Just coming back from the soundcheck, 50 people were invited to see them rehearsed , it was a pretty quick affair , when we get into an empty bercy , the band was already playing.
We saw 4 songs : 1) Modern world 2) king for a day 3) 21st century breakdown 4) Poprock and Cokes
We were just allowed to stay behind crash barrier 10 meters from the stage but after one song Billy ask us to come closer, so we were first row. Lots of musicians on stage , the 3 guys + 2 guitar players , 1 keyboard player and a sax Nice huge screen behind the stage with a skyscraper skyline at night.
No one was allowed to take any pics , too bad . I could get the bass player's plectrum , cool
On the night of the " Nuit Blanche" lots of artistic performances in Paris including this strange football pitch where kids are gonna have fun all night long next to the Point Ephémere where Sean Lennon & girlfriend Charlotte Muhl are playing their first show.
The club is packed tonight, first we have folk singer Sam Amidon for half an hour and then Sean & Charlotte. Not yet as Sean is telling us that his mother is late so he has to wait to start the show but as people didn't want to let him wait backstage he's staying on the stage and has a chat with the audience for a good 5 min. He's inviting one of his friend Irina to do a duet with him ( Pic below ) then Charlotte is taking the stage.
She's dressed in a very sexy way and is quite young, let's see if she's talented.
It's probably one of the first time ever that they're playing their songs in front of an audience, Sean is on the guitar and Charlotte on the vocals and tambourine , later on the bass. Songs are pop and similar to what Sean has recorded for his last solo record. Charlotte has a nice tiny sexy voice and has co-written most of the material played tonight. Sean is very cool and relax speaking in a fluent french with the very quiet and dedicated French audience. Charlotte is even playing bass for a few songs and is doing very well after learning it for just 2 weeks , so they say.
Here's the setlist
Nice
After the show Sean & Charlotte went to sign and pose for photos but wasn't very happy as not a lot of people were buying his new cd so he decided to leave and pack his stuff. Not so nice. Even when he was signing stuff you could feel that he was just doing "after sales service" . Nice gig.
After opening for The Who in Paris Bercy a couple of years ago , The Cult is back in Paris , this time to headline the Bataclan theatre.
As we get in , french stoner band Nebulla Oscillator are already playing , the sound is messy and it seems like they're playing the same song over and over again. It's very easy to get down the front of the pit as there are lots of spaces ; the balcony , with reserved seats for the crazy fans who are willing to pay more than a 100 Euros for a meet & greet after the show, is quite full.
They start the show with " Nirvana " , the sound is neat even tough Ian ' s voice is very far in the mix. Of course there are always a couple of drunk assholes pushing their way to the front and pissing off everybody, the security had to calm them down and kicked one out in the end
Anyway Billy Duffy on the guitar is on top form, still looking great and posing with his guitar like a true guitar hero unfortunately there are no photographers at all as The Cult didn't want any press photographers ( but us ) WOW so enjoy the Pics. Ian is looking more and more like Jim Morrison at the end of his life when he was living in Paris
I don't know the new guys at all but they have a nice bass player and a funny looking guitarist. A fweird thing happened : Ian though that one guy in the front was challenging him or insulting him so he spat in his face and insulted , the poor guy, several times and asked the security to kick him out. They didn't know what to do as the guy didn't do anything wrong. In fact he was just showing his " The Cult " tattoos to Ian. Big misunderstanding. The show went on without problems ( see setlist for details )
Setlist & Merchandising
After the show we went to the Meet & Greet ( of course we didn't pay , do we look like we have to pay for an autograph ? No fucking way . There were around 50 people queueing , the band was nice and chatty sitting behind a table , it wasn't a proper meet & greet like i though it would be but you could get a picture with the whole band. So cool.
