{"id":8513,"date":"2026-07-16T19:51:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T17:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/?page_id=8513"},"modified":"2026-10-18T21:12:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T19:12:33","slug":"gigs-2026-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/gig-reviews\/gigs-2026-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Gigs 2026 (Part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"ReS2026\"><strong>The Cure, Interpol, Slowdive: Rock en Seine, Saint-Cloud, 30\/8\/2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp; Seven years after the last time (which I missed, entirely my fault at the last minute), The Cure were back at Rock en Seine. It was the first summer gig announced last year, and yet in fact the last of the tour. Having this time checked previous setlists, I didn&#8217;t necessarily expect any surprise, at best a few treats, because, well, festival. Other guests included Slowdive, Interpol and Mogwai. I wasn&#8217;t much interested in the other bands on the bill on the day. Anyway, a nephew&#8217;s wedding the day before inserted itself in the proceedings, complicating the logistics (and meaning I couldn&#8217;t consider the idea of also going to Bordeaux on the Friday, which I would have done otherwise), but I was determined not to fuck up this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinemag.net\/2026\/08\/31\/live-review-rock-en-seine-2026-le-dimanche\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Benzinemag <\/a>reviews the day, I&#8217;m sure SOV will have the review, possibly tomorrow. A couple of days later, it&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.soundofviolence.net\/articles\/festival\/884\/rock_en_seine_saint_cloud.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">there<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.photosconcerts.com\/slowdive-saint-cloud-domaine-national-grande-scene-2026-08-30-festival-rock-seine-16231\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Slowdive <\/a>by Robert Gil. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.soundofviolence.net\/multimedia\/photos\/236\/18186\/the_cure_saint_cloud_rock_en_seine_30_08_2026.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Cure<\/a> by La\u00ebtitia on SOV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube:<\/strong><\/em> As you can imagine at such an event, there is a wide selection of videos, particularly for The Cure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But let&#8217;s start with Slowdive. Some selected morsels for you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The beautiful Kisses (unfortunately cut a little before the end)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Slowdive Kisses Paris Rock en Seine 30 ao\u00fbt 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i_klPfS7_EY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The no less wonderful, sprawling, When The Sun Hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Slowdive - When The Sun Hits | 4K | Rock en Seine Paris 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KzeV8h70oJM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But why not have the full show? It&#8217;s an hour you won&#8217;t regret spending in their company!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SloWdiVe @ Paris \/ RoCk en SeiNe - 30.08.2026 (...4k Full ShoW...)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lghGW8y-bpY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Less choice for Interpol, and dubious sound mostly but here&#8217;s Obstacle 1. [actually now the whole set is also available from the same poster as above]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Interpol - Obstacle 1 @ Festival Rock en Seine 30\/08\/2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HJTbwXp5Vn8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As For The Cure, of course the whole show is available on France TV, or at least was screened live then, I don&#8217;t see the replay on the App. For now it seems to also have been copied onto YT by a few people, so here it is, whether it stays or not, I don&#8217;t know. [Predictably, it&#8217;s been pulled for copyright reasons]. However, LinkedEyes again has another version not from the official feed, so if you don&#8217;t have the France TV App, check this (with his bonus personal intro)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The CuRE @ Paris \/ RoCk en SeiNe - 30.08.2026 (...4k Full ShoW...)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n_jOi2FkXcg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Otherwise, a couple of excerpts, what about a little Lovesong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Cure Lovesong live@ Rock en Seine 2026\/08\/30\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YBxz2IGePGk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the always epic Endsong to finish the YouTubes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Cure - Endsong @ Rock en Seine 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b8xdNpBa5Y0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: Estelle and Patrice, Nick (for his first Rock en Seine), Alexis, his wife (Sandrine) and his mate Nicolas. Beno\u00eet was there, but we never saw him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: where do I start? Given the timings and it being a big day of holiday returns on the road, I chose to travel to the wedding by train (and rental car), as the prices thankfully still seemed reasonable. I had calculated (after booking, rather than precisely before booking), that I would just miss the start of the Slowdive gig (4.25pm, the &#8216;doors&#8217; opened at 1pm, there were a few bands on earlier) if I was on time. As it is, the train to Paris itself was on time, and despite the RER B works going on this weekend of all weekends (totally stupid decision), I managed to get home relatively quickly, before 3pm. While I didn&#8217;t rush immediately out (taking time to empty most of the luggage and have a quick shower for post-travel refreshment), I figured after checking the timings I might even catch the start of Slowdive. Unfortunately, a couple of bad metro connections (the app was not reliable) meant I was back to square one, entered the site more or less when they started and so missed about 5 minutes of their set (that&#8217;s one song or maybe not even one song). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;It&#8217;s a Festival, so all sorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>: let us just say, mostly on the right, in front of the big tower for Slowdive, a little further out (but more central) for Interpol then The Cure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/slowdive\/2026\/domaine-national-de-saint-cloud-grande-scene-saint-cloud-france-2b4cec62.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Slowdive<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/interpol\/2026\/domaine-national-de-saint-cloud-grande-scene-saint-cloud-france-6b4cf2e2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Interpol<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/mogwai\/2026\/domaine-national-de-saint-cloud-saint-cloud-france-7b778ac0.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mogwai <\/a>(for curiosity, as you will see, I did not attend), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/the-cure\/2026\/domaine-national-de-saint-cloud-grande-scene-saint-cloud-france-4b4043f6.html\">The Cure<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So this is when I narrate the day. First, straight to the Grande Sc\u00e8ne, and Estelle Patrice and Nick had reached it before me on their way from Dry Cleaning. I was trying to locate Patrice&#8217;s bob (though unlike last time it was meant to be a dark one, so less easy to spot), but he never wore it. Thankfully, Nick was sporting a bright red Forest Cap, and seemed to be the most easily identifiable person in the festival thus! Alexis and Nicolas joined us shortly after. First couple of songs from Slowdive felt OK, not special (bar the opener I mostly missed, it is unsurprising, as the following two songs were indeed each from the two far lesser and forgettable albums that sandwiched Souvlaki), but then they started playing Souvlaki Space Station and the magic began, uninterrupted for a few songs. Slomo continued the trance, and then, wow, Machine Gun, which they hadn&#8217;t played at La Cigale when I went last time. It&#8217;s one of my favourite of theirs and was absolutely stunning. Right there, by daylight, in front of a huge crowd (The Cure meant the place was really a lot busier than it would normally be at this time), Slowdive filled the space with magic sounds and it was heaven. And then, I felt my Rock en Seine was a success and I didn&#8217;t care about the other bands. Sugar For The Pill was another hit, before Kisses floated in, the beauty of it all nearly bringing me to tears (if only I hadn&#8217;t been that tired). Rachel (looking great and happy again today) then took a guitar for the slightly (very slightly, on record it doesn&#8217;t show but there it felt so) more rocking Alison, kept it for the fantastic When The Sun Hits while we were headed for a slightly dreamier ambience again, before a splendid finale of 40 Days. I loved them at La Cigale, but either because of the outdoor atmosphere, summer feeling and because it was the second time and that they did play Machine Gun this time, I was totally blown away and enjoyed this gig even more. I&#8217;m not sure whatever the &#8216;shoegaze revival&#8217; is about, because Slowdive make all these bands totally redundant and unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally time for a beer, which I think I &#8216;deserved&#8217; after all the travelling and having been more than reasonable at the wedding (needs must) with just two very early glasses of Champagne. Everyone moved towards the &#8216;Boursorama&#8217; stage where Wolf Alice was next and Beno\u00eet waiting for us. After a first failed attempt with a mobile seller (too much queueing), I went for the first Gallia Bar and the strongest beer (just 6%, mind), The Nouveau Western (I was tempted to call it a MC Solaar, but not sure they would have got it &#8211; probably but I didn&#8217;t chance it). A pint? Well, no, they subtly had 25cl and&#8230;.45cl glasses (so you know, I didn&#8217;t do the maths, usually 50cl is less than twice the price of 2&#215;25, but there it was for just 45, so probably very little difference in it for the price per cl&#8230;.clever cunts). Then I got a message from Nick saying they were in front of the Gallia bar, but then I realised every beer bar was a Gallia bar, so that wasn&#8217;t much of an indication. Thankfully, there were a few hints they were nearer the stage, and Nick&#8217;s red cap was still unmissable. We never found Beno\u00eet who must have been a litte more &#8216;inside&#8217; while we stayed on the outside regions in front of the bar. As for the music, Wolf Alice were playing in the background but didn&#8217;t catch my attention at all, it all seemed a bit meh, bland and uninteresting, although a couple of songs near the end sounded a little better (from their first album apparently, that would explain it), so I can&#8217;t pretend I attended that gig. But it was nice just to be there with friends, chatting and drinking. Also, I must say, the forecast a few days earlier was of rain, but on the Sunday, despite some still wet patches in the ground, the weather itself held on, after just a few light drops early in the afternoon (while I was still travelling), and while it wasn&#8217;t super hot, I didn&#8217;t put my light jacket on until after it was all over, on the way back to the metro. It was fairly sunny too, so the weather turned out to be quite close to ideal. Decision time (with a second beer) next. Nick wasn&#8217;t too keen on Interpol, and there were tricky choices to be made. I mean, at this time, only Interpol interested me (I think there might have been a conflict with Black Country, New Road, but they are not really my thing), but the problem would be with Mogwai later, I was quite keen on seeing them, as was Nick (he&#8217;d not seen them in a long time, whereas I&#8217;d seen them much more recently than Interpol), but them playing just before The Cure, on a different stage, was sub-ideal. I think it was the only mistake in the very limited gig line-up as far as I&#8217;m concerned: I wish they&#8217;d played the main stage. Anyway, we went towards the Main Stage to catch Interpol. I wasn&#8217;t sure what to expect, not having seen them since their heyday (well, theoretically, I saw them at the Cure Hyde Park gig in 2018, but in the mental day that was and circumstances, I was physically there, but didn&#8217;t see or hear the gig at all). Visually I was more watching the big screens than the stage (in fact all throughout today, I watched a lot of the screens, never having been close to the stage), Paul Banks looked rather static (note that the screens were in B&amp;W for this gig), sporting shades during the whole duration of the set. The new (or &#8216;new&#8217;, he may have been there for ten years for all I know) bass player looked the part (though he will never compare favourably with Carlos D), the drummer I did not quite remember (is he new?), and well, Daniel Kessler looks like he hasn&#8217;t aged a day in twenty years. As for the tunes, a lot I didn&#8217;t know, a few excellent numbers from their debut Turn On The Bright Lights getting the best reception (with the red visuals recreating the sleeve on stage), and some classics from their second, Antics. In fact, C&#8217;Mere led me to blather on about it, because it is always the track that comes on first when I put the iPod in the car as it seems to always reset rather than continue the random shuffle it is meant to be on). So I&#8217;ve heard it, or rather the start of it, a few hundred times maybe, so much I don&#8217;t know if I like it at all anymore. Still, we got Slow Hands, that is still great. I have to say that at this stage that despite being only on two beers (or three, but I rather think I got the third between this set and The Cure given the time gap), fatigue was probably playing a part in my lack of focus, but I&#8217;m guessing also that a reason I didn&#8217;t completely get into this set was that it was not really enthralling. Some good songs, some less good songs (also, funnily enough, today really was a day with minimal interaction between crowds and bands, apart from the singalongs obviously, especially for The Cure), but hard to connect with. So at the end of it (I think we might have lost a few people along the way at some point during the evening, though we&#8217;d caught up with Alexis&#8217;s wife before Interpol), time for that third beer I think, and not going to Mogwai as we thought our spot was decent-ish enough and we weren&#8217;t sure we&#8217;d get it back. So we just waited here, with our beers, while it was still daylight &#8211;actually now I remember, I had the third beer only with Nick, in a bar square from where we were, so it was either before or during Interpol. Anyway, the wait for The Cure didn&#8217;t seem that long, and a couple of chance encounters happened. First, Sophie. John had told me she and Luc would be here as he is a big Cure fan. I decided earlier in the day to not get in touch and leave it to chance to meet them, however unlikely. Anyway I had left my work phone at home and I only had her number there. And yet, who&#8217;s just passing by going forward in the crowd with a friend of hers? Sophie! So we had a ten second conversation, as they were going forward to join Luc, I said I&#8217;d just stay with mates here, having been at the front at Wembley, I didn&#8217;t feel the need to be that close this time. But it was nice, funny, joyous and unexpected and as I heard her say to her mate as they moved further forward: &#8216;le truc improbable!