7/17/13 - Paris, France, Olympia

Rhâââ: I was writing my review for 20 minutes when i pushed the wrong key. I lost everything i wrote.

Ok sorry english readers, but i'll write this one in french, at least for the time being.

C'est l'histoire d'un concert auquel je n'étais pas censé assister...
Si j'avais bien un ticket pour le concert au Trianon de décembre qui avait été annulé, j'avais dû renoncer, la mort dans l'âme, à prendre un ticket pour l'Olympia: date pas pratique du tout, problème d'hébergement et surtout problème de budget...
C'était sans compter sur l'aide de Gregg Foreman  , qui m'avait proposé de me filer un coup de main si je souhaitais assister au concert de Paris. En raison d'une liste déjà longue d'invités pour ce concert, le suspense durait...jusqu'à mercredi matin, où j'apprenais la bonne nouvelle: finalement j'allais être de la fête!
Le temps de faire le plein de la voiture, et j'avalais sous la fournaise les 300 kilomètres qui me séparaient de Paris, où j'arrivais sur le coup de 18 heures.
En arrivant à l'Olympia, j'aperçois Lucia: c'était bon signe: le groupe était bien là! L'entrée dans la salle me permet de voir que si le premier rang était déjà occupé, le concert se passerait dans de bonnes condition, à 3/4 mètres de la scène. Bonne pioche une fois de plus!
L'attente du concert se faisait moins longue puisque je la passais en compagnie de "Pathsofvictory", qui était accompagné de sa soeur. L'occasion de parler bien sûr de Cat Power mais également de God Dylan!
Petit à petit la salle se remplit mais elle n'est pas pleine quand débute la première partie, une jeune artiste qui se fait appeler C.A.R, qui chantera sur de la musique enregistrée sur son ordinateur. Elle recevra un accueil sympathique de la part de la salle mais j'avoue que j'aurais préféré entendre une véritable musique live et non des boucles pré-enregistrées...

Après un break de 20 minutes, c'est comme prévu aux alentours de 21h00 que le concert de Cat Power commençait. Pas de Bob Dylan ou de Frank Ocean cette fois-ci mais un air de jazz qui était peut-être bien "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud" de Miles Davis, mais ça demande confirmation.

La première à entrer sur scène est Adeline, qui joue en quelque sorte à domicile et devant sa famille. Elle entame les premières notes de The Greatest, et joue cette intro seule sur scène pendant quelques minutes, avant dêtre rejointe par Gregg, Alianna et Nico. La pression monte...puis devant les applaudissments qui redoublent, je comprends que Chan est en train de faire son apparition sur une scène plongée dans la pénombre...
Le premier choc vient du son, absolument cristallin, et de la balance parfaite entre les instruments et la voix. Si j'avais adoré le concert de Bruxelles, j'étais bluffé par ce que j'entendais... Tout de suite je suis dans l'ambiance et les seuls moments où j'en sortirais, ce sera pour me dire à moi-même "mon dieu, mais c'est pas possible, c'est absolument parfait"!
Comme lors des précédents concerts en salles de cette tournée, Chan arbore sa veste en cuir estampillée du logo CP mais la surprise vient du t-sirt "France" qu'elle arbore en dessous, le même qu'elle portait lors sa performance télévisée chez Jools Holland pour la BBC en 2008.

Les titres vont s'enchainer sans accroc. Si je suis dedans, Chan semble également dans un grand soir et il faudrait être de bien mauvaise foi pour trouver quelque chose à redire à la performance délivrée lors de ce concert. Son jeu de scène est rôdé, et on a affaire à une artiste qui maitrise totalement son art, sans que la performance paraisse pour autant mécanique. Elle est là et nous dévoile toujours un bout de son âme, que ce soit sur des titres calmes comme "Bully" où sur des morceaux plus enlevés comme "Metal Heart". Metal Heart... probablement mon coup de cœur de ce concert. Parfait? Ben oui, parfait.   Alors que les musiciens jouent l'intro, Chan se précipite tout d'un coup en coulisses et revient 2 minutes plus tard. Fausse alerte, ouf!

Entre chaque titre le public parait déchaîné et particulièrement réactif. Chan semble apprécier comme jamais l'ambiance et le seul regret que j'ai  vient du fait que connaissant la setlist, je sais que Metal Heart signifie que nous somme en train d'aborder la dernière ligne droite. Tout schuss, plus que 3 titres à venir et j'en prendrai bien pour 20 minutes de plus...
Les lumières se rallument sur RUIN, mais au lieu de distribuer les fleurs au public, Chan commence à en offrir aux ingénieurs du son un signe supplémentaire que je n'ai pas rêvé: le son était bel et bien magistral.

