to be found, not even Mick Jones, who had anchored the band for nearly fifty years. In their stead, a group of seasoned, faceless pros did their best to recreate the classic songs that have been mainstays of classic rock radio since the release of the self-titled debut  in 1977.

Deafheaven @ Élysée-Montmartre, Paris - September 30th, 2022

Deafheaven is touring in support of their excellent new album Infinite Granite, which represents a shift in their musical direction.: the Black Metal influence seems to be taking a backseat to a less extreme approach. Their music is still as intense, as textured and as dynamic as ever, but George Clarke's harsh, saturated shrieks that were once his trademark have given way to a more melodic style of singing.

Listen to Neil Young & Crazy Horse's new song here

Check out Love Earth, the new song by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, HERE or at the embedded player below. The new album World Record is due for release on November 18th, and is produced by Rick Rubin.

Listen to Bruce Springsteen's new single here.

Yesterday, announced the release on November 11th of the first installment in a series of cover albums. Only The Strong Survive focuses on Soul and Rhythm N' Blues songs, including two that feature legendary singer Sam Moore of Sam & Dave.

You can listen to the first single Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) HERE or on the embedded player below. It is a song from 1965 written and sung by the late Motown artist Frank Wilson. Bruce's version is pretty faithful to the original, and his voice fits the song and arrangements perfectly.

James Taylor @ Olympia, Paris - September 29th, 2022

American folk legend played a greatest hits set last night with his top-notch band (including superstar drummer Steve Gadd) to the delight of an aging but fervent crowd. The concert had been postponed twice, and the sold-out Olympia welcomed the legendary singer/songwriter with open arms.

Richard Marx @Alhambra Paris - September 24th, 2022

Richard Marx is out touring the world in a solo acoustic format and attending one of his shows is a great reminder of the staggering amount of hit songs he's written or co-written over the years, whether for himself or for acts as diverse as Vixen, Kenny Rogers, Luther Vandross, NSync, Barbra Streisand or Olivia Newton-John. Armed only with his guitar or piano, Richard regaled the audience with a selection of classics from his repertoire as well as a few songs from his upcoming record Songwriter which comes out in less than a week.

Lettuce @ Alhambra, Paris - September 23rd, 2022

Beantown funkateers Lettuce played an excellent gig at the Alhambra in Paris. Relentlessly groovy, impossibly funky, the sextet displayed breathtaking virtuosity without ever veering into tasteless ostentation. 

Upcoming Gigs

Things are heating up on the live front... After a phenomenal 2021/22 season (check out our recaps HERE, HERE and HERE), 2022/23 is on track to be one of the busiest in terms of live shows. Concerts and tours are still getting cancelled here and there, but it seems like we're almost back to normal, pre-pandemic times. Of course, three years worth of live shows are being crammed into the next few months, and maybe the bubble will burst but in the mean time let's enjoy what we have! 

These are the next gigs we have lined up for now, check this space for updates as more are getting confirmed every day.

For the sake of transparency, we get a small commission every time you buy a ticket advertised here through the provided links. So... treat yo'self!

Ozzy Osbourne - Patient Number Nine

Poor Ozzy has had quite a difficult time in the past few years. He's gone public with his Parkinson's diagnosis, has suffered a fall and a long road to recovery, caught COVID-19... Add to that decades of self abuse, and no one would blame him if he he decided to retire and enjoy some peace and quiet in his twilight years.

Friday's Playlist: The Queen is Dead

Hey! Here's a new playlist for you. It's been a while since we published one of those, partly because we were on vacation and partly because after 137 installments, we were beginning to lose our inspiration. But, yesterday's news prompted us to throw this together to mark the occasion. All of the expected songs are here... The Smiths, the Pistols... We weren't trying to be clever. Enjoy, comment and share.

Scary Goldings feat. John Scofield, MonoNeon & Louis Cole @ Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris - September 4th, 2022

Scary Pockets (Ryan Lerman and Jack Conte) are a band that got famous playing Funk covers on YouTube. They hooked up with organist Larry Goldings in 2018 under the Scary Goldings banner. For their European debut, they've added Lemar Carter on drums as well as Louis Cole from electro-Jazz duo Knower, young hotshot bassist Mononeon and Jazz guitar legend John Scofield. This is roughly the line-up that released Scary Goldings IV last year. Needless to say, the Jazz/Funk supergroup was one of the unmissable events of the Villette Jazz Festival.

KNOWER @ Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris - September 4th, 2022

KNOWER is an experimental electro duo featuring multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole and singer Genevieve Artadi. Their show is visually stunning, featuring lots of clever video projections, and highly danceable. Their rave/funk hybrid is a lot of fun and the perfect starter to the evening's main course, Scary Goldings.

Taylor Hawkins Tribute Show @ Wembley Stadium Live Stream

 

Check out the star-studded show below. It's pretty awesome so far and has the potential to become almost as legendary as the Freddie Mercury Tribute Show that was held in that very venue thirty years ago.

