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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
 Posted - 10/17/2003 : 15:33:36
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Wow! What an awesome show. The boys really rocked the place. 1h30 of pure rock'n'roll bliss.
The place wasn't packed but not far from it. The opening act was a young Adam-Greenish folkie named Jeffrey Lewis. He's pretty funny and has some interestingly fucked-up songs. He kept it short and was obviously pleasantly surprised as the crowd cheered him on.
Then (after a suitably longish wait) came Mr Black (all dressed in black, with rockstar shades on) and the Catholics. Frank was smiling as he came onstage, and he strapped on his acoustic guitar to open with... oh but here's the list (the songs appear in the order they were played):
Where Is My Mind?
Bullet
Cold Heart Of Stone
Whiskey In Your Shoes
When Will Happiness Find Me Again?
Headache
Suffering
Everything Is New
Southbound Bevy
Robert Onion
Goodbye Lorraine
Freedom Rock
Massif Central
Caribou
Nadine
Velouria
I Love Your Brain
All My Ghosts
Cactus
Encore:
The Farewell Bend
California Bound
Chip Away Boy
Brackish Boy
(I Want To Live On An) Abstract Plain
The Black Rider
Dave P. looks all business but watch him when he really gets in the mood with that pink Telecaster of his. Now that's a guy who loves to rock out, whatever you might think or say.
McDave seemed to have all the fun in the world, one of my favorite moments was during "Southbound Bevy", he really looked like he wanted to make love to that bass guitar.
Rich G., the only man who could become an international air guitar champion while actually playing a real guitar. He rocks greatly.
Scott - he's back on the tour, I had no idea, so it was a nice surprise to have him here (although I'm sure Joe Kid did a very good job!). He looked very sharp and certainly beat the crap out of those drums. He tossed three or four drumsticks into the crowd, didn't get any though, I was in the back, in the "tall-FB-nerds-who-know-all-the-songs" corner. And I certainly looked the nerdiest of all as I took out my little notebook to jot down the title of each song :) for your eyes only.
Frank is no fucking dancing bear but he's still a polite guy. He said "Thank you" and introduced the band (Scott was back on the drums, when did that happen?). And just before launching into a sweaty, bouncy, earth-shakingly rocking "Black Rider", he said in French: "Merci bien, à la prochaine", which was really cool. Then, at the end of the song, he kept screaming in his raspy "Black Rider" voice, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you..." which has to be the coolest thing ever.
Who could ask for more? Certainly not me.
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And the sun kicks in, like a killer through the curtain |
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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =
Canada
11687 Posts |
Posted - 10/17/2003 : 15:58:00
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Sweet Maria, now they've brought back I Love Your Brain?!?!?!!? And Brackish Boy?!
You lucky SOBs. Thanks for the solid review and track list.
 "Join the Cult of Frank / And you'll be enlightened" |
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cuic
- FB Fan -
9 Posts |
Posted - 10/17/2003 : 18:21:45
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This really was a great show... I came from Paris to attend it and when my friend and I took our car to go back home, we stopped for gaz in a station 50 miles away from Lille. Whhen we arrived to pay, we saw Rich Gilbert and the bus driver paying for gaz also... We talked together for a few minutes... What a night....
cuic |
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Fu Manchu
- FB Fan -
France
17 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2003 : 01:50:47
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thanks a lot for the setlist jediroller !! i was trying to get it on paper but i wasn't finding "all my ghosts"
it was an awesome show !! caribou, brackish boy, freedom rock, i love your brain !! only st francis dam could have made this set better for me
thanks a lot frank, you proved you're no dancing bear (+ he talked a little bit, see above)
thanks a lot rich, you crazy guitar player (wtf is that transparent pink guitar which he played the encore on? and about the pedal: is this handmade by rich or what??)
and thanks a lot for the rest of the band, just beeing so great everytime!
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TheSnake
- FB Fan -
France
20 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2003 : 01:51:38
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It was a really awesome show!