Après quelques jets de fleurs, Chan s'éclipse de la scène, les applaudissements continuent, la tête de Chan réapparait derrière les tentures, elle nous fait un dernier "coucou" et il nous faut nous rendre à l'évidence: le concert est bel et bien terminé. La salle se vide rapidement pendant que la jeune Lucia distribue aux retardataires les quelques fleurs restantes ainsi que quelques images de la pochette de SUN.
Le malabar responsable de la sécurité se fait alors extrêmement agressif et menaçant et nous demande de quitter les lieux de manière fort peu courtoise et pour tout dire totalement déplacée. Il m'interrompt alors que je suis en train de demander à Lucia si elle peut me donner la setlist d'Adeline que j'aperçois sur la scène et si il y a moyen de remercier Gregg de m'avoir invité.
Je suis malheureusement interrompu par le vigile qui me force à quitter la salle. Super accueillant l'Olympia...

A la sortie de la salle, nous faisons enfin connaissance avec Camille et débute la longue attente en vain du côté de la sortie des artistes. En vain est peut être une expression un peu trop forte puisque d'une part ça nous a permis de passer un bon moment entre nous, mais nous avons tout de même croisés Alianna, Nico et Lucia. J'informe les musiciennes que le son était infiniment meilleur que celui du concert de Bruxelles et qu'il s'agissait d'un concert qui aurait mérité d'être enregistré, ne serait-ce que pour leurs archives personnelles. Nico enregistre alors mes propos sur le son sur son téléphone,  probablement pour le montrer à leur ingénieur du son. Les artistes me confirment que depuis le concert de Bruxelles, la personne qui s'occupe du son a été remplacée par une autre qui semble en partie le responsable de la qualité sonore constatée ce soir.
Le temps passe, les invités sortent 1 à 1, "Pathsofvictory" nous quitte et il ne reste finalement que Camille et moi. Fatigués, nous nous apprêtons à jeter l'éponge quand nous apprenons que le groupe a quitté les lieux. Caramba! Encore raté!

Il est grand temps d'entamer le retour mais l'heure des derniers métros et RER est passée depuis belle lurette. Camille me met au parfum sur le fonctionnement des bus nocturnes et j'entame mon odyssée noctambule dans les transports parisiens. J'arrive à bon port vers 3h30. Je suis mort mais ça valait le coup. Thanks a lot Gregg and it's an understatement!

The official (but not accurate) setlist:

That's the story of a concert that i wasn't supposed to go to...

If i had a ticket for the show in Paris that was scheduled in december but was finally canceled, i was deeply sad that i wasn't able to buy one for the Olympia show: schedule problems, nowhere to sleep, and most of all, budget problems...

That was before i received a "little" help from Gregg Foreman  , who offered to help me if i wanted to go to the Olympia and if the guests list wasn't already too long... The suspense ended on the morning of the show, when i was finally given the green light!
After putting gasoline in the car and a 3 hours trip by car in the summer heat, i finally arrived in Paris around 6:00 PM, 2 hours before the show began.
When i arrived at the Olympia, i saw Lucia, so no worries: the band should be there too! When i entered in the concert hall, i noticed that the front row was already full, but i would be close enough to watch the show in good conditions: in front of Chan's microphone and more or less 4 meters from the stage.
I didn't suffer while i was waiting because i met "Pathsofvictory" and his sister and we talked about Cat Power and God Dylan!
Little by little, the hall was getting more crowdy but it wasn't full when the opening act started playing. It was a woman who calls herself "C.A.R", and who sang over recorded tracks coming from her computer. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, though i must admit that i would have preferred to listen to real live music, instead of a recorded one...

After a 20 minutes break, as scheduled the CAt Power show began around 9:00 PM. No Bob Dylan or Frank Ocean this time: it was a jazz song that was played. I think that it may have been from "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud" by Miles Davis but i wouldn't bet my life on this.

Adeline was the first to go on stage, and she was somehow "playing at home", in front of her family. She started to play the first notes of "The Greatest", and she kept playing them for a few minutes, all alone. Then she was joined by Gregg, Alianna & Nico. The pressure was rising until i heard the crowd clapping loudly. It could meant only one thing: Chan arrived on the stage that was almost dark now.

The first schock came from the sound: crystal clear, with a perfect balance between Chan's voice and the instruments. If i enjoyed a lot the concert in Brussels, i was amazed by what i was listening... From the first note i was in the mood, and the only time i wasn't into it, was when i said to myself "my god, this is not possible, it's absolutely perfect"!

Chan was dressed with the same "CP" leather and then denim jacket that she was usually wearing during the previous concerts. The only difference was that she was also wearing the blue t-shirt with "France" written on it that she was wearing during her performance at Jools Holland show on BBC TV in 2008.

One song after the other, the concert is flawless. If i'm into it, Chan seemed to be in a great spirit too. Don't trust the people who might say bad things about the show that was delivered tonight. You could see that the artist had a complete control of her art, but still managed to keep it soulful. She showed us a part of her soul on quiet songs like Bully but such was also the case on heavier songs like Metal Heart ("à la" jukebox)... and Metal Heart was probably my favourite moment of the show this time. Perfect? Yep, perfect.   Though right after the first notes of the song, Chan left the stage in a hurry for a couple of minutes, then came back to sing it. False alarm!