&#8217;. And then a few minutes later, when we were in our final spot, I looked ahead and saw Patricia, figured JC would be next to her then and he was so I shouted and we waved. They shortly moved back (some aggro there apparently) so we just had again a few seconds to greet and chat. Very nice serendipitous moments all the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All along, people move in and out (I had forgotten about that, but was made aware of it first during Slowdive wondering how people dared leaving during Machine Gun, as there were quite a few moving at that moment, I&#8217;m guessing that was because they all had the same next band to see), but that&#8217;s a festival so fair enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">8.55pm was the mooted started time for The Cure, and so it was, the thunder started, and you knew we&#8217;d get Alone, not Plainsong to start. Now, as I said in intro, I was aware of the various setlists, so today was never going to be a high intensity Cure set, in general or for me in particular as I think it is my 15th. And indeed, the setlist was rather eventless, I could even say disappointing. I also felt the sound was far from perfect, at least at the start, with bass\/drums saturating a bit, though later on I didn&#8217;t feel it so much or stopped paying attention to that. We got Jason&#8217;s son playing the sax on a Night Like This, which was nice, Three Imaginary Boys which has been a very rare treat in this tour, The Last Day Of Summer, which was very apt for the last gig of their summer, and as they have often done a sort of trilogy of thing, today our treat was from Seventeen Seconds. So Secrets was very nice, and then Play For Today is always special particularly in France since the 1992 gig at Le Zenith and its live release, with everyone chanting along the keyboard riff with gusto. I knew that A Forest would be next then, always great, Deep Green Sea was fantastic before the closing Endsong, beautiful even if I were too tired. But no Treasure, no Want, no Trust for instance. Obviously It Can Never Be The Same or Faith were out of the question (N\u00eemes this wasn&#8217;t, I was surprised that in three gigs there they didn&#8217;t vary much, but it meant nobody could complain about being in the wrong N\u00eemes show, and they were the best setlists of the summer by far, to think I could have gone there but gave up on the idea, partly because of Dublin I didn&#8217;t even go to in the end, I&#8217;ve very badly planned this Cure summer&#8230;), so we just got the &#8216;classic&#8217; encore of the summer. Wrong Number and Mint Car maybe haven&#8217;t been played every time, but they&#8217;re hardly true greats (I&#8217;d rather have had, say, Hot Hot Hot!!!), it was joyous, it was gorgeous, with Friday, WCIBY, etc, and still concluded with Boys Don&#8217;t Cry, no extra 10.15 or KAA to mark the final show. Robert looked very happy though, taking the time to salute every corner from the stage at the end, but then it was over in a flash. Did I enjoy it? Of course, there is no shit Cure gig, even with no surprise in the setlist. Nick said he enjoyed it more than Bercy, I think the nice weather played a part, but it was lacking a special moment for me. Still, I was glad I made it this time, sort of exorcising the demons of 2019, though it wasn&#8217;t quite the triumph it could have been. But then I had the gorgeous final 2022 Wembley concert, so it was never going to be the same experience. And there was Slowdive, which I am so glad I didn&#8217;t miss (imagine if I&#8217;d driven back from St Etienne all the way&#8230;) and were worth the admission price or nearly (at \u20ac99, that may be pushing it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>: No electro set after the gig (I was reminded last time I was there for Massive Attack it was on a Saturday), so &#8216;straight&#8217; out, after a piss (queue not to bad). Well, it took long as there was a lot of queuing to actually get out and you had to get the money back (well just a recharge to your wristband&#8230;.) from the consigne (one glass back) and then, the first metro access was shut (it was always thus), but to be fair, getting into the metro station wasn&#8217;t sooo bad, and I could board one before 12.30am. But then it took a few more minutes to depart, so I quickly realised RER B would no longer be an option (would have been true even without the works). So what? Get to Denfert? Well Line 6 too late and anyway, night bus not really appealing but thankfully, I could get the Line 4 from the 10 at Odeon, and it looked like I had just enough time to spare to catch the last metro without running. Which I did, and so once in there, onto the terminus and just under half an hour walk, home just before 2am. Shattered, but happy to have managed the day well, not even too pissed, even though I went straight for the strongest beer, I only had three, and also stopped when I realised I couldn&#8217;t be arsed going to the bar again and finding our spot back, while making the need to piss bigger, so yeah. Didn&#8217;t even sleep well or long enough, swore I wouldn&#8217;t go to this festival again for practical reasons, we&#8217;ll see if any band can get me back there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"MetricParis2026\"><strong>All The Feelings Tour : Metric, Broken Social Scene, Stars, Salle Pleyel, 15\/9\/2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp; I&#8217;d always go to a Metric tour, this was settled long before the new album was released I think. Add Broken Social Scene (new album this year, so-so as far as I was concerned, but was intrigued in that bill as I knew they used members from both other bands, and I had some older album though wasn&#8217;t that convinced by it), and Stars, whose last album the year before was quite nice and also had some excellent songs in the other couple of albums I had, and it was a no-brainer to book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;benzinemag were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinemag.net\/2026\/09\/17\/live-review-metric-broken-social-scene\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">there<\/a>. For once I don&#8217;t agree with the whole of their review, especially their critique of Stars. I think while Torquil&#8217;s theatrics may indeed have been excessive (but not to deter from the voice, as he did the theatrics when guesting with the other bands on trumpet as well), his voice is actually fine even if it works best when harmonising with Amy&#8217;s and the songs were good until the end (in fact they played two of the best at the end), I didn&#8217;t get bored and that set felt too short rather than too long. Also presenting the tour as two headliners is inaccurate, it really is of the three band, having Amy as &#8216;of BSS&#8217; is wrong as she is of Stars, sometimes guesting for Broken Social Scene, and also they couldn&#8217;t spell Evan Cranley properly,  while stating he was one of the guitarists of BSS, when in fact most of his play with them was the trumpet, he played the guitar once, which is as much as he did the keys too, so yeah, some poor observations\/knowledge at times in this review. Evan, is also, probably more of Stars than BSS himself, as he composes a lot of the music. Anyway&#8230;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>: Robert Gil was there for all three sets, so enjoy his snaps of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.photosconcerts.com\/stars-paris-salle-pleyel-2026-09-15-16242\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stars<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.photosconcerts.com\/broken-social-scene-paris-salle-pleyel-2026-09-15-16243\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Broken Social Scene<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.photosconcerts.com\/metric-paris-salle-pleyel-2026-09-15-16244\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Metric<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube:<\/strong><\/em> Not that many videos from Stars, but here&#8217;s the closer, My Ex-Lover Is Dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Your Ex-Lover Is Dead&quot;, Stars - Paris, Septembre 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/g5f1YrMZh_s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I can&#8217;t resist posting this excerpt from Take Me To The Riot, too short but still beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stars - Take Me To The Riot (Paris 2026)\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VnDbQWb0xL8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wouldn&#8217;t really know what to post from Broken Social Scene (a few more available than for Stars), so let&#8217;s just go for Anthems for a 17-Year Old Girl, featurily Emily Haines and James Shaw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl&quot;, Broken Social Scene w\/ Emily Haines - Paris, Septembre 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G8Sjwg2suFk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From Metric, why not have the superb All Comes Crashing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Metric \u00ab\u00a0All Comes Crashing\u00a0\u00bb Salle Pleyel 15092026 Paris France All The Feelings Tour \" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kH3hpJQmFkE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But while I&#8217;m at it, you may as well as everyone on stage for Loyal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Loyal&quot;, Metric w\/ Broken Social Scene and Stars - Paris, Septembre 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FecB7AqQ030?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: Cat, Nick and Andrea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: early start 7pm and I had to be in the office, but thankfully no late meeting and not too busy as I had set myself up well for the next day&#8217;s customer demo. So I could make it on time. Nick was a doubt for a while, but finally had some meeting cancelled meaning he could make it on time too not long after me. Cat didn&#8217;t have a ticket but managed to get in early and find one on the door. Walking up Avenue Hoche to the venue, I noticed a strong gathering of people outside the smaller entrance of Hotel Monceau and wondered which famous people was staying there as I doubted this was for Emily Haines. As I posted that in the group, Andrea remarked that there was indeed another Canadian superstar staying in town&#8230;.C\u00e9line Dion! (she admitted later she did research as she didn&#8217;t know she was staying at that hotel &#8211; it was before she walked past too). Thankfully I had switched to the other side of the Avenue from the start. Nick and Andrea who were a few minutes later said there was actually screaming and hysteria when they went past (and they hadn&#8217;t crossed the road) while the crowds were still silent when I did. So Cat was already in the venue. We&#8217;d never met but there had been a Music Group photo for a gathering in the pub the Friday before so I knew what she looked like. So as I posted a photo of where I was in front of the stage (went there directly, no beer for me tonight, though I regretted it a bit when I saw her pop in with a pint &#8211; but even later, the next morning, I didn&#8217;t regret it at all, fresh for my busy day at work), but she didn&#8217;t know what I looked like. Thankfully she emerged on the same side, and as I saw her looking at her phone, even with her head down, I thought, yes, it has to be her so went to greet her (in the meantime she had indeed posted to ask for details, though I thought there weren&#8217;t too many people standing where I was). So we introduced ourselves, and Nick and Andrea briefly joined, five minutes before the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Support<\/em><\/strong>: well, I&#8217;m choosing to say &#8216;no support, three main bands&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;varied (mostly white though) in age, I was actually fairly surprised, I thought there would be less young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>: slightly to the right, not too far from the front (about 3-4 metres) but not completely in front, although when it got busier after Stars, we shifted a little more centrally, Andrea and I a little more forward than Cat and Nick. Great view anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/stars\/2026\/salle-pleyel-paris-france-4b7e633e.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stars<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/broken-social-scene\/2026\/salle-pleyel-paris-france-4b7e73a6.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Broken  Social Scene<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/metric\/2026\/salle-pleyel-paris-france-4b49dfc6.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Metric<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So let&#8217;s start with Stars. I had two early-ish albums and a big gap before the last one, so there were always going to be songs I didn&#8217;t know and some I love who wouldn&#8217;t be played. I had already seen them live at Nouveau Casino in 2005 it seems, but have absolutely no memory of the gig, those were the days&#8230;Weirdly they didn&#8217;t even play anything from their latest album, despite its quality. I had the vague hope that they could start with &#8216;The Night Starts Here&#8217; as it would be apt and is a truly excellent song from In Our Bedroom After The War, but it wasn&#8217;t to be. Hell, I only know one third of their set after all. Anyway, that first song sounded OK though not that great. But the treats started at song number 2. I didn&#8217;t know that one either (Elevator Love Letter), but the harmonies were beautiful and it felt a little emotional. At this stage, I think there were maybe seven or eight of them on stage? I had counted but have forgotten now. Outside of Torquil Campbell (on voice, melodica and sometimes theatrics), Amy Millan (voice and sometimes guitar, I remembered her as dark-haired from photos, but now blonde, long hair, and looking like a more introverted counterpoint to Torquil, while having a bright spark in her eyes, happily enjoying the evening), there was Evan Cranley (mostly on bass, though funnily enough, once he was introduced as being on bass, he was on the guitar for the next song), a keyboardist, a drummer, and a brass section (two of them, sometimes just one), and I am missing one or two more, probably an extra guitarist maybe a percussionist\/keyboardist or a third brass player. Anyway, a big obvious highlight was Take Me To The Riot (their biggest hit?) also from In Our Bedroom, absolutely superb and again, Torquil and Amy&#8217;s voice harmonising splendidly together. It was Evan&#8217;s birthday so he got a special introduction from Torquil, great husband\/band member, etc (more on that later), lots of superlatives, which, judging from everyone&#8217;s reactions on stage, were truly warranted, looks like a really exceptionally good guy. He enjoined us to all say, on the count of three &#8216;We love you Evan!