I haven’t even decided on the format this year, since nobody’s reading anyway, I am tempted to strip it down to just the youtubes, setlists and external reviews photos, a database rather than my own work, maybe just a few comments if there are some remarkable things or emotions. I don’t know, it doesn’t take that much time or energy when there are no consecutive gigs, but not sure there is a point beside being an introvert who write things down. Which is OK, but sometimes I still want to get away from that, the end of 2025 is made of such contrasts and other old good times coming back….Except I’m maybe 20 years older/too old and have fucked up a lot of opportunities in the meantime.
Right, as I get into writing these reviews again at the end of the first week of February, I think I’ve decided I wouldn’t change the format much, maybe tweak it, keep it more factual, less descriptive or emotional. Is that a bit lazy? Possibly. I’ll just comment less, and it will feel less ‘lived in’, more of a repository, but hopefully still give the impression I got from the gigs. It starts with two no-shows on my part anyway, due to illness.
28/1/2026 Tortoise, Trabendo
Context: A very random decision to go, made when chatting with Ben in the pub just before an Arsenal match. I have to admit I only knew Tortoise from reputation, don’t think I’ve heard much from them. In the end, I fell pretty ill on the morning of the gig, puking from 5am to midday, so I was physically unable to go.
YouTube: There’s a couple. This sounds pretty good.
Setlist: Here.
30/1/2026 Ider, Les Trois Baudets.
Context: one late-ish decision from the end of last year, as it was not sold out, and I figured I actually very much liked their latest album. Also the opportunity to check a new venue. As it is, while I was getting much better that Friday, I felt I was not yet quite fine enough to face going out in Paris, public transport, crowds, and standing for the duration of a gig. Probably a very wise choice, though maybe more of a regret for the gig than Tortoise. But let’s say that if I had to miss two gigs, these were kind of OK to miss. Being ill a week later would have been a catastrophe.
External review: none that I can see.
Photos: There ARE some, here.
YouTube: spotted a couple there too. So here’s one.
Setlist: N/A
Kelly Moran, Mains d’Oeuvres 3/2/2026
Context: see Music Musings 2025, really. Quite fancied something different, and in a way I am glad this became again what it was initially meant to be: the first gig of the year. Piano artist, but this wasn’t a normal piano concert, a little more ‘electronic’.
External review: doubt it.
Photos: Unlikely.
YouTube: only found one video, but that will more than do and is very representative. The fact it includes Sans Sodalis makes it just right too.
Company: just me.
Pre-gig: a new venue, so I took a lot (too much) margin, as I was willing to check the totally unknown to me support (interesting description in the Main d’Oeuvres site) and this being in St Ouen was a very long trip, hell it’s further away than Hasard Ludique. I quite like the venue, local community centre really, lots of kids in the bar space before entering the small gig venue.
Support: Rosa Anschütz. Just a German woman with a laptop and some sampling devices. And some background projections. Very atmospheric pieces seguing into each other, so just three very very short breaks to thank the (sparse) crowds during a 40 min or so show. She sings, sometimes sampling her voice live for re-uses, the sounds are varied, sometimes a little more rocking, I really like it and am going to check her recorded music.
Standing location: I must admit I was vaguely hoping this would be a room with chairs, but no, it was all standing. To be fair Kelly Moran had to stand all the way too.