The crowd cheered and clapped a lot between the songs. Chan seemed to enjoy the vibes a lot and if have but only one regret: as i knew the previous setlists, i knew that since Metal Heart was played, the show was coming to an end. 3 songs to go...and i could have dealt easily with 20 more minutes.
When the lights came back on RUIN, Chan started to throw flowers to her sound guys instead of throwing them to the audience: probably her way to acknowledge their perfect work that night. Finally i'm not that deaf! The flowers were of course then thrown to the audience too!

After a few minutes, Chan left the stage, but the crowd was still clapping wildly and Chan's face appeared again from behind the curtains, and she gave us a final good-bye with her hands. We had to face the truth: the show as over. People left the hall very quickly, while the young Lucia was giving the remaining flowers and pictures from the SUN album cover to the people who were still there.
The bouncer who was obviously responsible for the security was then very agressive and threatening, asking us to leave the room in a very unfriendly manner. He interrupted me while i was talking to Lucia who had very kindly given to me Adeline's setlist and while i was asking if there was way to thank Gregg face to face.
Unfortunately i had to leave the room if i didn't want the security guy to do it for me... They sure know how to make people feeling welcome...

After the show, we met Camille at last, and we started to wait for the artists to get out from the Olympia.
It was nice to wait together but it was frustrating too because we were not able to see Chan or Gregg. We met Alianna, Nico and Lucia, and i told them that the concert sounded much better than Brussels concert. I told them that this show deserved to be recorded. I was told that since the Brussels show, they have a new sound guy (it isn't clear if the new guy arrived right after the Brussels or after another concert).
Nico asked me to repeat what i said about the sound and she recorded it with her phone, probably to show it to the sound guy.

We waited a very long time, "Pathsofvictory" left us, and around 1AM Camille and i finally gave up. We were told that the band had already left the Olympia and 1 minute later we saw the tour bus leaving, a 100 yards away... Damned!

It was high time to go back home. Fortunately Camille explained to me how Paris night buses system was woking but i wasn't home before 3:30AM... I'm too old for this... 

Thanks a lot for this amazing concert Gregg, and it's an understatement!

Bully:

Really hard to write a review after yours, Nicolaoua. 
I will try...
I'm uploading some vidéos first.

 

Cool!  

 On a side note, Alianna wrote on instagram that it was their best show.

Just listening to ''Human Being'' and really enjoying the guitars in this now. Nico and Adeline have good parts here. This is another song the band has turned to and worked on more as to remove the programmed stuff. Nothin But Time is sounding more natural these days too. I also like the way the band has those dramatic entrances in "The Greatest'' and ''Metal Heart''.

Cherokee (1 minute)


Angelitos (incomplete)




The opening act:

Cat Power par ludovicasa, sur Flickr


Cat Power par ludovicasa, sur Flickr
Cat Power par ludovicasa, sur Flickr

Someone published a good sounding recording of Metal Heart here: http://clochette.hautetfort.com/archive/2013/07/20/temp-2edc6d4070e7ff2a20d91d018037bb3a-5125499.html

Review And Pictures
http://rockerparis.blogspot.com/2013/07/cat-power-olympia-paris-july-17-2013.html

Can't believe it's been 5 years since we last saw CAT POWER live in Paris and it was at the very same Olympia Hall on June 1st 2008. We couldn't go at her last show in Paris @ Salle Pleyel on July 3rd 2011 as The Doors were playing on the same night @ Bataclan. This gig has been postponed as she cancelled her whole European Tour a few months ago. She was supposed to play two nights @ Olympia, it turned out that there is only one show in Paris and it's not sold-out. I guess her last album "Sun" was not well received over here, never heard any songs on the radio, it wasn't the case for "The Greatest" and "Jukebox" which had lots of air-plays. Couldn't go to a movie either without hearing one of her songs. The stage is minimalist with a huge screen in the back playing short movies. There are 3 girls in the band on guitars, drums & bass and Gregg Foreman on guitar and piano. Chan has now short bleach blond hair and doesn't seem to be at her best, she's constantly touching her nose and sometimes coughing (catch a cold?) and she has trouble walking ( twisted her ankle ?). There was a time when she was having fun on stage or it was looking as if she was having fun, she was looking very fragile yesterday night on razor's edge. She's the kind of girl you want to comfort and hold her tight in your arms. There were some really good moments unfortunately we had to endure the whole new album "Sun" that I really don't like so I guess we were disappointed, too many of these new (boring) songs. Hope to see her back soon alive & kicking but not with "Sun" songs.

(yanomami_)


(yanomami_)


(yanomami_)

(katiaasita)


(alexandie78)


(mrpharmacist72)


(lifeaschoco)


(annabellepascal)


(lottiehughes)


(rhumetcamomille)


(kimkubrick)


(seifer12)


(loiseblnr)


(corida_stagram)


(tesss06)


(vverrecchia)


(mr_indie_rocket)


(misterposemag)


(whereinparis)


(yanomami_)


(benebergquist)

Pour info, j'ai eu confirmation que nous avons vraiment été à 2 doigts d'entendre I've Been Thinking la semaine dernière.