The Paris Concert Internet Reviews
Parts of these reviews are nice (most, actually), parts of them are harsh.
They were reprinted exactly as they did appear on the Undercover Mailing List, with no correction of any kind (so this might be a bit long sometimes... not always my fault !).
All reviews posted on the list are published here, with their authors permission.
-----Message d'origine-----
De : Karen Lytle Sumpter <sumpter@ilog.fr>
Date : mardi 13 octobre 1998 19:06
Objet : Bill Wyman & the Rhythm Kings
Undercover - The Rolling Stones Mailing List
==============================================
The French Glimmer team (Thierry, Fab Fab, Christine - the French cheese queen, Patrice,
Dr. Phillipe, Chrisss, and Sara and I) went to Le Bataclan last night to see former Stones
bassist, Wyman, and his band play. Sara and I waited in line outside and were happy to
find Fab Fab, Thierry, and Chris holding a place for us front and center. Other team
members arrived later.
The opening act, Jasmine Bond, was atrocious! Almost made it to the worst act I've ever
seen - but couldn't quite beat out the two blues guitarists/American Indian
chanter/beatnik poet combo we caught a few years ago in Sacramento. She played the
accordian and was accompanied by an upright bass player. He was good and deserves better.
She actually had a nice voice - but the lyrics - which combined English and badly
pronounced French - were too gawdawful to believe. (Example - "I woke up with a dick
in my bed - there was some big jerk attached to it.") I really wish I'd had
some rotten tomatoes with me. The torture went on for almost a full hour. If you ever get
a chance to see her - run as fast as possible the other way!
After Ms. Bond, we had a quite long wait - but finally Bill and Band arrived. The set list
was a mixture of old rock or r-n-b tunes, some jazzy stuff, and a couple of band
compositions. Singing chores were shared between George Fame, Gary Brooker, and Beverly S.
Although Beverly complained of having throat problems, her voice was lovely!
Bill definitely took a supporting role - but he did seem to be having more fun than when
I've seen him play with the Stones. He was smiling and even laughing at times during the
show. During the encore, Bill declined to sing - even though Thierry asked him nicely. He
got quite a nice ovation when he was introduced and said thank you to the audience - which
was the only time he spoke the entire evening.
Highlight of the evening was the number "Tear it Up" which featured Albert Lee
on vocals and a fantastic duel between him and Scots guitarist Martin Taylor. That number
really cooked (and Bill was very good on that one also).
Anyway, it was a terrific show - if you enjoy the musical style (which I do!). Dr.
Phillippe, who plays bass, rates Bill as a good bass player - but not a very good bass
player. At least he has the smarts to surround himself with very good musicians - and to
put on a fun show!
Too Late
Motorvatin Mama
Ring My Bell
Melody
Staggerlee
Anyway the Wind Blows
Walking On My Own
Green River
Spooky
Walkin One & Only
Rockin Pneumonia Boogaloo Flu
Mystery Train
Real Gone
Tear It Up
Encore - Good Golly Miss Molly (among other things)
--
This message may not be retransmitted without consent of
"Karen Lytle Sumpter" <sumpter@ilog.fr>
Undercover - The Rolling Stones Mailing List
==============================================
Hi y'all...
Karen said most of it in her great review, just a few things to add, and some personnal
opinions :
>Sara and
>I waited in line outside and were happy to find Fab Fab, Thierry, and Chris
>holding a place for us front and center. Other team members arrived later.
The Paris GlimmerTeam organization had worked again : we were very lucky to make good
contacts with Bill's team a few days before, and we could arrange to get into the Bataclan
before the band itself arrived... So we (Fabrice, Christine and I) stayed in and could see
the whole soundcheck !
Actually, we had even arranged to make a short interview of Bill ''for our internet
group'', but the band arrived late (soundcheck was supposed to take place at 4pm, and they
arrived after 5). They stepped right on stage, and guess what they played ? Little Queenie
:-)))) plus some short bits of various songs for the show, just to test the balance
between voices and instruments. Little Queenie rocked quite well !
