Joseph Arthur Café de la Danse Paris, FR

One of the concerts we were really looking forward to when we got to Paris was the Joseph Arthur concert at Cafe de la Danse. We had found tickets for his concert while looking for things to do when we were in Paris and purchased them immediately – unfortunately we were going to have to pick the tickets up at FNAC. We went out walking that day – oh my god did we walk – we walked up to the Opera from our apartment and then walked all the way over to Le Bois de Boulogn looking for the rose gardens – we never did find the rose garden – but we did find ourselves in this wonderful garden filled with peacocks, flowers, grottos and statuary. We got alot of great pictures of that park.

When we got back we were exhausted and were going to settle in for the night but then realized that the Joseph concert was that night. We had about a half hour to make it over to the Bastille area, pick up the tickets and find the theater. We raced out the door. Oh god it was hot that night. We were both sweating like pigs. We got over to the FNAC only to find it closed for the night – so we decided to try to find the theater anyway and see if there were any tickets available at the door – and we also thought well concerts never start on time we’ll make it. Wrong. We got to the theater and did find that there were tickets available – but that he had already started the show – right on time. We got in and stood the entire show over on the sidelines under the stairs watching Joseph give a great one man performance.

Once the concert was over we decided we wanted to buy one of the CD that was recorded of the nights performance – this is one of the things I really like about Joseph – he is always recording his preformances and you can take them home with you that night. We got in line and it was a long line. I didn’t think we were going to get a cd – most of the people up in front of us were looking at the tshirts and some were buying cds – i didn’t see anybody buying anything and i signaled that i wanted to purchase a cd and the sales guy handed one over to me – my luck – it was the last one of the night. Right at that point Joseph came out and was gong to sign things for his fans. David got him to sign his ticket stub and i got him to sign the back of the CD cover. I didn’t make any small talk with Joseph – but David did – told him that he thought “tonight’s show was good but it wasn’t as good as the one at the Troubadour” – that illicited a chuckle from Joseph and we left for the night feeling giddy – and had dinner.

Madonna Petco Park and Dodger Stadium

When David and I first met Madonna had just released her song Borderline. The song was great and I loved the video at the time. We didn’t buy her LP at the time – but I do remember buying the 45 of the song Borderline – i think it was one of the first purchases we made together. I love this 45 – it was such a hot concept – the cover for the 45 was a poster folded up to hold the piece of vinyl. We still have it and it is in pristine shape. Of course the type is difficult to read – it seems in the early 80’s that was a big thing typesetting wise – make everything indescribably difficult to read. I’ve scanned in some of the cover for you.

Of course she was the sensation all over the place at that time. And we thought just like everybody else she would soon just be another name, but we were all wrong. She has continued to be a great musical wonder – changing her style all the time and yet able to keep her fan base.

Our next encounter with her was with a man whom i had gone out with a number of time in the past in Seattle. Chuck Gerra “Upchuck” (by the way there is a new CD out with Chuck’s music on it if you’re interested Upchuck) called to tell me he was going to be in a Madonna film “Desperately Seeking Susan”. I remember watching the movie a couple of times just to see Chuck in the elevator with Madonna.

We have been buying her cds for sometime now and always have enjoyed her music but had never seen her. While I was looking on francebillet.com I noticed there were going to be tickets available soon for Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet tour in Nice – of course we weren’t going to be in Nice for the concert – but I wanted to see her and we had to get tickets to see her in Southern California. It was imperative. After seeing her at Coachella Fest in 2006 we couldn’t miss her. That show at Coachella Fest had been one of the most exciting experiences we had come across in the many concerts we had attended, especially great was how Paul Oakenfold played non-stop for over an hour in the big tent before she came on and the hot sticky nature of the tent filled with thousands of people just hoping to catch a glimpse of Madonna was just incredible. We had to go – so we had three computers fired up to get tickets in Los Angeles.

We wanted to get up close but when it got to purchasing the tickets for the LA show we got tickets in the first tier behind 3rd base line row M. Not bad – when we did see her at Dodger Stadium – it was a great site line to the stage, but I’m jumping ahead. David was on another desk and wanted to see if he could get seats closer to the stage – and decided since we couldn’t get tickets for Las Vegas – we might as well try to get tickets for the Petco Stadium in San Diego. I don’t know how he did it but he got us seats in the 24th row from the stage. I thought that was pretty cool. Of course our bank account didn’t like the hit – but you only live once – right? So we bought them. Oh my god they were so much better than we thought they would be. When we got into the stadium we found the seats – they were about 8 seats away from the catwalk that she was going to use during most of the performance.

The spent the morning of the concert in a line that we didn’t expect waiting to vote. It didn’t take that long but if there was a line in Las Palmas then there were going to be lines all over the country to vote. So we voted and got on our way to San Diego. Well since we had just got married and we had spent money to see Madonna we decided to stay at a hotel close to the stadium. We stayed at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina – the room and the hotel were very nice – a bit overpriced – but it made it very easy to get to the concert and to get out of the concert. We went out and walked around the stadium, picked up our tickets at the will call and then we went out to have a nice dinner. We ended up a a restaurant called Blue Point – we had enjoyed a meal there a couple of years earlier and decided to try it again. The food was great, the wine was wonderful and we had a great time. The anticipation of seeing Madonna was getting to us – so we decided to just go over to the stadium and get to our seats. Well we didn’t rush in – instead we bought some t-shirts – which cost of fortune and then made our way to our seats. Man were we close.