&#8217; so we all did. Some tried to start a &#8216;Joyeux Anniversaire!&#8217; chant, but it sounded so lugubrious, like a funeral chant, incredible so Torquil quickly stopped that to say &#8216;er, I think we&#8217;re going to sing a few more of our songs instead&#8217;. A bit of French and English was mixed (actually he initially said &#8216;bonne f\u00eate&#8217; before someone remarked it was actually &#8216;anniversaire&#8217;) throughout the evening, Torquil at one point said he had bad memories of Paris first, from a long time ago (due to a girlfriend) but enjoyed every time he&#8217;d been here since. Anyway, we finally got to Ageless Beauty (or is THAT their biggest song? Maybe the first the got them known? To me anyway, as I remember Gaby (from Nice) actually introduce me to them that way, in the old days of The Others&#8217; forum while were were chatting on the old MSN &#8211; I wonder what happened to her) from Set Yourself On Fire, which got a great reception. I wondered if that would be the last song, but we got the opener from that album (so the third and final song I knew) to conclude the set, another very good one: My Ex-Lover is dead. And that was it, after about 40-45 minutes, a very enjoyable opening act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stars had started at 7pm sharp, and like clockwork, the lights went off at 8pm for Broken Social Scene. Now, musically, having relistened to the two albums I had (again, a big gap, I was convinced I had a third album (Forgiveness Rock Record), but it seems like I don&#8217;t, so only the eponymous one -don&#8217;t think it was their first? &#8212; and the last one, and I wasn&#8217;t even sure I&#8217;d recognise a single song), I thought there wouldn&#8217;t be much for me to enjoy there, just a break between the two other sets. Yet I had heard great things about them. When it started (just seven on stage by then I think? including guitarist singer Kevin Drew, the other founding member, on bass, Brendan Canning, a couple more guitarists or maybe three, a drummer and a percussionist, from memory), I was indeed &#8216;meh&#8217;. Generic rock music, decent singer but not my style, just some 60-70s Americana-style music. It&#8217;s listenable, it&#8217;s OK, but doesn&#8217;t do it for me. Kevin said he didn&#8217;t think they&#8217;d come back to Paris as they didn&#8217;t fit the scene there (which surprised me a bit) but here they were. Thinks picked up when the female singers joined, that is the much younger Jill Harris (great voice, but again maybe too much in a style that is not my favourite, don&#8217;t know how to describe, a great performing singer, maybe too perfect?), and&#8230;.Amy Millan again, unchanged. Ibi Dreams of Pavement (is that their most famous song? I don&#8217;t know, I think it kind of had a buzz) was played in third, but I didn&#8217;t quite recognise it. I think it&#8217;s OK, I quite like it, but it&#8217;s a bit overrated. No, the first song I &#8216;recognised&#8217; was the fourth, though I wouldn&#8217;t have been able to tell you its name. In fact, when I saw the setlists as they were being liberatlly handed at the end of their set to the people at the front &#8211; that&#8217;s the advantage of so many band members : many setlists! &#8211; I saw Ibi in third and thinking it must have been the song I recognised, surprised as I was convinced it was the fourth. And a later relisten confirmed it was the fourth that I enjoyed: I wouldn&#8217;t recognise Ibi in a blind test, the one I meant was Paying For Your Love from the new album. Weirdly, Andrea and Nick felt no song from the new album was played, whereas there were two. But again, that might just be another argument indicating that their songs are not easily identifiable. Nice, but not memorable. Still, brass sections joined, some instruments were swapped, and more and more players joined the stage. Jimmy Shaw (Metric) joined at some point, and pretty much all of Stars too (mostly on brass, Torquil was playing the trumpet). Evan got another big speech for his birthday from Kevin, again great husband(his wife is&#8230;.Amy)\/father\/friend\/bandmate\/fixer and so let&#8217;s all tell him how much we love him and wish him a Happy Birthday (weirdly the speech was similar to earlier, it&#8217;s like Kevin was not aware of what had happened before&#8230;). Thankfully nobody in the (now busier) crowd tried to chant Happy Birthday or Joyeux Anniversaire this time. Another song or two later, Kevin mentioned again how he wouldn&#8217;t normally have come back to Paris and the only reason they were back here was down to two people who managed to convince him, so&#8230;.yes, indeed, Emily and Jimmy. And so both joined in for a song. By then, don&#8217;t ask me how many people were onstage. I think I&#8217;d vaguely counted 15 earlier at some point, and so I think there were even more now. Oh yeah, just to tell you how much this was a friends\/family\/bands gathering, Kevin (who also introduced all the band members at one stage or another, pretty much as Torquil had done for Stars) mentioned that the woman on percussions was his wife! I mean yeah, all three bands are part of the same scene, Toronto scene essentially though there are some Americans in there, and some have known each other since they were at school, as Emily reminded us later in the Metric set when she welcomed Amy back on stage. Anyway, there was one more song with only slightly less people on stage to close the set after the half-of-Metric guesting one, and it was over after an hour of mostly joyful mess. I have to admit that while I still wouldn&#8217;t remember or recognise any of the songs, and might think twivce before even considering getting their next record, it was a real piece of fun on-stage, leading to good spirits in the room too. I&#8217;m guessing that there may be fewer people on stage overall when they&#8217;re not touring with the other two bands, but still, now I get what they are about, beyond the music itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A slightly longer break before Metric this time, not that there was necessarily a lot to set-up (there were two walls of electronic stuff which were to be later interestingly used by Jimmy and Josh for their own instruments and beyond), the first delay. Shocking, but Metric didn&#8217;t start until just after 9.35pm rather than the mooted 9.30pm. No originality with the start this time, with Victim of Luck, the opening track of the new album, opening the proceedings. We go back just one album (or two really, let&#8217;s not forget Formentera II, though it was not represented tonight), but stay electronic with Oh Please. Emily says hello, throughout the evening she introduces songs with the odd short monologue of wisdom. During the main set, she wears a very tight leather jacket (Balmain, as I saw in a video later, matching with boots), that never reveals the T-shirt underneath (more on that one later) and very short leather shorts (she had changed her top from what she was wearing during that one song with BSS). Just the four of them onstage feels odd after all that preceded, the stage feels rather empty and under-occupied. Anyway, next we change of gear and travel some way back in time with Youth without Youth, very rocking tonight, to the point I forgot it was from Synthetica and not before. The next two though DO make us travel further back, with two tracks from their second album Live It Out, first Monster Hospital, always well received and shouted along to, before some more chat and the calmer Poster of A Girl. Electronics are back for one of the better songs from the new album : Crush Forever, before another song I don&#8217;t think I had had the pleasure of hearing live before (but I may be wrong, would need to check the setlists from past years): Now or Never Now, one of the two best songs from Art Of Doubt (the title track being the other). We got a fairly broad sweep of most of their albums, a special moment next as she introduces her friend from high school&#8230;Amy (the first person to appear for all three bands tonight, but as it turned out later, not the last) for Breathing Underwater, with Emily inviting everyone to sing along to the chorus, as she has always done at every (OK, that&#8217;s just my fourth) gig of them I&#8217;ve been to. We stay in a calm moment of the gig with the lovely Leave You On a High, the closer from the new album (that will not close the main set tonight then)! before the electronics are back to the fore with one of the best tracks from Formentera, All Comes Crashing, the guitar solo being heavily synthesised itself. I have to remark at this stage (though it struck me from the first song in fact), that I thought the sound, pretty much perfect for the first two bands, didn&#8217;t feel completely right for Metric, with bass and low frequencies saturating a little too much. Tremolo from the new album next was rather underwhelming (unfortunately we never got my personal favourite from this album, Time Is A Bomb, there was a brief tease about time being something as introduction to a song, before the chat changed to &#8216;who you&#8217;d rather be&#8230;&#8217; making the following song clear). The classic Synthetica from the album of the same name was next, heralding the next comeback of brass on stage, and so more people who had played for the first couple of bands already. Another &#8216;guest&#8217; was on for the next one with one of the guitarists from Broken Social Scene playing acoustic guitar on the ever dynamic Gold Guns Girls from breakthrough album Fantasies, before pretty much everyone who had already played today (and in some case partners who had not even been on stage yet) appeared for the next title, whether as playing member or not, Loyal from the new album again. Not such a great song in itself in my opinion (especially as my favourite bit of it on record is probably that sort of Bass VI sound, totally drowned or absent here &#8211; not that Joshua ever changed from the traditional 4-string bass he was playing during the set, I mean, except when he was playing keyboards), but on this occasion aptly titled and suitably joyous. Not the set closer, as then comes the aforementioned talk about time, morphing into a different speech heralding Gimme Sympathy (now is that their &#8216;biggest hit?&#8217; could be), still a fabulous song, always gets me giddy, though in this case, I felt slightly less convinced by the sound\/orchestration. For the last song of the main set, we are going back to the beginnings and their first album (Old World Underground [&#8230;]), with the still popular Combat Baby, well sang along to before the band left the stage. Timingswise, I suspected curfew would be at 11pm, so that still left time for a short-ish encore if nothing more. So yeah, after a short break they came back on stage, Emily this time with a wider and open, different leather jacket, proudly showing her David Lynch-themed T-shirt (so that&#8217;s what it was- and I saw in a video later that it was a reference to Club Silencio, from Mulholland Drive, but in fact located, well filmed anyway, in Paris, and where the band once went), cool! More gold from Fantasies starts the encore, with the opening track Help I&#8217;m Alive. One more song, or two then? Black Sheep is next, very good, I&#8217;ll take that as closer, I think the rest of the bands may have joined again at the end there. I wish they&#8217;d had time for another one, but all good things have to end, lights come on, etc. And as we were about to go, Cat got stopped by a guy who said to wait as they would still come back despite appearances, as he&#8217;d heard they&#8217;d done that in Germany. But as it turned out, appearances were not deceptive and that was really it, after waiting a little longer, nothing at all happened. Mind you, on checking the setlists for other venues later once back home, it looks like bar one or two differences (not everyone got Poster of A Girl), the setlist didn&#8217;t vary much, the encore certainly didn&#8217;t, and there was never a second encore. Add to that, that the first and only concert of that tour to take place in Germany had not happened yet, and the statement was very baffling. If it DOES happen in Germany, someone has travelled in time and this is even spookier, but I suspect it&#8217;s not what happened. Anyway, we got out, though Cat had to stop at the cloakroom on the way back, and nobody felt eager to wait for her. For however long, cloakrooms are a thing I would not consider anymore, I could have waited if no pressure for the next day, but as it is, while not feeling so great about it, I left with the others, and to be fair, Cat didn&#8217;t seem to worry about queuing there on her own, so I hope she didn&#8217;t feel we were all shit people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>: straight home really, thankfully this is an easy journey with just the platform to cross at Ch\u00e2telet to go from RER A to RER B, and while there are works in the evening, RER start from Ch\u00e2telet and I got an express so was home well before midnight despite the not so early finish (and needless extra staying a few more minutes on wrong advice).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"LimeGardenParis2026\"><strong>Lime Garden, La Maroquinerie 25\/9\/2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp; I missed them first time around due to a work trip I think. New album had some great moments, and I figured that would translate well live, so didn&#8217;t hesitate much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;only four days later (good by the writer&#8217;s standards), the review is indeed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.soundofviolence.net\/articles\/live\/2992\/lime_garden_paris_maroquinerie.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>: SOV has the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.soundofviolence.net\/multimedia\/photos\/3350\/18291\/lime_garden_paris_maroquinerie_25_09_2026.