Everybody seemed in a good mood, Bill was smiling a lot, and was wearing jeans and of
course a Sticky Fingers Restaurant brown leather jacket...
After their soundcheck, that was quite short (maybe 25 minutes), Bill's press assistant
came to us and explained that they had to go to their hotel, so the planned interview
would have to take place after the show. Then Bill came himself to us and apologized (he
did !) for the delay, and asked us to stay around the stage after the show was over, that
he would keep some time for answering our questions... No need to say we were thrilled
!!!!
We eventually were permitted to stay inside the club, while the other ''press'' staff
(i.e. french guys from Stones People Magazine, another one from the French Stones
Fanclub, and a TV crew from NHK) were asked to wait outside...
BTW, Japanese glimmers, this NHK team (a young female journalist, with a japanese
assistant, and a French technicians crew) were making a film about Gary Brooker. It is
supposed to be broadcasted in december, and there should be a short interview of Bill, and
they did film the first three songs of yesterday's concert. ObSteve : Tree the... ;-)
>The opening act, Jasmine Bond, was atrocious! Almost made it to the worst
>act I've ever seen
Well, you didn't have to stand her soundcheck, which was even worse (can you imagine ?) We
seriously considered getting out of the club then... We were also lucky that she only had
one musician with her yesterday, another one, playing violin and bass clarinet, was
missing.
>Singing chores were shared between
>George Fame, Gary Brooker, and Beverly S.
Gary was definately the rock'n'roller yesterday... I certainly would not have recognized
him from the Procol Harum years (photos soon on my pages), now looking like a retired
lawyer (no flames !), but rockin' the stage like a teen ager !
He also entertained us a lot with his funny intros in approximate French...
>Bill definitely took a supporting role - but he did seem to be having more
>fun than when I've seen him play with the Stones. He was smiling and even
>laughing at times during the show.
Karen is perfectly right, though he didn't move much... And he didn't have a stool with
the Stones, but used his quite a lot yesterday...
>During the encore, Bill declined to
>sing - even though Thierry asked him nicely.
I asked him rather loudly ! And most people around me joined in singing ''Une
Chanson ! Une Chanson !''...
That made him laugh, and he turned his back to us shaking his head negatively and showing
his bass, meaning that he had enough to do with that instrument...
>Highlight of the evening was the number "Tear it Up" which featured Albert
>Lee on vocals and a fantastic duel between him and Scots guitarist Martin
>Taylor. That number really cooked (and Bill was very good on that one also).
Martin fought hard but Albert won...
They were in full improvisation, playing tricks to each other, and both blew me away...
At some peak in this duel, Bill stepped up front the stage and turned to them (FYI, Bill
plays Ronnie's side now !), looking amazed at some special stunts...
>Anyway, it was a terrific show - if you enjoy the musical style (which I
>do!).
Highlights were certainly, to me, Tear It Up and the encores.
But what surprised me the most (and I only had nice surprises at that show) was that this
was a very tight group onstage. They had lots of fun together, no ego problem (which could
be expected, as they had three lead singers and two lead guitarists), everyone perfectly
relaxed and just here for the fun of music and od being together.
If you get a chance to catch this show, it is quite worth the 1200 km I drove for it (in 3
days, and this was not all the fun of this weekend...) !
Don't go to see the Rhythm Kings expecting anything from a Stones show. Yes, they play
Melody, but with a quite different feeling.
This might be a not so great _show_ (ObZappa : No Bubble Machines, No Laser Weapons) but
this is a great concert by great musicians having a great time together.
>Too Late
>Motorvatin Mama
(For the record, they started with MM, then played Too Late)
After the show was over, Fabrice, Christine and I waited infront of the stage for quite a
while, then Bill's press assistant came to take us backstage. The place was crowded and
Bill was very busy with his daughter (3 years old or so). She apparently was tired, and
Bill decided to get back to the hotel to put the baby to bed, so Bill's assistant
apologized again and proposed a meeting at Bill's hotel in the morning... But Fab had to
go to work, Christine had a flight back home, and I had to drive back home too, so we
declined...