I was in the first row, so I had the chance to get a drum stick, cool!! But I wish I was in the "tall-FB-nerds-who know -all-the-songs" corner too, because the first rows seemed to be majoritory people who came only for Pixies' songs and old stuff. They looked pissed off when FB played songs from last albums, and just look at me as if I were a fanatic, only because I was singing along the all concert. But it's cool that so different people are coming to FB's shows, and with different expectations.
Even if I heard after the concert some people saying "it was too short and he played too much country shit", I think almost everybody found a reason to be pleased with this fantastic set list!
It's difficult to find a favorite moment in the show, but if I had to, I would choose the powerfull sequence : Freedom Rock/Massif Central. The 4 openings songs were awesome too.
I really like the way FB revisit his former stuff with the catholics, and the way they adapt their own material every night, every show is a surprise.
I hope I'll be able to see them again in Brussels, I can't wait!!
Like the reign of Mastodon, like the alleys of old Lyon
I'll be blue |
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edisdead
- FB Fan -
France
4 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2003 : 03:12:43
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Great show. Big sound.
I think FB and the catholics were performing better than i've ever seen before.
NB: Dave P was as good as J.Santiago when playing pixies riffs.
and Rich was amazing playing guitar with his teeth. |
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dagenhamdave
- FB Fan -
1 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2003 : 04:09:40
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I was in le splendid yesterday...
For those who were in l'aeronef, last year, this show wasn't as good as we could wait...only 1h30, just 1 "rappel"...What about "fu manchu"? "hang on to your ego"? Even if you were not here for old pixies songs, FB has classical songs, he can't do without |
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Frog in the Sand
-+ Le premiere frog +-
France
2715 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2003 : 04:57:45
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| Thanks for the report, Jedi. It's so well written I almost feel as if I was there. I'm so eager to see Frank on Nov. 6! Sure I won't resist the temptation to follow him in Germany. You know, I live only 2-3 kms from the border... |
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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2003 : 08:29:20
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Thank you for your comments, everybody.
Yann, c'est trop, je suis gêné :-)
Dagenham Dave, I love "Fu Manchu" but... I wouldn't hold "Hang On To Your Ego" as "the classical FB song he can't do without" - and not only because it's a cover.
We all have personal favourites, and there are lots of FB songs I would love to hear live, but come on! We got "Headache" and "Freedom Rock", "Abstract Plain", "Robert Onion" (with yours truly and the other nerds yelling "Laaayers! and! laaayers! and! laaayers!"... that was fun)!
As for the duration of show, I'd say we got a truly amazing encore - six songs ain't bad for an encore, and they played "Brackish Boy"! Of course time flies and you'd like every gig as good as that one to last 3 hours, but it was a really great show, they gave us all they had, and I really walked away from there feeling satisfied, not at all frustrated. Ah, maybe I'm not a real uberfan after all :) I missed the concert at the Aeronef though, so I can't compare.
Now for some concert-related tidbits:
- I went to the gig with my workmate. As we were on the sidewalk waiting for the doors to open, I told him, "I bet they open with Nadine". Ha ha. See the list...
- Right after that I bumped into a fan who'd come from Paris to see (and stealthily record) FB & the Catholics. He said he owned lots of live recordings and I told him about frankblack.net (which he didn't know about) and the FTP site. Hope he checks it out. If he does, well, salut Bruno! J'espère que l'enregistrement s'est bien passé :-)
- Same guy told me he'd read on the Internet that FB owned a house in Massif Central! I was very surprised & doubtful. "Well, he has a song about getting one, but it's more of a dream...", I began. "No, no, he's got one, actually he already used to have a house down in the South [of France], and now he's bought one in Massif Central..." I still don't believe it!
- It was a bit weird to see all these young'uns, much younger than I am (I'm 33) but knowing only the Pixies songs. I understand the importance of the Pixies, blah blah blah, but frankly, FB isn't exactly doing music for pensioners today. Here's hoping the gig made them want to check out his latest material.
- Also, overheard something that went approximately like this: "Yeah, they said that Frank would reunite the Pixies, but in fact he couldn't bring back Kim because she hates him or something"...