Setlist: Not available. Unsurprisingly. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, if she would do normal piano stuff along with more modern stuff, but it clearly became evident from the set-up (see the video) that this was not going to be a piano concert, and that she wouldn’t be sitting down. As an introduction, she just said she would play pieces from her new album, which makes perfect sense, given on stage was just some electric piano with a tablet on top of it, and a laptop on the floor. So no surprise, the setlist came from that new album. Well the album is about 40 minutes and the gig lasted an hour, so maybe some pieces were extended, and also, the final number wasn’t on the album I think. It had some recorded rhythms/drumming, and there is no such thing in Don’t Trust Mirrors. She only spoke at the start, and once in the middle, first explaining that she recorded her latest album using a prepared piano (putting metallic stuff in there), and that it being obviously something a venue with a proper piano would not countenance (as in ‘don’t mess with our proper classical pianos’), she sampled herself playing all the notes and various parts on that prepared piano and transposed them into that here electric piano (Yamaha with a blacked-out logo from what I could see – not sure why some dimwit before the gig talking to his mate was saying ‘oh look, this is a simple Casio keyboard, must have been provided by the venue’ – the stand had a sticker with the venue name for sure, but the keyboard itself….why would anyone think that?), and then reminded us she was from the US which is a shit show (“Fuck ICE, Free Palestine!”) and that on top of selling her latest LP, she also had several fundraisers for various causes. Anyway, so yes, I’m stripping down the reviews somewhat, let us just say I enjoyed this one, although having had to stand all the way due to busy transport, and during the gig, my legs in their current state were suffering. But the music was pleasant, and Kelly certainly has the classical musical background, which shows in the way she performs and the demure acknowledgment of crowds between the pieces and at the end just getting to the front of the stage and bowing.
Post-gig: if I had been less tired (and didn’t hope to catch the very very end of the Arsenal match – I got home for added time (6min of it including a Kai Havertz winner), or with company and if this had not been at the arse end of Paris, I might have lingered on a bit, to help a good cause or two. But there, the idea of queuing at the merch stall and feeling awkward anyway did not appeal.
Mew, Roundhouse, London 5/2/2026
Context: the postponed gig from last year (more context there, I think), the final Mew show (or at least Mew with Jonas, I can’t envisage Mew without Jonas, it seems absurd, yet in some of the ways this was presented and the way it happened, you got the feeling the rest of them would happily carry on while he was quitting to do other things)
External review: I finally found one!
Photos: There are (very few) in the review linked above.
YouTube: You want the full gig? You can have it, in two instalments: main set and encore. I find it crazy that someone films the whole thing while at the front, and not even in a professional manners (you will have seen some of the ‘full gigs’ YT videos I posted, this is something else, yet mostly perfectly watchable and a great witness to that final show). Only a few seconds missing at the start of each part.
Main Set:
Encore :
Company: well, Ally was going to be there, but with him having followed them for about 20 years (and with backstage access), I knew I wouldn’t spend the gig with him, but I was early enough to finally spot him before the gig and be able to wave, and join him just after it ended for a short chat. I might have said it last year already, but it is always a pleasure to catch up with Ally, one of those people that make me feel happy about the world. BUT. Company was had during the gig: just before the support as I was standing there and still at the time trying to catch Ally’s attention, I turned to my left and who do I spot? Konrad aka Perry Groves from arseblog. We’d not seen each other for maybe 15 years, yet obviously recognition was instant so we had some great chat, and it was an absolute pleasure to spend the gig in his company, having talked life, Arsenal, people and a lot about music. When we joined Ally later, they both suddenly remembered all the times to, so it was a great mini Arseblog reunion in the end.
Support: The Pale White from Newcastle. I think I’d heard of them. Classic Guitar/Bass/Drums combo, music kind of straight from the 70s, and haircuts possibly too. Not exactly my stuff, but they play competently, and I did enjoy the last few songs actually.
Standing location: On the left, maybe 6 metres from the fence? Decent view either way despite one or two tall people, thankfully, the stage is high enough there. And the sound was great.