Helloween @ Olympia, Paris - August 30th, 2022

German Speed-Metal heroes Helloween have managed to do the impossible: bring together two generations of fans by fusing their 80's and 90's line-ups. Put it this way: imagine Van Halen going on tour with both Roth and Hagar. Or Maiden touring with Dickinson and Blaze. Sabbath with Ozzy and Dio. You get the picture: it's never been done. It was quite a gamble, but the gamble paid off. Not only did it work in a live setting for their "reunion" tour, it has since spawned a fantastic new studio record and now the band is on a roll. What could have been considered a mere gimmick now turned into a full-fledged project: this is the next era of Helloween: forty years into the band's career, this is a new beginning.

Concert Season Recap pt. 3

This is the last part of our concert season recap series. Check out part one HERE and part two HERE.

It's been quite a great season, and not just in contrast with the drought of the preceding year an a half. Seeing legendary bands and artists like Iron Maiden, Jeff Beck and The Rolling Stones within weeks of each other is pretty exceptional. And it's always a pleasure to see old favorites like Popa Chubby, Sparks, A-Ha or the Sheepdogs. And there are quite a few artists that we've seen live for the first time like Mastodon, Drive-By Truckers, Steve Vai... Classics like Genesis, Steve Hackett, Simple Minds or future superstars like Ayron Jones. 2021/22 was a great return to live music.

And the upcoming season is already looking pretty good with concerts from amazing artists in every genre. Check them out and get your tickets HERE.

Enjoy, comment and share!

Summer Cleaning: Merch and memorabilia

Summer Cleaning is almost over! This is a photo dump of some music-related toys and trinkets I've photographed through the years. Some are mine, some I've just seen in shop windows. Some were bought at the merch stand at a show, some were bought online, some were bought in a real brick-and-mortar store.

We'll be back from vacation next week and hopefully our next concert won't be too long after that...

Enjoy, comment and share!

Summer Cleaning: Picks and Sticks

Summer Cleaning continues! This time, we're sharing pics of picks and sticks we've gathered through the years. This is what's left of the stash because, unfortunately, some were lost... Including guitar pics having belonged to BB King and Angus Young! Infuriating...

Enjoy, comment and share!

2021/2022 Concert Season Recap pt. 2

Here's part 2 of our recap of this past concert season. You can find part one HERE. Be sure to come back next week for the last installment.

Enjoy, comment and share!

Summer Cleaning: Autographs

Another installment of our Summer Cleaning series. We're just dumping a bunch of photos while we're on vacation, since we won't be attending any shows until the end of August at the earliest.

Summer Cleaning: Setlists

Welcome to Summer Cleaning! Grab a broom, make yourselves useful.

This second installment focuses on setlist we've grabbed of photographed on stage over the years. Once again, they are presented to you in particular order, some of them for the first time. Check them out after the jump. Enjoy, comment share!

2021/2022 Concert Season Recap pt. 1

The 2021/2022 season has been an exceptional one for rock shows in Paris. Obviously, any time the Stones roll through town, you know it's going to be something to remember. 

This season was also notable for the fact that it marked the return of live music after the pandemic effectively shut down the world for the better part of two years. And if the virus is still around, still dangerous, we have learned to live with it. 

Our last gig before the cancellations and lockdowns was Tenacious D in February 2020, and then we didn't set foot in a concert hall until September 2021 for Robert Jon & the Wreck. But between the Robert Jon gig and today, we have attended 34 shows in almost every possible genre, from Metal to Jazz, Pop, Blues, Progressive Rock, Punk Rock, Americana... Some of them were old favorites that we'd already seen a bunch of times, and others were first times for us. 

Singling out one show would be impossible and unfair, so here's a quick recap of every show we've been to. Apologies to opening acts, but we're only featuring the headliners here. Click on the titles to access the full articles.

Summer Cleaning: Mixing Desks

It's summer, we're on vacation, and we won't be covering a show until the end of August at the very least so here's the first installment in our Summer Cleaning series where we just dump a bunch of photos, most of which we've not published before.

This one focuses on a very important instrument: the mixing desk. Here they are, in no particular order!

Suffocation @ Backstage By The Mill, Paris - August 2nd, 2022

Fancy a little brutality on this hot summer day? O'Sullivan's Backstage By The Mill was the place to be. Suffocation literally annihilated the Paris red light district venue with their savage musical assault on the senses and their brand of old school Death Metal.

Transatlantic @ l'Olympia, Paris - July 28th, 2022

Less than two months after two of its core members played the Trianon in Paris as part of the Neal Morse Band, neo-Prog supergroup Transatlantic decided to end their short European tour with a bang at the famous Olympia theater in the French capital.

Jeff Beck feat. Johnny Depp @ Olympia, Paris - July 25th, 2022

Jeff Beck has made a career out of confounding expectations: he's changed his approach to the instrument several times, has taken several sharp turns in his musical direction, concentrated on session work for a while and even stopped working altogether for a long stretch in the nineties. He's tackled blues, rock n' roll, jazz, soul, hard rock, electronica and countless other genres while never losing his artistic identity and, as he's pushing eighty, is showing no sign of settling down.