- I really wanted to yell something to the effect of "Frank, you're not a fucking dancing bear!", you know, just to remind The Man that the Cult of Frankblack.net always has an eye on him wherever he goes :-) but I was certain he wouldn't hear me, so I wisely kept my witticisms to myself.
The concert has ended around 10.30 pm on Friday night. It is now 5.15 pm on Saturday and my ears are still ringing!
The End.
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And the sun kicks in, like a killer through the curtain |
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Frog in the Sand
-+ Le premiere frog +-
France
2715 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2003 : 10:52:51
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| Franck, tu es le meilleur... après Frank ! |
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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =
Canada
11687 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2003 : 10:54:01
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quote:
Originally posted by Fu Manchu
and about the pedal: is this handmade by rich or what??)
I can't say for sure one way or another, but I know that Rich has a lot of technical/electrical expertise, so it wouldn't surprise me.
"Join the Cult of Frank / And you'll be enlightened" |
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BartMan
- FB Fan -
Netherlands
4 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2003 : 13:45:43
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-It is realy good to find out that some people are actually keeping track of which songs are played during the gig. Now it will stick even better in my memory. I saw the show in Lille and was impressed as usual by the strong performance. What I should not have done was position myself almost in front of the left speaker tower on the left (Gilbert) side of the stage.
It took a day before the hearing came back to my left ear.
The volume was bearable until somewhere around Massif Central where Frank changed his acoustic guitar for the Telecaster. Then the best and loudest part of the show started , and even though I felt there was too much noise, I had no intention to move myself.
-I know it is not cool lately to like the Pixies songs too much, but still nothing can make my year more than a simple and hard live version of a Pixies song by the man himself. Nevertheless I think that his latest albums are absolutely brilliant, and even more when played live.
-I am sure the effect pedals from RG are the ones you can just buy in the store, but the wooden plate where they are all fitted on is self made. Actually he was messing around with his pedals between the songs because one of them wasn’t working. It was great to see him play guitar with his teeth on that see-through guitar that he used during the last songs.
Can’t wait to see the shows in Brussels and the Netherlands !
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ramona
"FB Quote Mistress"
USA
3988 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2003 : 14:25:30
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This is all making me so sad! I am on the wrong side of the ocean now and it's horrible!  |
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Scarla O
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
947 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2003 : 01:15:17
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The setlist from these shows in France are great! |
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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2003 : 02:37:15
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For the record, my ears are still ringing...
Bart, don't misunderstand me. I was as thrilled as anybody there when they opened with "Where Is My Mind?". But I don't think the most important thing about a FB concert is "Which Pixies songs did they play?" - that's just icing on the cake.
And I really don't think any of this is about what is cool and what is not. Do Frank Black fans care about coolness? To quote Danny Glover, "I'm too old for this shit" :-)
Have fun at the Belgian and Dutch shows, Bart. And maybe keep us posted?...
I'm also glad I wrote down the list - I look at it now and think about what a damn great gig it was. The list alone is awesome.
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And the sun kicks in, like a killer through the curtain |
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Scarla O
= Cult of Ray =
United Kingdom
947 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2003 : 02:40:47
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Hi Jediroller, where does your signature come from? |
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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2003 : 02:51:44
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Hi Scarla
Thanks for asking :-)
Jedi Rollers are, or were, an obscure rock/hip hop South African band, from Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape. I had the pleasure of meeting frontman Hagen Engler (http://www.hagenshouse.co.za) a few times - he was a friend of a friend. Nice guy - lekker oke, if you prefer :-)
So I thought I'd steal his band's name.
It's an homage really :-)
You can view this as a kind of permanent plug.
One of my unfulfilled dreams in life is to own a Jedi Rollers t-shirt.
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And the sun kicks in, like a killer through the curtain |
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jediroller
* Dog in the Sand *
France
1718 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2003 : 02:55:14
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Aw crap. I'm so dumb. You said "signature" and I understood "name". Let's do it again.
The signature is from a Mountain Goats song, from "Tallahassee", last year's album on 4ad.
Sorry about the misunderstanding.
Ah well. At least it's good for my post count :)
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And the sun kicks in, like a killer through the curtain |
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