Sparks @ le Grand Rex, Paris

What a grand time to be a fan of Sparks! Even though they've never stopped being creative, the past few years have seen a flurry of activity from the Mael brothers, and, more importantly, a mainstream recognition of their back catalogue as well as their current output.

The pandemic had backed up a lot of their projects, and it now seems like everything is coming out in quick succession. The latest album The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte is their newest project and came out three years after their latest one. The tour promoting the record also started mere months after the previous one ended, and consequently this is their second Paris date in a little over a year. We're not complaining!

So while there are some similarities between the two dates (both shows were bookended by two of the best songs from their previous album A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip), there was also significant setlist overhaul. But then Sparks has a staggering twenty-five albums to chose from, ranging from hard-rocking glam rock to chamber pop, electro-disco-dance, and everything in between. So the whole concert felt both new and familiar all at once. Of course, Ron did his little dance during The Number One Song In Heaven. Of course, they sang This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us.

They played seven songs from their new album, which were all received with the same raucous clamor as classics like When I'm With You or Angst In My Pants. But for the fans, some of the best moments came when they played lesser-known songs from their extensive discography, all the way back from their second album with Beaver O' Lindsey to more recent entries like Balls.

Sparks are known for their the idiosyncratic humor that permeates their lyrics, their music and their performances. But despite that apparent levity, their songs always reveal some trait of the human condition. Nothing overtly topical, but the depth of their observations can be overlooked, as the quirks in the presentation sometimes eclipse the substance. Heartfelt closer All That is one of the most earnest songs in their repertoire and the perfect way to end the night, with the simple but powerful lyrics still resonating hours after the sho ended:

All that we've done

We've lost, we've won
All that, all that and more
All that we've seen
We've heard, we've dreamed
All that, all that and more

Re-live the concert by playing the setlist in the embedded Apple Music player below