Setlist: it is here. And I said I wouldn’t go into a blow by blow detail. So maybe just mention a few highlights (you can get all the inter-song chats if you watch the videos as it is all there, no need for me to comment!). Slow-ish start for me (also I was slowly recovering but had a few very tense days, I was all over the place, so it was difficult for me to enjoy everything and feel free in my head, but I have to say bumping into Konrad made everything easier, like good things happening to me again naturally), with a first little highlight consisting of the classic Special/Zookeeper’s Boy combo as on record. Things really started to get big with the fantastic Snow Brigade (you can spot Ally bouncing up and down in the video above), and I think from favourite 156 on, it was just absolutely brilliant and made me forget the pain in my head. Mostly the titles from Frengers (one of the best albums ever by anyone, no tracks to skip there) got me, but a few others did the trick too. Rows was naturally the end of the show, and I don’t think I’d ever appreciated before how great (though complex) a song this is. The live versions of most songs really added something, the band was very tight, a classic example of a band that is great on record, but also live, with the live versions enhancing the originals. The encore with some classic early singles was a riot, and the show inevitably concluded with the somptuous Comforting Sounds, with a clearly very emotional Jonas during the second (instrumental) part of the song indeed. They all came to the front of the stage to bow at the end, and that was it. No more Mew (see the caveat, not sure what they will do, the bass player seemed to say they would see us again). I am glad and privileged I was there for that, all thanks to Ally mentioning Mew playing the day after The Raveonettes last year, a gig I would not have gone to if I had been able to go to the one in Paris. Sometimes (often, in fact, in my life), the best things always happen by serendipity. And for the second time in a month and half, a trip to London felt like a healthy regeneration for me. The enjoyable ‘three amigos’ day with an Arsenal victory on Saturday (while, once more, randomly – though a less unlikely possibility, admittedly – bumping into at least three different people I hadn’t seen in a while, added cherries on top of a tasty cake). Sure, there was a Man U trip in the meantime, that was essentially depressing and led to the previous tough week, but for all I know right now, something very good may even have weirdly come out of that one. We shall see.
A.A. Williams, Le Nouveau Casino 8/2/2026
Context: Is a context needed? She has a couple of new tunes (maybe a new album later in the year), but I’d have gone anyway. Properly headlining this time also unlike two and a bit years ago.
External review: SOV eventually came up with the goods.
Photos: the photos were there a couple of days earlier.
YouTube: Well, one of my usual sources put that very quickly online, and he has all the best songs, really. So I will post Pristine, but you can also check Wolves, Melt and Evaporate.
Company: Patrice got Nick’s ticket as Nick had to be away. He turned up at Casino de Paris first (oops!), but still made it on time, thankfully!
Support: ‘Spotlight’. They probably started earlier than I thought, so I only caught about two minutes of their last song. Not sure I’d have enjoyed it very much anyway, only thing I noticed was that the sound was absolutely dreadful, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case for A.A. Williams.
Standing location: pretty good, central, maybe five metres from the stage. The stage is well elevated, so it was practically perfect.
Setlist: here. I’m keeping to my new shorter way, but what can I say? This came at the end of a frenzied week covering three gigs, one stand-up comedy show and a football match. I decided not to drink at all despite the temptation of a pint, but while I was feeling fairly tired, I was also feeling very well, the last few days did me a lot of good. We got old classics, the couple of new songs recently released, and A.A. used different guitars unlike last time (a couple of Gibson Explorers in the lot, including that from last time, but also another semi-hollow body (black) and a beautiful Fender Jaguar (black)), her band was the same as last time, she still didn’t speak much but maybe a little more than last time, couple of times to thank and say how much she enjoys coming to Paris (while still always looking very stern, not beaming), and mentioning the merch stand as it is indeed one of the essential sources of revenues these days. Highlights? That new song Wolves was superb (it was one of the first times they played it so she pleaded indulgence, but none was needed, it sounded perfect), and an absolutely breathtaking version of Pristine (unfortunately the video above doesn’t do it justice). The best songs on record are also the best song live, and yet, they are even more powerful there on stage. And so the finale of Melt then Evaporate was touching the sublime.
Post-gig: I wisely said no to going into the pub next door. I could have, it wasn’t that late, but I figured my mental balance needed not to prolong the night (I still didn’t sleep that well, but at least I could function to go to the physio the next day). I got home very very happy with an excellent week concluded by an amazingly powerful gig. I’ve come a long way in less than ten days, but I need to keep it all up, despite some big uncertainty factors. Nothing planned this week before Sunday’s football, helpfully.
Nightbus, Pop-Up, 21/2/2026
Context: Well, they made one of the very best albums of 2025, I was eager to see them live so jumped on the tickets.