We got a great show, and a great time with the Paris Glimmers, so we were not that
disappointed...
And we could talk a little with the musicians backstage (specially Gary Brooker and Albert
Lee for me, and they are such nice people), all in all it was a fantastic experience. It
could never have happened without this list, so huge thanks to all of you, you know who
you are.
Keep On Rockin'...
Thierry, historic Keefian Charlist and Ronnist, newly converted Wymaniac...
--
This message may not be retransmitted without consent of
"Th. Joubaud" <thierry.joubaud@hol.fr>
Undercover - The Rolling Stones Mailing List
==============================================
At 01:21 AM 10/14/98 +0200, Th. Joubaud wrote:
>>Singing chores were shared between
>>George Fame, Gary Brooker, and Beverly S.
>
>Gary was definately the rock'n'roller yesterday... I certainly would not
have recognized him from the Procol
>Harum years (photos soon on my pages), now looking like a retired lawyer
(no flames !), but rockin' the stage
>like a teen ager !
This is the only bit of the review I'd quibble with!
IMHO Gary looks more like a rather dodgy used car salesman! :-)
steve@carters.u-net.com
Nothing is Beatle Proof!
http://www.carters.u-net.com/
--
This message may not be retransmitted without consent of
Stephen Carter <steve@carters.u-net.com>
Undercover - The Rolling Stones Mailing List
==============================================
Here comes my last GM in Paris report...
As Thierry has already posted, Fabrice, Thierry and I have been very lucky and could get
into the BATACLAN before the band arrived, and thus we were there during the whole
soundcheck, and even talked shortly with Bill, when he explained he had no time to see us
before the show...
He's been really nice with us, and his two assistants S.A. and K. have been even nicer
with us.
The soundcheck went on really well and relaxed, I could see from that moment that this
band is really close and likes working together.
I will skip reporting the opening act, better forget Jasmine Bond, believe me ;-)
Then Bill and the Rythm Kings took the stage and it's been a great great show!
I have to correct an important point about Thierry's report, Fabrice was dead center,
backed by Karen and Sara, while Thierry and I were Front Row Keith Side, as always, and
not dead center as Thierry suggested in his post ;-))))))))
Behind us were Patrice, Philippe and Chris.
Can you picture this??? I was in the best spot possible, having Albert Lee right in front
of me, Martin Taylor close to my left and Gary Brooker close from me too, but on the right
side. Bill was on the left side of the stage, but seemed to be looking at both Thierry and
I all along the show, and SMILING :-))))))
I made eye contact very often both with Martin and Albert, and during all the show I was
feeling My French Glimmer Boys right in my back :-))))))))))
I even got a kiss on the cheek from Philippe at some point (I must admit I don't remember
under which excuse this happened ;-)))) )
HEAVEN :-)
Those Glimmer Meetings are the best things that can happen to a Glimmer, Stones show or
not :-)))))))))))))
I won't report the concert in detail, but will just say that for me (same as Thierry) the
Tear Me Up with Albert on vocals and that guitars solos duet when Albert made his guitar
smoke has been the hilight for me!
Don't miss BW&RK if you have an opportunity to see them!
The aftershow didn't turn up into the interview with Bill, as Thierry reported, but we had
great short contacts with Albert, Gorgie Fame, Gary and Martin, and I had my ticket signed
by all of them... except Bill unfortunately.
All in all my Paris weekend has been fantastic, and I had a thought for all of you that I
met in the past, you were there in my mind :-)))
Waiting for the next Glimmer Meeting!
Christine
--
This message may not be retransmitted without consent of
Christine Libouban <Christine.Libouban@cnusc.fr>
Next Page : The Rhythm Kings European 1998 Tour dates