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">photos<\/a>, so maybe they&#8217;ll have a review too soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube:<\/strong><\/em>  You can have the fabulous Cross My Heart thanks to Indiegilles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lime Garden - Cross My Heart - La Maroquinerie Paris - 25\/09\/2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I0SyyfXjwSU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: Sandrine and Alexis, Nick, Graham<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: Friday afternoon in Paris, late September. But really&#8230;summer weather 28\u00b0C until 7pm, boiling in public transport. Nick made the arrangements 7.30pm at a bar near the venue. As I suspected with Nick, it was a bit of a hipster craft-beer place. Reasonable price for a decent pint of Pilsner though, table on a terrasse, no complaint, it was very nice. Nick, Sandrine and Alexis were there when I arrived so I went to order my own beer. Graham was getting late as he got bogged down on the bus. The gig wasn&#8217;t sold out (or wasn&#8217;t earlier in the day, more on this later), so Graham had decided he&#8217;d tag along. He made it to the bar as we were finishing our beers, but when it was suggested to get a ticket on the Dice app rather than on the door, it seemed that wasn&#8217;t possible anymore. The gig did not appear in fact, so not necessarily sold out, we&#8217;ll see on the door right. Confident enough, not caring too much about support and enjoying the nice and warm Parisian outdoor evening, we decided to go for another round of beers first before heading to La Maroquinerie. On getting there, the guy at the door said it was sold out after all. But after a couple of minutes, while we were wondering how to adapt to the situation with Graham (we estimated the gig would start at a conventional 9pm, it was still 8.50pm or something), the guy at the booth signalled and simply handed a &#8216;guest list&#8217; printed barcode, so for free. Result! So we got down the room, just getting a round of beers downstairs (on Graham obviously) and entered the room&#8230;.which was far from full despite the imminent starting time. Since there had been no queue at the bar, we could only assume that either the start wasn&#8217;t so early (I suggested 9.30pm, after all they only have two short albums to their name, but the others thought that still had to be earlier) and everyone was still enjoying the outoors at the upstairs bar, or it wouldn&#8217;t truly be sold out. The place filled up slowly, and the lights went down at about 9.10pm already so, yeah, maybe it was sold out, it was full enough, but didn&#8217;t seem too cramped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Support<\/em><\/strong>: No Sex Last Night. Me neither, but we never got to hear them so no idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;I didn&#8217;t really pay attention, mixed bag I&#8217;d say (Indie Gilles and the other tall fucker were there, no Robert Gil), but again mostly white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>: is it now &#8216;the usual?&#8217; Pretty much where we were for NewDad (was it the last time I was there?), after checking this or that side when we had arrived in the not-full room, pretty much perfect view in the end really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>: the Paris one is not available, but since other ones from the tour are, and they are all identical and also match my recollections, we&#8217;ll assume <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/lime-garden\/2026\/ancienne-belgique-club-brussels-belgium-1348e58d.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this <\/a>is the correct one. I thought they might start with 23, the opener from the new album, because I felt it was also one that could work to start with, not too big, getting into things. But to my surprise (or at least half-surprise as Nick had posted a link to a radio session of four tracks they had done when they had started with this, not that it should have been any indication though, to be fair), they started straight with Body, which happens to be my favourite from the new album. It&#8217;s still pretty much dark in tone, but as a first song to play, this put the bar very high! As it is, the rest of the set showed that while not its ideal positioning in my mind, they had enough arguments to not make that a mistake. Four of them onstage, a relatively discreet drummer at the back, a blonde with luxuriant hair (mostly hiding behind it, not particularly exuberant at all) on guitar and backing vocals, a petite and very discreet brunette on bass (she did look small compared to the other ones, and the bass guitar, a pretty standard Fender Jazz Bass, looked enormous on her &#8211; All Fender affair tonight, with this, Strat for the blonde guitarist, and Jazzmaster for the singer). And the lead singer, Chloe, rather red-headed tonight and pretty much naturally drawing all the focus on her, not by any excessive or obvious behaviour, but simply by her natural presence. Sometimes, the dynamics are obvious and they work. She talks a fair bit between songs, a few words of French at the start even, introduces a new song (out in a couple of weeks) dedicating it to a (potential) boyfriend, from Iceland of all places but who she hopes to see again. Most of the set comes from the second album, although they don&#8217;t really have enough songs to make it totally unbalanced one way or another, even if there are only three songs from the first album, as they add a couple of early singles on top of the new song. All sound good tonight (the sound itself feels pretty much perfect in quality and level), the good ones shines out, but the less good ones work pretty well too (Downtown Lover for example), so yes I Want To Be You from the first album is still very much one of the best, but it&#8217;s all happy vibes either way. There&#8217;s a &#8216;slower&#8217; number, she says it&#8217;s the first and only one they will play (but it doesn&#8217;t feel at all out of kilter with the rest, it&#8217;s not like everything else is played at breakneck speed either). After the already excellent sequence of Maybe Not Tonight and All Bad Parts, a very small bit of bass sound played twice while preparing for the next song tells me the other highlight from the new album Cross My Heart is about to be played so I turn towards Nick and say &#8216;Yes!&#8217; but I&#8217;m not sure he gets it before they actually start it. It is as deliriously good a song live as it is on record and therefore one of the happy highlights tonight. Too soon there are only a couple of songs left, as announced. The opener from the first album, the perfectly good Love Song is first (the song I&#8217;m missing from that album really is Fears), and when it&#8217;s time for the final song, well, yes it IS 23, so the opener of the new album. It does feel a little underwhelming to me as a finale, but it&#8217;s still a decent song. It&#8217;s all over before five past ten, the light come up pretty quickly, so it&#8217;s not like there&#8217;s going to be an encore. The set was short, but yes, they don&#8217;t have that many songs to play (again, could have been a cover as My Favourite Game was played in that session mentioned above for instance), so it&#8217;s not a big surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>: the problem is everyone is coming from a different angle. With the early finish, I&#8217;d have quite fancied a few happy outdoors beers outside, felt like the right Friday night thing to do in good spirit and decent weather. Unfortunately, Nick and the others had not eaten before the gig, and with everyone not 20 anymore, Nick insisted on food to which all the others were rather happy to say yes to, and you know, fair enough. Not necessarily what I had in mind then, missing the chance to meet new people or simply hang around and get a chance to congratulate the band (surprised Nick wasn&#8217;t up for that as he normally is), but I couldn&#8217;t really say &#8216;nah, fuck it, I&#8217;m staying there&#8217; when there was absolutely nobody I knew, not even someone from SOV or else[might have been different if I&#8217;d spotted Franck who wrote the review]. Also timing was not an issue. So I just tagged along to the restaurant place (near where we had been at the bar? not sure, but apparently the &#8216;traditional&#8217; post-Maroquinerie treat for Nick). The terrasse was quite obviously full, much to my annoyance, plenty of room indoors though, window opened, and what we didn&#8217;t have in atmosphere wasn&#8217;t a problem, easier to chat and also at this time we were not going to miss on sunshine so an acceptable compromise. Food was ordered by all but me. And wine. I was happy to just go along with wine rather than have another beer, but wine was served with food, so there was a long-ish delay. Again, healthy if not what I had in mine on an evening where I&#8217;d have been happy to drink. All in all, it was a nice time and conversation with friends, so a good conclusion to a happy evening. Once I&#8217;d made my mind up to come back the way I&#8217;d arrived (applications suggested all sorts of complicated ways to go home) as there was plenty of time, there was no stress, and I made it home via the RER just before 1am I think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"MagicNumbersParis2026\"><strong>The Magic Numbers, Petit Bain, 1\/10\/2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp; The Magic Numbers were back in town. Just under 10 years (or maybe 8?) since their last gig apparently, but I&#8217;d not seen them since the day of the London Bombings, so that&#8217;s back 7\/7\/2005 over 21 years ago, in La Boule Noire. Fancying some harmonised vocals and nice sounds, despite having no idea about anything they did after their second album (and not remembering any of that one in fact), I decided to have a piece of that, hoping they&#8217;d play enough classics. Yard Act, who I&#8217;d really enjoyed last time around (but that was only a couple of years ago) were in town the same night, but I think that might have gone on sale later. As it is, and as you will read, I truly do not regret my choice, so glad that went on sale first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;doubt it, especially due to Yard Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>: same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube:<\/strong><\/em> at least, there was hope of something, and while there isn&#8217;t quite enough, you can still have a classic, Forever Lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost @ Paris Petit Bain 01\/10\/2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pb88Icm6cTc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: just me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: I was working from home so no rush, quick listen to support suggested meh, not bothered, so I ambled leisurely to be in at 8.15pm which was still relatively early, especially as I didn&#8217;t expect the venue to be particularly busy. As it is, I suspect support had just started rather than at 8pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Support<\/em><\/strong>: Vincent Bricks. Just a guy with an acoustic guitar. Not unpleasant, but there&#8217;s a limit to the format if you don&#8217;t have something special to offer. The second song I heard (and the first I heard in full) was prefaced by gloom as it was about a woman who had to kill her baby to survive while in Auschwitz Camp. OK, he had some more &#8216;joyous&#8217; ones. Including one he mentioned that had vocals from Romeo (from the Magic Numbers) recorded while he was in London. So despite his Frenchness, he was clearly not just randomly invited to support today, it had to do with the band more than the venue I suspect. Anyway, yeah, OK, but I won&#8217;t rush to check his work. Oh, yes, at some point he thanked Nico and Nico, so I thought one of them could be Ale&#8217;s mate (who I knew was no longer working at Supersonic), and as it is, I noticed him close to backstage between bands, so I&#8217;m guessing he was!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;tired with this section, nothing particularly remarkable tonight, though you could argue the average age was maybe not as old as I&#8217;d have thought. Somehow, somewhere, not sure how, especially with no release in many years, they may have gathered new fans, and that&#8217;s new fans of their old music, as, thankfully, that is mostly what was played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>: just to the right of the mixing desk (only one, no add-on behind this time) for the support, perfect view, but decided to go in the &#8216;moshpit&#8217; for the main gig to be a little more closer and central as there was loads of room. The tall people seemed mostly on the right, but there was still one or two to make my view not completely perfect though it was more than good enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>: not sure if it will appear, and that&#8217;s certainly not one that is standard I suspect, as they took requests, etc., some genuine ones I&#8217;d say. First, I noticed only when checking for support on the Petit Bain website that this was called &#8216;an evening with the Magic Numbers&#8217;, reminding me of that acoustic Metric set. As it is, while not acoustic, it had a fairly similar vibe, intimate and chatty between band and audience and within the band. Very cosy. [ten days later, the gig itself is not even listed on setlist.fm]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First thing I noticed obviously when they took to the stage (shortly after 9pm) was that there were only three of them. What? That&#8217;s not right, is it? So no drummer, and they started with Love&#8217;s A Game, sounding quite acoustic actually, giving the main vibe for the evening, with its harmonies and nice, fairly quiet atmosphere. Not my favourite from the first album, but still, familiar ground. Romeo then explained why Sean couldn&#8217;t be there, he&#8217;d actually broken his arm in two places while attempting (and succeeding) to rescue someone who was falling down some stairs and was about to crack their skull. Cue lots of &#8216;awww&#8217; from the crowds, Angela (so that&#8217;s Sean&#8217;s sister if you&#8217;ve followed the band, who are two pairs of siblings lest we forget) adding bits and a positive note saying &#8216;broken arm vs broken skull, yeah, worth it&#8217; or something along these lines. Apparently he still wanted to come on the tour, but the doctors put the brakes on that. Then Romeo introduces the next song. &#8216;our very first 7in release&#8217;&#8230;cue deep joy inside, I think I know what it is right, &#8216;that is also the last track on our first album&#8217; [more like the old &#8216;hidden track&#8217; trick for me, annoyingly as it&#8217;s a whole blank between Try and that], leaving no doubt, and so what followed was the first highlight of the evening, and what a high with &#8216;Hymn for Her&#8217;. Possibly my favourite of them? Yeah, I think so, it has this slow start and then goes absolutely majestic. Far more than on the opener though, Sean is missed when the song really explodes at the end (the syncopated drumming just THERE is one of my favourite things on it), but that doesn&#8217;t spoil it, it&#8217;s absolutely stunning and gives me goosebumps. After this magic moment, we get a long speech from Romeo explaining how he answered the phone one day in Trinidad&amp;Tobago (where they were children), a call from his uncle in New York (who he didn&#8217;t even know existed) who paid for plane tickets for him and Michele and their whole family (so 13 people in total) while worried as a coup was going on in the country. I&#8217;ll spare you the details, but that was the prelude to a new song (from their forthcoming album to be released next year) which was about that, but which name escapes me[United State of Love, it is]. The song itself was shorter than the speech&#8230;.and also less memorable. Slightly jazzy maybe, not my style of enjoyed music. But fear not. The order of things escapes me, so I will relate memories and highlights in a way that may not accurately reflect the proceedings. I think we got an older song next but which one ? I remember now there was an intro I didn&#8217;t recognise, and so checking the video now, I think it was Forever Lost (now THAT must be their biggest single) from the first album, so one of their very best. There&#8217;s a lot of