External review: I only had to wait a few days (while I forgot to update the site update pages) and the SOV review (unsuprisingly from Frank) is there, and perfect. With a little more and correct emphasis on the difference the instrumentation (as mentioned below) brings. Heh, I even get a mention early on.
Photos: from SOV too.
YouTube: I couldn’t find any.
Company: Frank (from SOV) was around, which I kind of expected as he’d written the album review.
Pre-gig: Saturday, a bit tired, but felt a little stronger after a good run in the morning and less pain than previous times. So went for a couple of pints in the Black Sheep (which was quiet) before making my way.
Support: Cérémonie. French. Had no idea as I couldn’t find their music, but I got there shortly after they started (I thought I’d be later but there was no reason to stay in the BS). Synths and occasional guitars. Two blokes, one on guitar/synths, one just, really, singing (through effects mostly), and a girl, on synth and voice, and who reminded me (maybe just the air of cool and the frizzy hair) of one from Erasmus. So I thought that was a fitting support for Nightbus (more on that later). The singing bloke was a little odd at times, spoke between songs, but sometimes got in the crowd, whether singing or not, just smiling/waving at people (mostly girls…not what the crowd was mostly made of but who he smiled at), and couple of times he just lied down on the floor, once singing but another time just a few seconds at the end of the song, then left the microphone on the floor before getting back on stage. That’s for the weirdness, but I actually enjoyed the music very much, whether I can find it online or not. They had plenty of their (local?) fans, shouting ‘Cérémonie!’ at some point. I had the chance to thank them and express my appreciation when they were finishing clearing the stage.
Standing location: using the template established with Alexis at Basht., to the side slightly, very much at the front. Actually managed to be a little more central during Nightbus, so just absolutely perfect.
Setlist: The setlist is not on setlist.fm as such but it features on the external review above, and is identical to the one from Rotterdam a few days earlier, here.
Nightbus are nominally a duo. I didn’t know quite what to expect but as the production sounded rather electronic on record, I expected something rather synth-oriented (but then I should know better, see bdrmm…although, well, bdrmm do have synths). So first surprise observed during the support : a drum kit at the back. And also a bass guitar standing on the side. I also admired one of the pedalboards on the floor. But anyway, once they’d set up everything, it was a huge surprise to not see a single synth/keyboard (I think from one or two sounds maybe there was a recording at some point? Not even totally sure), less a surprise to see the aforementioned pedals (the singer’s) and another one for the main guitarist, as obviously a lot of effects would be involved. So yes, drums, bass, and guitars (two). And was it a more rocking gig than I’d expected? Not sure, the atmosphere felt pretty much similar. I had one extra pint when I’d arrived so I was just right for this gig, and all I can say is it sounded astonishingly good. Angles Mortz was played early on (well the first couple of tracks were in order from the album), but obviously with only one (outstanding) album to their name, and four other singles they nearly all play (one is not played, the only known-by-me track they don’t play is 7am from the album, not a big miss, that’s the one that’s maybe like the not very good ones from HONESTY, say), every song felt fabulous. The girl on drums played fantastically well, the bass player (with just the one multieffect Boss pedal) was cool too. We got treated to their first single (‘anyone got the album? well this one is not on that, it’s our very first single, written when we were just kids), which sounded excellent too, a little joke about rain on stage as it was so hot there, and for the final song, ‘it sounds a bit like Joy Division’, not sure if it’s on the album, but as someone next to me correctly observed, the bass line is indeed very close to that of Shadowplay and the song sounded very JD indeed, but modernised. Perfect, really. Having checked the lyrics later, well the first few words are in fact the same, so it’s definitely a deliberate inspiration. And a good conclusion.
