Le Batofar - Vendredi 12 novembre
So I finally had my first successful experience with the Parisian music scene!
I was waiting for my film to dry in photo, so I decided to check my e-mail on the Spéos computers. I got the most recent Saddle Creek mailing list which I was sure would go on about Bright Eyes grabbing the top two billboard slots this week with the two new singles. What I didn't know was that Bright Eyes was touring Europe.
In fact, it said that Bright Eyes was going to be in Paris that very night. Now, having missed out on a couple shows here already trying to get tickets a week early, I was already skeptical. However, the venue was on the way home from photo (it was 6:00 when I left), so I decided to check it out.
I got the address and walked around right in front of the place (11 François Mauriac) and all around for an hour without seeing anything music related. Dead windowless buildings and a couple American restaurants. At around 7:10, however, I looked on the other side of the street, (the Seine) and saw some people gathering...
I head down to the river, and sure enough, the venue was a boat. Figures.
So I wait in line with a bunch of kids, and the lady says there are bout 30 tickets left! I'm saved! But even better, a girl walks up to me and wants to sell an extra ticket for 5 euro. I take it. I'm in.
The first act, Angil, was an English-speaking French act that was this clusterfuck of free jazz and noise rock with a turntable. Interesting, yes. Very good, no, not really. The second act was Simon Joyner, who I'd never heard of before. he seemed to be the popular wanna-be cowboy version of Conor Oberst. He had some pretty lyrics, but most of the time he was just trying too hard. When you're just your voice and an acoustic guitar, it's tough to pull that off.
Bright Eyes, on the other hand, did just fine with no accompaniment. I honestly didn't expect Conor Oberst to put on as good of a live show. His voice was more clear and beautiful than any recording of him I've heard. His guitarwork was less simple than people have made it out to be (alright, I know know that "Waste of Paint" is six minutes of two chords, don't get me wrong). He alternated between barely strumming and beating the shit out of the strings to good effect.
And of course, he didn't disappoint lyrically. "Lua" starts off as an innocuous little number about loneliness and progressively becomes more and more poetic and interesting. "True Blue" is a madly rhyming children's song with a color in every line, which is pretty cute. There were about one or two more new songs, but that was it. My biggest complaint was that half the set was old material, even though he's releasing two whole albums in January! I guess I can understand not being able to play the electro-pop on a tiny boat, but come on, Conor.
Set List (More of Less)
- Lua
- Arienette
- The Big Picture
- [unknown]
- True Blue
- Waste of Paint
- One Foot in Front of the Other
- June on the West Coast
Encore
Overall, it was an awesome time due to the atmosphere and Conor's live performance. Had I already seen him before, I think it would have been a much different story. Either way, I finally got to see some live music here, and that's reassuring.