hand-clapping, band asking audience to sing, etc. , in this song and others. Another new song followed, called &#8216;Non-Believer&#8217;, which was, as Romeo finely put it about being a &#8230;.believer. He invites us to join in the bizarre &#8216;Just Like That&#8217; bits that may appear out of the blue in the song. He really is a charming host, lots of smiles and anecdotes and loveliness. They all are really, even if he is the one fronting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> Next (maybe, but probably not, there&#8217;s a good chance the first request was before that) is a song written for Jane Birkin, which was a B-side or something (another nice but shorter anecdote about playing a special gig with her in the audience), and that is just Romeo on the guitar and singing, though Angela joins on a couple of occasions on backing vocals for that one. Not bad at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then he said they would do requests, a girl slightly behind me shouts &#8216;Morning Elevens&#8217; (the opening title to their first album), to the approving enthusiasm of another one next to me, and so that&#8217;s what they play next. Note that all three band members on stage were sitting down tonight, and as Romeo put it &#8216;this one would need us to stand and move about&#8217;, and well, that&#8217;s what Michele actually does for some of it (in later stages of the gig, both her and Romeo do for very brief stints). A resounding success. I nearly shouted &#8216;Long Legs&#8217;, and wish I had because they didn&#8217;t actually play that one in the end. Take a Chance (from the second album, one of their &#8216;hits&#8217;? possibly, I distractedly listened to that album in the afternoon, still found it nice but not memorable, but yeah, maybe that&#8217;s the one you&#8217;d keep from that, the more obvious dynamic single) is another enthusiastically-received one (I was going to say &#8216;well-received&#8217; but they all are). Then there&#8217;s another request that comes from a fairly young guy who was at the very front centre of the stage, and it&#8217;s for a deep cut from an EP I don&#8217;t have (after the second album). The song is called &#8216;Sissy and the Silent Kid&#8217;. Romeo is unsure whether he remembers the lyrics. He says they have to play it as it&#8217;s a special request from that guy, and he just starts strumming chords, before welcoming the guy to sing it onstage with him. Well, the lad goes up, gets his phone out to google the lyrics, amusingly and they start singing, joined by Michele, so all three on one microphone, tightly hugged. The guy actually has an excellent voice, surprisingly. Or not. The next day as I started following the band on Instagram (I do that sometimes), on their feed I saw a tag from one account saying they had had the joy to get onstage to sing their favourite Magic Numbers song with the band. And well, the guy is a singer-songwriter. I had also replied to another post from the band, thanking them. So this guy started following me, and &#8216;liked&#8217; my&#8230;Lime Garden post (tonight I didn&#8217;t want to take videos or photos, I kind of deliberately chose a spot that wouldn&#8217;t totally be ideal, and I wanted to just enjoy the gig). I messaged him to say I thought he sounded very good. So he thanked me, and naturally said to feel free to check his music. Which is quite a natural thing or way to proceed in this social media world. So I&#8217;ll probably check his stuff at some point, but yeah, the guy&#8217;s a singer so of course he can sing. I also wonder if this wasn&#8217;t partially staged, whether he told the band beforehand (on instagram, not here) and just wanted to gamble on being able to get a little publicity even without any premeditation with the band. Not that it mattered on the spot anyway, or matters now. The result was a truly beautiful and touching moment on the stage, that put a smile on everyone&#8217;s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whenever they played &#8216;I See You, You See Me&#8217; (not a request that one, but maybe before that very specific one above after all), it sent shivers down my spine, and I&#8217;m not even sure why. It&#8217;s a lovely song, but I don&#8217;t remember it being a favourite. My theory (might be hard to verify) is that it was the one they played and dedicated to the victims of the bombings that day at La Boule Noire. It&#8217;s a good theory if nothing else, so I&#8217;ll stick with it, and does it matter? The song was just great, the voices just blend so well together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There&#8217;s a song from their &#8216;latest&#8217; (2018) album &#8216;Outsiders&#8217;, Romeo asks how many have it (I don&#8217;t), is surprised there are quite a few, and suddenly remembers &#8216;oh, of course, there&#8217;s the Internet now&#8217; to much amusement in the audience again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Time absolutely flies. At some point, my eyes inadvertently catch the clock at the back on the right side and I see it&#8217;s already 10.10pm. So yes, just over 10 minutes later, Romeo wonders how long they have left (I shout &#8216;all night!&#8217;)and has to announce that they have time for one or maybe two more songs, then they will go to the merch stand, if people want to buy stuff, have their picture taken, etc. He hints that maybe they can &#8216;play more, but then we have less time afterwards&#8217;, to which someone cleverly suggests they can still go upstairs once the concert room is shut. Anyway, when he takes the acoustic guitar for the very last song (there&#8217;s another anecdote whether now or earlier on how he bought that guitar in Peterborough to a weird man with 50 cats in his house), and does a little riffing before actually starting, yes, we can guess, &#8216;Love Me Like You&#8217;, another &#8216;hit&#8217; maybe, but either way a truly splendid number. They try more or less successfully to split the room at some point, the left half to sing the main lyrics\/chorus with Romeo, while the right half would sing the &#8216;Don&#8217;t Fail Me Now&#8217; backing vocals with Michele. I&#8217;m right in the middle but choose to go with Michele for that one, I just like backing vocals. Either way, it is a magnificent way to finish what was indeed, not just a gig, but a&#8230;.magic evening with The Magic Numbers. Truly, and I wasn&#8217;t sure what to expect due to not knowing even half of their albums, I&#8217;m glad I was here rather than at Yard Act (who I don&#8217;t particularly like the recent album of, as you may read in the Music Musings page for this year), they managed to play most of their best old songs, kept a nice balance in the whole set, and most of all, let us feel part of the show, without it feeling contrived at all like some bands do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>: another day of the week (well, the weekend), I would have probably hung around a bit, even on my own, but as it is, I remained a couple of minutes in front of the stage before heading out, luckily just about managing to catch Romeo for literally a couple of seconds at the merch stand before he got busy, to give him the thumbs up and thank him (and them, in spirit) for an amazing gig. So I didn&#8217;t linger around, but I&#8217;m ready to bet everyone left that room grinning like Romeo. Eventless journey to get home 20 minutes or so before midnight,  a very excellent evening indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"DeathCabParis2026\"><strong>Death Cab For Cutie, Elys\u00e9e Montmartre, 3\/10\/2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;I didn&#8217;t go to their gig last time at Salle Pleyel, partly due to not being sure about the venue and it being a little awkwardly placed date-wise with other gigs, I seem to recall. So this time, as I thought their last album was pretty good, I thought I&#8217;d go for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;we&#8217;ll see. Benzinemag is probably the only hope. [a week later, nothing]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>: no RG? Not sure, didn&#8217;t see the front. [Again, nothing]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube:<\/strong><\/em> indiegilles was there, and he has some of the best ones, so have a bit of a Pep Talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Death Cab For Cutie - Pep Talk - l&amp;apos;Elys\u00e9e Montmartre Paris - 03\/10\/2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G6dQqAVjKOs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: Cat, Beno\u00eet and Nadine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: timings were established earlier in the day: doors 6.30pm, support 7.30pm, Death Cab 8.30pm. A quick listen to the support told me they were a decent rock band, I might enjoy them with a beer and company, but would not go out of my way to see them on time. Beno\u00eet said he and Nadine would be later, but Cat said she&#8217;d be around if I fancied that beer, so we met-up at 7.30 on the door, only to get in and see support had already started (probably not long though, might just have been on the dot). Touts were selling tickets for&#8230;\u20ac70 euros, but it turns out there were still tickets sold on the door so doh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Support<\/em><\/strong>: Pool Kids.Pretty much as the quick pre-listen suggested. Good rock band, not super original but all right. One lengthy epic number, some requested audience participation that went OK thought slightly contrived, can&#8217;t complain, did what it said on the tin, and so we had that beer. I tried to just anticipate a second beer a minute before the end of their set, but that was just for me as Cat was not having a second one (I have to say that first one went down pretty quickly for me!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;mixed maybe. I think I&#8217;m really dropping that section. Pretty much All White though. But since they&#8217;ve not ever really stopped (or maybe early 2020s for a few years?), middle age just as much as older heads. Not a student&#8217;s crowd for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>: on the left near the bar for the support, on the other side but similar distance for Death Cab For Cutie, pretty decent view all told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/death-cab-for-cutie\/2026\/elysee-montmartre-paris-france-4b49e366.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Here<\/a>. 8.30pm start (and they started bang on time) rather than the usual 9pm always suggested we would get a long set, and that&#8217;s what we got. Now, they are a classic indie band with lots of albums to their name, and I only knew the last two and Transatlanticism (which I had assumed was their biggest success, but it may just have been that it&#8217;s the one that got a 20th anniversary re-edition a year or two ago, and no other reason), so there were always going to be a lot of tunes I didn&#8217;t know.  Five of them on stage, Ben Gibbard (guitarist\/singer, sometimes on keyboards), another guitarist (who even played the bass on one song &#8211; yes there were two bass guitars on that one, it was during the encore), bass player, drummer, and a guy at the back on keyboards but sometimes on guitar. Starting with the opening track from the new album? No. Just another track from that (weirdly or not, it&#8217;s another gig where I thought the first track from the new album would be a decent opener). Roman Candles from the previous Asphalt Meadows was next, before the opening track from Transatlanticism, The New Year, got played to rapturous applause. So I&#8217;m on familiar ground to start with. Ben is like a Duracell bunny, constant movement, sometimes slightly twitchy, going all over the stage at times. The only moments when he moves a little less jerkily is when he gets to the keyboard (two or three times), or when he does a solo acoustic song later (which reminds me that fad of bands doing a mini-acoustic set  midset from a few years ago, really was must have been a fad indeed as I&#8217;m not seeing it anymore). The most represented album is the latest obviously, with 7 songs, including my personal fave, Pep Talk, played early enough in the set, and also an excellent Stone over Water. Outside of that, there is, surprisingly only that one song from Asphalt Meadows, although, thinking of it the next day, it kind of makes sense. I regret not having seen the previous gig, but bands with long careers often tend to play the new album and classics and deep cuts, so the last but one-album is often under-represented, there is no such thing as &#8216;near&#8217; recency-bias. Anyway, I digress. The point is that, during most of that main set, I am actually very much enjoying most of the songs I don&#8217;t even know, and that&#8217;s the sign of a great band\/gig. There&#8217;s a long one (Beno\u00eet tells me &#8216;and we&#8217;re good for ten minutes now&#8217;), a song called &#8216;Cath&#8217; (which I think must be the one when Cat(herine)) yelps something that afterwards I think must have been &#8216;my song!