Post-gig: straight to the merch to buy a T-shirt, and thank the band profusely. The Card machine seemed to struggle (wi-fi issue), but by luck I’d brought some cash (euros, didn’t think of bringing pounds), the price seemed cheap, not sure why she only asked for €20 when it was meant to be £20 (which is already cheap for a T-shirt these days), but I insisted on giving 30, as it seems fairer and on account of them being so brilliant. We had one more drink upstairs with Frank and his friend Cécile (I think, I can easily confuse my Céciles an my Célines), talking music, football. We all agreed on tonight’s excellence and our equal surprise at the unexpected set-up (well not knowing what to expect, and it turning out that way). Then home, weirdly a little more drunk (2 IPAs it was after the BS Guinness), but then I’ve not really had many drinks even in February so maybe I’m just not used to it at the moment. I think this will probably be one of the best gig of the years all the same, very very happy with this evening!
Coach Party, Supersonic Club 26/2/2026
Context: I enjoyed the gig at Café de la Danse in December 2023, done sober while preparing for the half-marathon, yet moshed a lot, they were great fun, so I thought I’d go again. No moshing possible due to my physical state this time, beers (but reasonable) OK, and a free gig to boot, so no hesitation.
External review: Benzinemag has got it.
Photos: long time since I was at the same gig as Robert Gil? He was there, so here are his snaps. Maybe that was the place to be that night, not bar italia’s gig.
YouTube: There are plenty of videos, from two sources. One has a much better sound, but maybe less stable image. I would normally post only one song, but unfortunately, that poster with the better sound got tricked into thinking the gig finished when it seemed to, or at least ‘Girls!’ anyway (see the actual review below). And so the only full version is the other one. But because I am annoyed by the sound, I feel I still have to put one from him with the better sound (it’s still not fabulous, but I’m afraid no video from a Supersonic gig will ever be), and he has Georgina which marked the start of the best sequence of songs.
So here’s Georgina.
And the full version of Girls! with the coda.
Company: Nick, Ornella and Stéphane. Patrice and Estelle were initially meant to come along, but decided to go for Bar Italia (it’s easy to opt out of free gigs, I have done it too, so fair enough!).
Pre-gig: we wisely decided not to get in early, so meeting in a bar at 8pm (more like 8.30pm for me as I didn’t want to drink much) was the plan. One pint for me, a couple for most of the others, nice and sitting on a terrasse (not THAT warm though). Good to catch up as I hadn’t seen these folks in 2026 yet.
Support: first band was missed (nothing good according to the external review), so just The Tommy Crystal. They were advertised as French, but the singer was American. Totally meh and unremarkable for me. I mean, I wasn’t particularly bothered, but they didn’t catch my attention either while we were having a pint, they’re OK-ish, but it’s just pub music, really. Am I being harsh? I don’t know, they’re like tons of other bands.
Crowds: OK, I’ve skipped that old section this year, but I will make an exception. Because the surprise to me was that nearly all the OLD regular folks were there at the front. No indiegilles as he was at bar italia, but the tall guy, Robert Gil, a few more (some unknown), and one of the not so old guys who films a lot of gigs and had in fact a camera set up hanging from the lower ceiling, well neat! There were some young people of course, because it is the Supersonic, but still, very much all old at the very front and on the right.
Standing location: I managed to indirectly convince the others to join me fairly near the front rather than watch from the back. There were a few younger French people in front us, annoying but thankfully not too tall, one with a fucking backpack. My idea was to be close enough, but not risk being caught in moshing action. Of course, once I realised the make-up and position of the crowd (and density), I figured there may not be as much action as at Café de La Danse anyway, and also that if there was moshing, unfortunately, it was more likely to be on our side (so we were on the left-hand side when watching the stage), but still, should be able to avoid most of it or retreat if need be.