&#8217;). The very nice acoustic one (the spotlight is only on Ben for that, the band even leave the stage) is I Will Follow You In The Dark (from Plans) -I can now say that with a quick glance at the setlist and listening to snippets from albums, as can I state that Black Sun (off Kintsugi) is another beautiful highlight. There is not that much chat, but enough to know they enjoy being back in Paris (&#8216;always something crazy happening when we&#8217;re here&#8217;) and that this is the last show of the tour (so the opposite of The Magic Numbers for whom Paris was the first, although I&#8217;m now thinking my theory about the Eurostar has some holes in it as surely bands travel in vans\/buses rather than by train and so Paris doesn&#8217;t necessarily has to be the first stop for UK bands). And so eventually we get the &#8216;last song&#8217; (another beautiful number from Plans, Soul Meets Body), but it&#8217;s only just getting to 10pm, so assuming a common 10.30pm curfew and allowing for the fact they must have started early for a reason, there is very little doubt about an encore. I joke about the Metric encore &#8216;rumour&#8217; with Cat, but either way, techs come on stage quickly to basically confirm the impending return. So a very short break before they play some older tunes essentially for the encore. Earlier in the set, I was despairing about not hearing Pepper, but the start of the encore didn&#8217;t give me that much hope. As it is, while there were a couple of songs I didn&#8217;t recognise near the end of the set and for the first time didn&#8217;t think were that good, the encore continued that trend for me. Nothing touched the unexpected unknown songs from the main set. So I spent more time admiring the guitars, a couple of different Jaguars for Ben (there were a few acoustics too), and the guitarist giving his Jazzmaster XII a second outing (I assume it must be a Squier Paranormal, like mine, just a different colour, as I&#8217;m not aware of Fender having actually manufactured a proper Jazzmaster XII &#8211; I only know of the Strat XII thanks to Miki Berenyi, the reason why I bought that Jazzmaster, in fact). So yeah, see, I disgress. I feel the enthusiasm in the crowd somehow subside, but I think it&#8217;s just me. As it is, the encore may be great for Bona Fide fans, Beno\u00eet in particular is thrilled to hear the apparently rarely heard Marching Band of Manhattan, but for someone who likes music and emotions, maybe not so much. At least for someone who&#8217;s never heard the songs so has zero emotional historical connection with them (as the main set showed, it&#8217;s not necessarily disqualifying, but it means you need to have a little more to the music for me to really like it). Two tracks from Transatlanticism conclude the encore (so there was only one in the main set), the first one is fine, probably the best song of the encore, while the second, the title track, while seemingly popular, is an absolute drag for me and I find myself actually yawning twice. Not one of my favourite songs of the evening for sure, so as far as I am concerned, a very underwhelming way to end the concert. But fear not, the crowds are enraptured all the same. Beno\u00eet had seen them a few times live, Cat and I not, not sure how often Nadine had seen them, so I can&#8217;t say I was disappointed. In fact, while I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;d have the same enthusiasm as Cat (but she is also probably more of a real fan of theirs), I&#8217;m left with a slight taste of a missing conclusion. If they&#8217;d stopped without an encore, I would actually have enjoyed this more. Still, that main set was fantastic and I&#8217;ll investigate a couple of those albums I don&#8217;t have. And fair play to them for a four-song encore. It was a good, nay, excellent gig, no doubt. But not quite perfect, and mostly, for me, missing Pepper. Which naturally came into my head all the way back because I love that song so much. If only they&#8217;d played it. Anyway, that&#8217;s fine, take the gig as a whole, ignore the final impression for a while, and this was well worth more than the admission price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>: nothing. Saturday night, I&#8217;d have fancied more drinks and chatting (I had nothing after that first pint), but no Nick or Ale, everyone went their own way, so I did too, home even earlier than after The Magic Numbers after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"NightSwimmingParis2026\"><strong>Night Swimming, Supersonic, 10\/10\/2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp; Just two EPs in, one of the &#8216;rated&#8217;, new-shoegaze bands. I have to admit that I was not entirely convinced, but a free Saturday night gig at the Supersonic, can&#8217;t argue, just an excuse to go out and have a good time with mates. As it is, I think I booked because Nick had. Jed was meant to come but had a DJ thing to attend nearer his place, though he still made some of the pre-gig gathering (more on that later). So yes, it did turn out to be more about an evening out than a gig, for various reasons. Good chance the pre\/post-gig bits will take a bigger time to write than the gig itself I&#8217;d say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;we&#8217;ll see. Not zero, but maybe unlikely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>: same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube:<\/strong><\/em> haven&#8217;t even thought of looking yet, but will do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: Nick, Alessandro, Steve and Walter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: well, that&#8217;s where the fun started. Decent Saturday afternoon in Paris though temperatures were going down a bit. Food before? Why not? And why not go and watch &#8216;El Sackico&#8217; Man U vs Spu*s despite none of us supporting either team? All right then. So meet up at 6.30pm in the Bombardier with Jed and Nick. I had texted Ale and Walter in the meantime, they had plans to meet at 8pm in the Black Sheep, so I said we&#8217;d probably try to join them there pre-gig. I mentioned the bands, and the Argentinian one supporting (even if Walter didn&#8217;t know them) seemed to appeal to Ale too. Anyway, more on that later. For now, we met in the Bombardier, also with Ornella who was about. In fact, initially, St\u00e9phane was meant to come to the gig and Ornella possibly, but other unforeseen circumstances and plans prevented either for joining along. Couple of pints while a rather shit match of football was taking place. Walter had texted that the plans were changing and they were going to meet (with Steve too) at Les Associ\u00e9s even nearer to Supersonic. The idea was they may try to catch Buenos Vampiros before perhaps missing out on Night Swimming and going to the Black Sheep only then. After a Man U goal and Spurs red card (I was going to say &#8216;safe in the knowledge that Spurs would not come back&#8217;, but not quite, as Man U really really are poor and conceded a late equaliser as it turned out, but either way, that was not the reason for not waiting until the end of the match, timing was all, with pints finished and wanting to meet the other &#8211; plans yet undetermined- not too late), Nick and I made our way towards Bastille. Apps suggested bus, so bus is what we took, except we first waited for one that was displayed then disappeared. Anyway, joined Ale, Walter and Steve eventually (maybe 8.15pm or 8.30pm?), ordered some food and beer. Big Nick was initially meant to turn up but didn&#8217;t so we decided to go towards Supersonic at about 9.30pm to catch the support. What we didn&#8217;t expect (but to be fair, it was Saturday, a lovely evening, and even when &#8216;late-ish&#8217;, I&#8217;m not sure we ever got that late was a huge queue outside the venue. It slowly cleared as people were getting in and out, but while we could vaguely hear the band from outside (but not see them, in the new configuration there are now curtains preventing the view from outside), it was getting clear we would miss most of the band the others were there to see. But undeterred, once in the queue they decided to stick to it, so we were all going to see Night Swimming and have a couple more beers then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Support<\/em><\/strong>: Buenos Vampiros. From Argentina. Didn&#8217;t see them, barely heard them. They still had a couple of songs to play by the time we got in, which was nice. The place was crowded but maybe not so packed as there was plenty of room to move about on the floor up, which is where we settled initially. So all I would say was that the music was just in the background but sounded very good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;really, truly all sorts, though mostly (just mostly, not all) younger than us, as per a normal Supersonic Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>: all over the place? We decided to try downstairs for the &#8216;main&#8217; band, but we stayed fairly near to the bar, on the left side, so while we had &#8216;some&#8217; view, this was not too different from being at the Pop-up. As I said above, it really was about a good evening with mates rather than a gig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>: well, at least (surprisingly?) It is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/night-swimming\/2026\/supersonic-paris-france-37f3d9f.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">available<\/a>. Although I must admit I am a little confused by it, or the way it is at the bottom, as I have the No Place to Land EP but on mine (digital), there&#8217;s only three tracks in common.  So there were actually seven tracks I didn&#8217;t know\/I&#8217;d never heard played tonight, rather than just five, though maybe only five were new then? Either way, while I did recognise some of the songs (among the chatter, being at the back at Supersonic meant a lot of people just chatting away, although I got the feeling that there were less and less as the gig unfolded and people were taken  by the music. I did also feel there were more &#8216;Buenos Vampiros&#8217; fan just around at the start, I couldn&#8217;t quite name them generally. So what is left to comment on? The sound. Are the new songs promising? Possibly, I am at least intrigued now. But all I can say is that they SOUNDED good. The whole set sounded good in fact, not just the new songs, so better than I thought maybe, and so while I do not feel I can really review this gig &#8211; see this is really more of a review of the evening, at various points even we had some brief chats, about the people around &#8211; &#8216;Wendy James-ish-lookalike&#8217;, &#8216;Brighton-supporting DJ&#8217;, and the new position of the stairs (took a while to figure otu what had changed, but yeah, definitely, the stairs on the left used to get closer to the stage and give a straight view, whereas now, you just land on a wall, not that it stopped some people sitting on them during the gigs). All in all then, a longer set than I&#8217;d have expected, and a relatively pleasant surprised, even on a night when I wasn&#8217;t completely into the gig for circumstancial reasons as much as anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>: stay for one in Supersonic? Could have been an idea with the nice crowds and the decent music being generally played (well, even before Night Swimming, there was some good music, from Night&#8230;bus notably), but Ale thought the beer was just too shit here, and felt we had to go to the Black Sheep to kind of make amends for not going earlier. And that was fine. The queue to get in (paying now) outside the Supersonic was even bigger than when we started (I think), it is still a very popular night in Paris! So off to the Black Sheep. In other times, I&#8217;d have just gone home, or had to rush a pint to catch the last RER, but I decided that this was one of these evenings where I could take advantage of the later metro as I was feeling fine and happy to carry on rather than leave abruptly. So we all had a pint in the BS, taking our time and having some nice chat before leaving, Duncan offering a shot before we departed, which was probably not necessary, but all good. Line 1 then 4 with Nick (who left at an earlier stop obviously), and judging as they were starting to close the station when we arrived in Bagneux, it must still have been the last but one or at worst two metro that I was on (I know it wasn&#8217;t the last). Home not long before 2.30am in the end. Very much a case of great evening out rather than a fantastic gig, but the music was a nice bonus in a way. Of course, that evening having started a little too early, the next day was pretty much wasted to recovery, and I had to give up on the vague idea to see SURE at Glazart (plus SANG FROID), especially when I looked up the venue and saw it was even further out than Cabaret Sauvage. Well, so that will keep my number of gigs for October (providing I don&#8217;t skip another planned one and not add any other) down to &#8216;very big&#8217; rather than &#8216;extravagant&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"IstIstParis2026\"><strong>Ist Ist, Le Chinois, Montreuil, 15\/10\/2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 one of my favourite albums this year (on a viny relisten two years after, yes really good and more dancey than I even remembered). Still when this was announced, I wasn&#8217;t sure where Montreuil exactly was. As luck would have it, I had a mate&#8217;s Birthday do this summer in Montreuil, and so I thought I&#8217;d decide after getting there. As it is, even though there were RER works that day, I figured Montreuil wasn&#8217;t the end of the world after all, the venue was very near the Metro too, so it would be very doable and the ticket was booked. Note that I&#8217;d seen this lot twice already, but had missed their third gig in Paris for various reasons I don&#8217;t recall (maybe being slightly underwhelmed by bits of the second gig).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0looks like SOV and Benzine are not going to the same gig as I am these days, so not seeing anything, though I haven&#8217;t looked elsewhere yet, if that exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>: same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube:<\/strong><\/em> will look, but I am more optimistic on this one. I probably shouldn&#8217;t have been, nothing on the Sunday so doubt anything will appear later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: looks like it&#8217;s a week for going on my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: hadn&#8217;t checked the support (though I don&#8217;t think I would have found it), I figured they would probably start at the standard 9pm so aimed to be there at about 8.30pm, which was achieved thanks to local transport working well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Support<\/em><\/strong>: Anton. I did manage to catch a fair bit of his set. So just a very tall guy on stage, singing over tape\/loop recordings and for most songs also playing a big bass guitar with clean but strongly effected 80s (maybe?) sound. Weirdly, as the venue kind of reminded me of Badaboum, the support had a hint of the 80s French vibe we saw from the Black Honey support there. Well, actually, much better in my opinion. I actually liked the sound and music very much here. I felt it was a kinf of appropriate warm-up for Ist Ist, fairly dark or bordering on gothic with the deep voice, and not without rhythmic efficiency. Not sure where to find his stuff. He was selling tapes I think, but as I was engaged in conversations with various people during the break and then disappeared  before Ist Ist started, I never got the chance to catch and thank him. Maybe I didn&#8217;t try hard enough, or was missing a pint or two for Dutch courage (well I sampled the beer on arrival, but stuck to just that one pint, having been out at short notice to The Pub with Bob the night before and had one or two more drinks than would have been necessary, also, I had a big one planned the next evening, on top of midday football, so tonight was meant for recoovery).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0I don&#8217;t know, middle-age mostly I&#8217;d say. White as ever. Seem to be a few &#8216;hardcore&#8217; fans with the Ist Ist T-shirts at the front, which I didn&#8217;t necessarily expect, wherever they were from. They had a good time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>: it&#8217;s a small venue, it wasn&#8217;t particularly packed, so pretty much central, slightly to the left, not at the front but what 3-4 metres from it? No issue there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setlist.fm\/setlist\/ist-ist\/2026\/le-chinois-montreuil-france-4b7fd7ba.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here <\/a>you are. And it was a pretty good mix pretty deeping into their entire discography which is getting to a respectable size now. They got on stage at 9pm shart, all bar the drummer sporting shades they never shed at all during the set (apart from the singer briefly when he had to wipe the sweat off his forehead. The start gave the tone, with I Am The Fear, the dancey opener from their new album, Dagger. The singer then took his Telecaster and we travelled back in time with Silence, back to just the previous album&#8217;s big single &#8216;I Lost My Shadow&#8217; which I&#8217;d heard pre-release when I last saw them, and it was all very efficient. The other guitarist sometimes switched to keyboards, often within a song and it was all seamless. Theatrical gestures from the singer occasionally, some encouragements (from all) to clap your hand in some sections of songs, and the bass player was as usual doing his best Hooky impression (sometimes the Joy Division\/early New Order filiation is nearly too obvious, as in the intro to It Makes No Difference). The &#8216;regulars&#8217; at the front where doing their best dancing, while I was just slightly swaying and realising I wasn&#8217;t feeling quite ready to mosh again physically or possibly psychologically. What else is there to say? Repercussions was one of the highlights, The singer uttered the occasional &#8216;Merci&#8217;, while I noticed once more than the bass player, who was still the more talkative (he mentioned how good it was to be back here &#8211; all bands do, and listed the four gigs they&#8217;d played in Paris, so I had only missed one indeed as Supersonic was their first) has definitely given up on attempting to speak French (I&#8217;m still sure I didn&#8217;t dream his efforts at Supersonic, but he probably thought it was too laboured and wasn&#8217;t worth the pain now in the middle of such a carefully constructed set with no lull). And then we got towards the end of the set (two songs left), with a couple of oldies, well one real oldie with You&#8217;re Mine, and a relative oddly to close with Stamp You Out, the opener from two albums back three years ago, and well, some real pogo started to break in the moshpit. I was still just about safe in my position. To be fair, it had threatened to get really moshing for a while, it was a very dancey set overtall in fact. And now? I had no idea of the time, it really had gone without a boring moment, and when I looked I was quite suprised to see it was still only ten past ten. An encore? Didn&#8217;t seem so, lights went off quickly, and to be fair, the stage set-up is very Supersonic\/Pop-up like in that the band just get on stage from the room, so this doesn&#8217;t lend itself very well to the encore routine. Lights came back on very quickly too, so there was no illusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>: well, it felt early enough, I&#8217;d spotted a clear-vinyl version of the new album in the Merch stand, and as I have made a point recently (one I should probably stop, to be honest, bit of a money pit that, especially when I have the digital music already) of trying to buy coloured versions of my favourite LPs each year, I thought I might get that if there wasn&#8217;t too much queue. As it was early enough, it felt like something to do. Gave me a chance to thank the drummer on the way, and also the bass player who was seelling me the record. He asked where I was from (always surprises me, I suppose I suspected I wasn&#8217;t French), and that caught me off so I just said &#8216;from Bordeaux originally&#8217;. I said I&#8217;d been to three of their four gigs here and thought this was the best so keep going. Anyway, yeah, chit chat, but it&#8217;s always nice after a good gig. My connections to go home also went very very swiftly, so all in all, I was home only shortly after 11pm I think, which is extremely good going after a gig in Montreuil, I&#8217;d say!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"RoshaniParis2026\"><strong>Rosh\u00e2ni, La Chaufferie @ La Machine du Moulin Rouge, 16\/10\/2026<\/strong> &#8211; and many other bands besides on the way, MaMA music&amp;convention 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0I could just say &#8216;see Pip Blom Petit Bain review from last year&#8217;. Their new album was out today (though thankfully I had it in digital version from maybe a month earlier via bandcamp, while waiting for the physical support to arrive). I wasn&#8217;t initially sure whether I&#8217;d go, but 22 odd Euros for a small festival on top of it, and on a Friday night, would have been rude not to go. Especially as I can&#8217;t go to BRS next week, so had to keep up my mad gigs quota for the month. Honestly though, this felt like a well-timed gig on top of looking forward to seeing Rosh\u00e2ni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0good luck finding any of these reviewed, maybe somewhere, definitely not where I would normally go. After all, the only English artist I briefly saw tonight is even based in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>: let us see, again, not sure where to look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube:<\/strong><\/em> well, so far I can only see one source. Who had one excerpt of the first three, handily, but I see nothing from La Chaufferie. Not entirely a surprise as I don&#8217;t think the place or the sets lend themselves to filming entire songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So here&#8217;s, something from Vulax, the one with Joe La Panic mentioned below, incidentally released on the very day of the gig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vulax &amp; Joe la panic - les joies du monde (Live) Paris, La Cigale - MaMA Music 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mQ-RAAOJpEI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One from TLMSC (the single that has just been released a week earlier in fact, as mentioned during the show, possibly the climax of their set too).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tout le monde s&amp;apos;appelle Clara - Otage (Live) Paris, La Cigale - MaMA Music 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iUTVdIOrIEs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And one from Flora Hibberd (don&#8217;t ask me if I even heard that one live, as I couldn&#8217;t tell you).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Flora Hibberd -  Shelley (Live) Paris, Les Trois Baudets - MaMA Music 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rjyO_MDIhng?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: another solo effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: OK, now that should read pre-gigs. Or preparation\/planning. While working (sort of), I started to look into details at the MaMA website to see who was playing when or where, as I knew absolutely none of the bands\/artists showcasing their talent tonight, outside of Rosh\u00e2ni. Actually, I&#8217;d seen Flora Hibberd twice supporting other bands, playing a purely acoustic set in small venues in 2022\/2023, to be accurate. Helpfully, the site featured a YouTube video for most of them. So on the basis of the descriptions and very short excerpts (I couldn&#8217;t even take the time to watch\/listen to entire videos), I progressively made my battle plan. Not forgetting to locate the place where I should have my ticket scanned to get the wristband pass. As it is, and fairly incredibly, everything (including the shop to get the pass) was absolutely perfectly lined up with me having a completely linear journey from the PHONO museum (where you get the wristband) to La Cigale (two successive acts to check) and La Chaufferie at La Machine du Moulin Rouge (again two acts) via a possible stop at Les Trois Baudets (just one band). I had asked Jed if he&#8217;d be around his favourite pub in the area, thinking I might have time for a pint there, but to be honest, it would have been impossible\/impractical on top of breaking that straight line, so I&#8217;m glad he wasn&#8217;t in fact. So yeah, I also knew I couldn&#8217;t see the whole of all the sets with this plan, but choices had to be made, keeping in mind Rosh\u00e2ni was the only set I couldn&#8217;t not see in full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Support<\/em><\/strong>: everyone&#8217;s a star tonight, so no such thing as &#8216;support&#8217; really in this format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0don&#8217;t be silly, there was a mental mix of music styles available (even if I didn&#8217;t cover them all with the one I targetted), so the diversity was absolutely unbeatable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>: different venues, different places and ways, hell also one was NOT &#8216;standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>: OK, I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;ll find any of the setlists, or maybe just some, will check once I&#8217;ve finished the write-up. So this part will be the evening&#8217;s description. It could be very long, it could be very short. The short version is that this reminded me a lot of my full Block Party day in Bastille a couple of years ago. Except without bumping into anyone I knew at all. But the idea\/spirit is the same: different bands in different venues in a small-ish area, you enter and leave the venues at your convenience. The overall event is probably a little different in the sense that this was a music convention, so there were also debates and discussions organised (so in this way more like &#8216;More Women On Stage&#8217; (more on that later) I attended with Jed at Petit Bain once, though we only went for a gig), although the Friday was a &#8216;only gigs&#8217; affair. And yeah, I thought maybe I&#8217;ll have more or less one pint per band, making it to four. This probably was unnecessary but I was in that kind of mood, and yet added a fifth at the end (but then after all I DID see five acts).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wanted to get to La Cigale for the start of Vulax&#8217; show (concert seems appropriate there in fact), but I got trapped in working a little later than I&#8217;d wished, and also, I figured with a long evening and pints ahead, it might be wise not to stress myself about timings there. So after collecting my wrist band, I crossed the Boulevard back to make it to La Cigale, entered, ordered a pint (with consigne on the first &#8216;glass&#8217;, but at no point could I be arsed getting that 1 euro back tonight, so I hope it goes straight into tips &#8211; interestingly the only place that had no consigne was Les Trois Baudets, but there you could tip, so I did) and entered the room. Obviously not very packed, so I decided that going into the pit (though at a fair distance was fine). Vulax so, revisiting classic piano with a touch of humour. Or a huge dollop of it in fact. When I arrived, he was finishing a song that must have been a collaboration as a guy in a hoodie thanked the crowds and left the stage. Just as I got down the short flight of stairs, he invited the crowds to part into two sides, one having to sing &#8216;Maaaa&#8217; holding one note, the other one (I was on the left, we were the second one) enjoined to sing &#8216;Maaa&#8217; on a different note. I&#8217;ve forgotten now which notes they were though I could check the video, but I mentally er, noted what they were and the one-tone difference. Anyway, so he started a nice piano piece, and during it signalled successively each side when they had to do their bit. I guess &#8216;Ma&#8217; and &#8216;Ma&#8217; were a direct reference to the convention&#8217;s name, which I thought was a very nice and clever touch. If you&#8217;ve followed all my ramblings (nobody has, and as it extends it becomes even less likely I suspect, at least the &#8216;all&#8217; bit), you know how much I love piano (because I came to music from that angle, I guess), and the music tonight was just beautiful. With a lot of fun added. Vulax (Valentin his real first name, as gathered from the little &#8216;exchanges&#8217; on the phone screen displayed live at the back) mentioned his other passion, ping-pong, and then a video started to project with him playing with a racket and ball, creating a rhythm that was then repeated throughout the next number while he played. Superb trick, genius even! There was a little confusion (organised or not, it felt staged, then it didn&#8217;t, so I&#8217;m not even sure!) when he announced he was going to play his last number, but then the exchange on the screen showed he had three more to play, even if there was a goodbye message on the screen at some point (the big clue though was the he was scheduled to play until 8.30pm and it was only 8.15). During the last of the three, a message appeared on the screen &#8216;Valentin, tu as une visiteuse. Elle attend depuis sept minutes&#8217;&#8230;. which was in fact the clue for another guest, Joe La Panic (I couldn&#8217;t get her name but found it on checking his instagram later), to enter and beautifully sing (en Fran\u00e7ais bien s\u00fbr) along to his next piano bit. After that, he mentioned the mix-up and that he meant to play the Ping-Pong song at last, and would we mind? Obviously we didn&#8217;t and so he did again. Which was great. The goodbye messages on the screen at the end were funny too &#8216;merci, time for you to leave the room. seriously. PLEASE GO!&#8217;, and so it was a fantastic discovery to start the evening, I&#8217;m glad I was here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With another pint, it was time for the second act there, a full band this time, called &#8216;Tout le Monde s&#8217;appelle Clara&#8217;. All-girl band, I&#8217;d only checked those few minutes from the site and so had that as very nice, fits in well with my schedule. Everything tonight was more or less well minuted, so they took to the stage at 8.50pm. Well, all but one. A drummer, a bass player (well she was not yet playing bass on that first number), a keyboardist (she started the proceedings, a oboeist (later also on guitar) and, well, the singer wasn&#8217;t there when they started playing the first song. And yet we could hear her sing. Hmm, then someone in front of me tapped her friend on the shoulder and motioned to look back, I saw a slightly stunned reaction so I looked there too and indeed that was where the singer was, just a couple of metres to my left up by the railings with a spotlight on her. Beautiful voice, as was showcased throughout this show. In a way, it&#8217;s a lot easier to write about bands you don&#8217;t know anything about and any song from, as there are generally no particular expectations, so you can judge a show on its own merits and what you feel on the day. This lot sang essentially in French (or all in French, I felt there may have been a song in English, but maybe that was me hearing it this way as it was a noisier bit), and the music is relatively varied. One number (or at least the singing) vaguely reminded me of that song AURORA did with Pomme, but all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this gig. The music was great, some quiet more soulful moments mixed with some proper rocking ones, a truly excellent voice, I suspect they may be more successful if they were not from France. Or maybe it&#8217;s just me, because tonight made me realise that I truly live in an anglo-saxon world music-wise, with just a few windows opened towards France, so have actually no idea what is or will be successful or not in my own country. Also I have no idea how recent or not they are. Anyway, this had to end at some point, they all joined in to bow at the front to an enthusiastic audience, and the oboeist\/guitarist showed her the back of her guitar where, nicely taped, was &#8216;MORE WOMEN ON STAGE&#8217;. Maybe they played that event too, or, it was just a statement\/demand [well, trying to find the setlist now, I can&#8217;t find this one, but I see they DID indeed play the MWOS event this year!