Setlist: it is available. The Supersonic format with 3 bands, and the fact they have to clear up before the (paying) club bit starts later (can’t remember if it’s 11-ish or 11.30) means sets are often shorter than they would normally be, so I think we got treated to a few less songs than most other nights in the tour. But then, it’s free. Anyway, a second pint (so third on the night, the previous was straight on entering the Supersonic) was had just before/at the start as I was feeling better than I feared, and it was still early enough. The bands always come from upstairs then gather on the side (the side we were) so we could see them, not only setting up their gear on the stage, and I gave Ornella the low-down on who was who, just as Jess came around and I weirdly said ‘…and the legend that is Jess’ so she waved and said ‘Hiii!’, heh. Anyway, they started with the great opener from the new album, Do It For Love to set the tone. They all looked on form, but the smaller stage and venue this time gave everything a different feel. Obviously, they’ve also grown tighter, but as I mentioned the gig-specific timings issue above, there was not much time for inter-song chat, even allowing for the fewer numbers. So today, we only got a few thanks, and great to be here, ‘Salut Paris!’ as an intro, and a couple of ‘Mercis’, and ‘Nous sommes Coach Party!’ but no pleasing attempt at French speaking from the drummer this time. So it all felt just a touch less fun than last time. The smaller stage also means there was no risk of Jess getting lost and finding herself too far from the microphone and having to rush back for her next line like I remembered in the most amusing moment at Café de la Danse. I wasn’t completely in party mood, though I was well enough and happy to be out again as I hadn’t been for a while with people from our group. So after a few songs to warm up, what felt like a perfect mid-gig set of songs happened (looking at the set list, it was still already just the first half): Georgina (the best song from the Caramel album, possibly one of their best at all), Nurse Depression (a brand new single off-album), followed by classics All I Want To Do Is Hate (that got a massive reception and people starting to bounce about and jump up and down if not quite moshing) and Micro Aggression was as good as you can get in a gig like that. Absolutely top highlights of the evening, superb! After that, there were good moments, but it never quite reached the same heights for me. But then, it didn’t need to, I was more than happy with the gig already. With my shorter reviews not going into details, I won’t have much more to write, everything rolled easily around, there was even one properly quiet/slow(ish) number that felt like a welcome respite, not boring at all, and they finished with the lead single from the latest album : Girls! Madness in the moshpit there, I was sorely tempted, but I managed to take one step back and not get stuck in (again, it may not have been total mayhem moshing, but that’s as good as it got). A superb way to finish. In fact, just as Jess looked up at the mixing desk to see if there was still a little time left, she got the thumbs up and I was wondering if they were going to add another song, but no, they just extended Girls! for another mad minute or so, so that everyone could dance and shout together ‘Where the fuck are my Girls?’. Even Ornella, who wasn’t won over with the band/general performance (the sound at Supersonic rarely being great probably didn’t help) enjoyed that one. A perfect way to finish this short-ish set, full of energy and fun.
Post-gig: as the band got through the crowds towards the bar/merch stall perhaps (that was on the other side, I’m never sure and didn’t see it), I got the chance to congratulate and thank them for this excellent gig before we all made our way out. One last beer? I decided for no, sticking to my two or max three beers initial decision despite the good feeling, partly driven by the need to sleep and some work commitments the next day. So home safely before midnight, a very good evening!
5/3/2026 Sorry, Trabendo – postponed to 18/6
11/3/2025 Meryl Streek, Point Ephémère, cannot go, work gets in the way, well it was, but now this one is postponed too, to 27 October, so only one gig in March, and that’s not even in Paris.
20/3/2026 The Others, The Grace, London
Context:
External review:
Photos:
YouTube:
Company:
Pre-gig:
Support:
Crowds:
Standing location:
Setlist:
Post-gig:
1/4/2026 Test Plan, Supersonic
2/4/2026 Stella Donnelly, Hasard Ludique, SURE Supersonic (ah shit, didn’t pay attention but that’s free anyway so….)
3/4/2026 HighSchool, Hasard Ludique
8/4/2026 Deadletter, Trabendo
11/4/2026 CHALK, Trabendo
27/4/2026 The Twilight Sad, Trabendo
28/5/2026 The Itch, Hasard Ludique
13/6/2026 Sugar, Elysée Montmartre
18/6/2026 Sorry, Trabendo
26/6/2025 The Cure, Marlay Park, Dublin
30/8/2026 The Cure, Rock en Seine, Saint-Cloud
27/10/2026 Meryl Streek, Point Ephémère