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Time to leave La Cigale, depositing the plastic glass for free at the bar on the way (and noticing you had to scan your wristband on the way out, which I guess makes sense in terms of room gauge or something if nothing else, though I&#8217;m not sure anywhere would threaten to be overcrowded tonight) and head to a new for me venue (a bit theme this week then!): Les Trois Baudets. I should actually have been there (early this year I think?) once before to see IDER, but I was unwell so couldn&#8217;t. Entering it, it felt very nice and cosy, reminded me of FGO Barbara in the way the bar was outside the gig room, with some nice plush seats out of the room entrance too. So I went downstairs having ordered my pint, and as I was too early for the start of Flora Hibberd&#8217;s set, sat down fot a bit in front of the kind of Twin Peaks room decoration (well the floor was on the wall, you&#8217;ll know what I mean if you see the photo), catching up with a few text messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I actually entered the gig room, well, forget FGO Barbara, this is completely different, a very small all-seated amphitheater. Very nice. Instruments were set, and then they all got on stage and the gig started. I knew from having read about her latest LP just the day before that it was going to be a completely different atmosphere from that of those two sets I mentioned above, more pop, less folk, and so it was. The small suprise was to notice that Theodora (see Art School Girlfriend gig review from 2024) was playing the bass there. On which note,  I don&#8217;t know if she ever intends to make more of some of her solo stuff I liked, having spent most of the recent times (from what I can judge) with other musicians in a band called Astral Bakers. Anyway, I digress. So I stayed there for the first three\/four songs, I can&#8217;t really say I was taken in by the music itself, but it was a fairly pleasant break in the hectic evening, with the opportunity to sit down as a bonus (I&#8217;m actually surprised that I was not more knackered after playing football midday).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then on to the last venue just a hundred metres further. Now La Machine du Moulin Rouge had two venues: Le Central and La Chaufferie, so I had to ask on entering to be sure I was getting to the right place. The entrance is a long corridor, I saw La Chaufferie indicated downstairs so opened the door down those stair, only to see what looked like a packed\/small room, which felt like a&#8230;.big surprise. So I decide to order a pint in the big long bar upstairs (there was a bar downstairs too, but I didn&#8217;t know that yet) first, and then noticed another entrance next to the end of that, so decided to access the downstairs room there, where there seemed to vaguely be more space. But not much. I settled on some stairs leading to the moshpit itself (OK, that&#8217;s not a fair description, the front of the stage?), not the best view, but fair enough and started enjoying Gaouta. I was possibly getting fairly drunk by that stage already, but to be fair, I think either way I would not be able to accurately describe her music. It was fairly varied in a way (and she sang, and she played the drums, did she also play the guitar or did I dream it?), very rhythmic, and I thought it all sounded great and much to my taste. But there one the stairs, I suddenly spotted I was next to the synth master from Rosh\u00e2ni, In\u00e8s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So I went, a little stupidly and temporarily forgetting her name &#8216;oooh, you&#8217;re Rosh\u00e2ni!&#8217;, and started blathering about how I had come to this event to see them and how much I was looking forward to their set, that I&#8217;d ordered the LP, etc. Until I suddenly remembered that she could more naturally speak French and so switched Language. She weirdly apologised (at least twice) for speaking in English first, although it was entirely my fault, so I did my own apologies. Anyway, Gaouta performed and, and at the end, after we&#8217;d formally introduced each other by names, I asked In\u00e8s if they had some merch\/T-shirts (I had to feel brave to do it&#8230;). I&#8217;m pretty sure I mentioned it from the Petit Bain gig, but that &#8216;mythical&#8217; T-shirt looked great when Roxane showed it there, and I was gutted I didn&#8217; see the band in between sets there.  But then I never realised untile the Magic Numbers the other day that merch stands at Petit Bain can in fact be in two different places, so maybe that&#8217;s where they were then? And I couldn&#8217;t find that T-shirt online either. But more on that and my obsession with it later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The floor totally cleared after Gaouta&#8217;s show, so I could take stock of the actual venue. I have no idea how much it holds, but it is fairly unusal. The room in front of the stage is just about as deep (or possibly less than the stage itself), I&#8217;d say it&#8217;s less than five metre between the front of the stage and the back wall. It is slightly wider, and then there&#8217;s some small stairs access on each side. One, to the left, where I was earlier, leads into some kind of lounge with a few seats (where In\u00e8s told me they would be after the show with merch and stuff, though it didn&#8217;t turn out like that in the end), and the other side leading to the bar. Having finished my pint, I just staid there while the stage was being prepped, so that I could have a good spot. although given the kind of too close proximity, maybe in a departure from some gigs years past, despite the drinks I felt I didn&#8217;t want to be right there at the front in their face, just felt like a slight &#8216;back&#8217; position felt more right tonight. As it is, I&#8217;d say it was perfect, great view, enough people in front of me to feel unnoticed, and still enough room to move about and dance. The set itself? What can I say. I enjoyed Le Petit Bain, I positively loved tonight. Of course then I didn&#8217;t know any of the songs whereas now I was familiar with pretty much all, and it makes a difference when you can recognise Sola, Setareh of the still and forever amazing Donya Do Roozeh, among others, but either way, the energy was wild and the vibes amazing. With some bands with a relatively short yet discography, you feel that 40 minutes is all they could give, but tonight, it felt that it really was a time constraint and they could have played on with the same sense of fun and joy. An absolute pleasure to witness. I think Roxstar was missed (or was I not paying attention), while in the context I could understand the lovely Laisser Aller not being played, to be fair. The final was another banger and it was all over. What a great gig to conclude the evening. I was hopeful it would be great, it exceeded expectations, with the great atmosphere about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>: Now I&#8217;d normally not have waited too long to go home, given the time and the exertions of the past few days and evenings, but you know, the T-Shirt. Funnily enough, during the gig, Roxane did throw a T-shirt into the crowd. I was not that far, but didn&#8217;t really have a go to grab it, I&#8217;d feel awkward as I&#8217;d still have had to stretch!  But anyway, while the band were sorting out their stage post-gig, I decided, madly, that well, rather than wait and feel lost like an idiot, I&#8217;d go grab a last pint as the clock was ticking. I&#8217;d left the previous glass at the back during pre-gig, didn&#8217;t check if it was still there, so that&#8217;s another consigne lost. Time was starting to be a concern too for getting home. Even if the option of Line 4 and walk would still be open for longer, but I wasn&#8217;t THAT keen on it tonight. Anyway, while I still waited by the side of the stage, I got briefly talking to a friendly young woman I&#8217;d seen in some of the previous gigs too, but I felt fairly out of it, so I&#8217;m afraid I wasn&#8217;t great conversation, and also realising I am so not used to having social conversations in French&#8230;she addressed me as &#8216;vous&#8217;, which in a way acted as a reminded of my age, but also about that non-existent problem in English. I felt slightly out of tune as she asked me what I was doing and expected me to work in the music industry in some way. She said she was a musician, and that should have triggered lots of questions and interest from me, but somehow, I was in a state of slightly incoherent stress. So when she asked if I was staying for the next gig as the next band was preparing their stage (I had absolutely no idea there would be another band, but that&#8217;s because the way events were separated on the MaMA site, Rosh\u00e2ni were last of one event, but there was another three bands afterwards in the same venue, it was just a different event, so I hadn&#8217;t paid attention, on top of the awkward timing), I was a bit taken adback, but said I had to go home soon or it would get complicated. To be fair, I checked the bands the next day and am not sure I&#8217;d have truly enjoyed the music (I actually did catch the first number of the first next band, and it didn&#8217;t really scream at me to stay on). In a way, I wish I&#8217;d drunk less steadily and stayed on to party on (after all, besides Line 4, there&#8217;s still the night bus option I can still take if not great, or staying on all night, though I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;ve done that for a while), but also, the next day, despite a short night, I was still buzzing midday instead of feeling dead on my feet. Anyway, I kind of digress. As they finished to clear the shirt I talked to Roxane about the T-shirt, so she said she&#8217;d check, and gauged that because these sized big, I&#8217;d be an XS rather than a S. To be honest, I was starting to feel like a bit of a dickhead about the T-shirt thing, though I think I was just being normal, just my old tendency to feel guilty. Anyway, we caught up in the not so designated area a few steps up afterwards as they were on the way out (while the charming musicienne went back down to the floor to check the next band), they didn&#8217;t have the size, so Roxane said to send a message or check on the site, give my address and they&#8217;d send me one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I got out of the venue and decided to follow the RATP&#8217;s instruction to go home, as the route didn&#8217;t seem to direct (but I didn&#8217;t start from where I&#8217;d left the metro earlier) but would get me home safely. So metro all the way back Charles de Gaulle Etoile then RER A and B, with the advantage of just crossing the platform them, which was another defining factor. I got the semi-traditional last-but-one train home, so in bed much before 2am. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next day, I finally found the actual band&#8217;s website (it may not have existed with the merch last year when I looked), so I thought it better to order from here (though it&#8217;s a little unusual as you don&#8217;t immediately pay, you give your address and then they will have to work it, out, but I guess it makes sense, them being a small concern, and based in Switzerland, so P&amp;P has to be decided on an individual basis, all you know it the price of the goods), while just sending them a message on Instagram to thank them. Anyway, yes, that was one of the best evenings of the year. I&#8217;ve generally been feeling better lately, not entirely sure why, and this was just such a brilliant event. Should I do this sort of thing more often? I don&#8217;t know or think I can, but over two years after that Block Party, I totally get the attraction of checking new bands a little randomly with minimal preview in this sort of context. It worked perfectly then and it works perfectly now, I came home with some new music to listen to, all thanks to Rosh\u00e2ni, discovered themselves one evening when they were only the first of three bands playing live. So yeah, more women on stage, and definitely more great (live) music, this was an absolute blast of a night out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">21\/10\/2026 Teenage Fanclub, Petit Bain<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube: <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Support<\/em><\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">24\/10\/2026 Blood Red Shoes, Trabendo : shame but not going after all due to getting tickets to the Arsenal vs Everton match<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">27\/10\/2026 Meryl Streek, Point Eph\u00e9m\u00e8re<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Context:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>External review<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Photos<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>YouTube: <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Company<\/strong><\/em>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Pre-gig<\/strong><\/em>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Support<\/em><\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Crowds<\/strong><\/em>:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Standing Location<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Setlist<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Post-Gig<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">31\/10\/2026 Fat Dog, Elys\u00e9e Montmartre<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">6\/11\/2026 Adult DVD, Le Chinois<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">12\/11\/2026 Kiwi Jr., Hasard Ludique<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">15\/11\/2026 Boy Harsher, Le Bataclan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3\/12\/2026 Gurriers, Trabendo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5\/12\/2026 Wyldest, Stoke Newington<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">16\/12\/2026 Chelsea Wolfe+A.A.Williams, Casino de Paris<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">30\/1\/2027 The Buoys, La Boule Noire<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">25\/3\/2027 Hope Of The States, The Garage, London<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cure, Interpol, Slowdive: Rock en Seine, Saint-Cloud, 30\/8\/2026 Context:&nbsp; Seven years after the last time (which I missed, entirely my fault at the last minute), The Cure were back at Rock en Seine. It was the first summer gig announced last year, and yet in fact the last of the tour. Having this time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1722,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8513","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"OllieRoo","author_link":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/author\/admin9036\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Cure, Interpol, Slowdive: Rock en Seine, Saint-Cloud, 30\/8\/2026 Context:&nbsp; Seven years after the last time (which I missed, entirely my fault at the last minute), The Cure were back at Rock en Seine. It was the first summer gig announced last year, and yet in fact the last of the tour. Having this time&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8513"}],"version-history":[{"count":178,"href":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8909,"href":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8513\/revisions\/8909"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redhairedgoon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}