We heard there was going to be a opening act but nobody knew who it was going to be. Then the dj stand appeared on the catwalk and it was our favorite DJ – Paul Oakenfold – this was an added bonus and it was great because he had played before Madonna the last time we had seen her. We took a moment and went up to the stage to give Paul the thumbs up – we really were enjoying his music. Or course everybody was involved with their phones trying to find out what was happening as far as the election was going. I had the blackberry tuned into the web and was getting updates as fast as they were coming in. I finally got an alert saying that Obama had won and that McCain was going to concede. When I told David this he just stood up and said very loudly – his hands cupped over his mouth – “Okay – listen up everybody – Obama just won!” – oh my god – the cheer from all around that heard David’s shout was very loud and exciting and I guess disturbing to Paul Oakenfold – read what he has to say on his myspace blog about that night. – His set over the crowd became anxious about Madonna coming out and we didn’t wait very long. Oh my god what a show. We didn’t get any video of the show and David’s camera went dead after we took the first couple shots before the concert. But there are plenty of postings on youtube that can give you idea what it was like that night.

Here is one of the opening song from that night – Madonna had some great visual graphics going on before she came on stage – I hope she puts it on the DVD when she does release a DVD of the concert because it was incredible.

Every song was great even the one where she forgot the words – her energy was explosive and every person in the park was up and enjoying the show. David and I both especially liked her performance of the song “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You” – I found this one video on youTube that shows what a great performance this was even though it is not from that night.

here is one from san diego – even though it isn’t very close to the stage – it captures the feeling.

Of course one of the high points of the night was when she talked about the election and the crowd cheered and cheered – it was such an exciting feeling to be with all these people and cheering in the new and getting rid of the old. I have to say though that the most visually exciting piece of the concert was the “4 minutes” piece. The use of video and sound was just over the top – especially the four rolling stands that had videos playing on them of speakers and then became videos of Justin Timberlake dancing and Madonna dancing to the videos – it was an exciting moment of stage performance. We were pretty exhausted by the end of the concert and struggled through the sea of people to get outside of the stadium and back to the hotel.

Thursday we left Palm Springs at 5:30 pm to get to the Dodger Stadium by 9. It should have been a piece of cake and it was easy getting all the way into LA. We were at the 101 and Grand exit by 7 – and with the Dodger stadium only 1 mile away you would have thought that we had got there in plenty of time. But no – we were caught in a traffic jam the likes I haven’t seen in my life. It tooks us until 10 pm that night to get into a parking place and finally start walking to the stadium which was a good distance away. Fortunately Madonna didn’t go on until 10 and we only missed the first song and while we were taking our time getting to our seats, bathroom break was really needed and then a good stiff drink – Britney Spears came out and did a song with Madonna. Finally we made it to our seats and we had a really good time. The seats allowed us to see the show from a different perspective and it really was a solid show even from the distance of the ball field. The big moment of course was when the song “4 minutes” was played instead of the videos – Justin Timberlake – came out and did the song with Madonna. That was the topper. It was a long day especially after having sat in the traffic jam – but we really had a great time.

Coachella day two

Got onto the road same time as the day before – but the car line to get in was slow moving so we missed to the two early shows we wanted to view. CarbonSilicon. But the security lines were short – no searching of under hats, bags were not inspected. 120 Days were a very exciting group – the set though seemed a bit short – but we both really enjoyed and are looking forward to seeing them again. Bonde do Role I had heard before on one of our complilation cds from inRadio now Ecolocations. Bonde do Role were a great treat – exciting and really had the crowd in the tent jumping around – lots of smoke filtering through the group – . Stepped over to hear MGMT but didn’t really hear anything we thought worth staying for. We then made our way over to listen to Café Tacuba as the LA Times had claimed they were very good to listen to. We sat in the beer garden and listened – it was very load and we just sat there listening to all of the noise, Dwight Yoakam and Café Tacuba trading barbs for our right and left ear, while the chill dance tent in the middle of grounds was competing for some of our attention. Once the Café were done we made it over to stand and wait through the set of the whining Death Cab for Cutie set – boy the Seattle boys certainly whined alot about the desert, LA and shit – it wasn’t that thrilling of a set. Kraftwerk was a great blast from the past – and an exciting beginning of what was a very long evening. They played Tour d’ France and that was really great as Mr. D and I bought that extended playing lp when we first met – also alot of older songs which we both really enjoyed. We left the area for Portishead audience coming in droves once Kraftwerk was finished. It was a long dreary set – where were we when they were very popular – what were listening too. couldn’t fathom how we had missed this teutonic drone. We decided after half the set was done to try to get into the mix for the Prince appearance. We thought oh my god we aren’t going to get close but we slowly snaked our way down to about 100 ft from the front stage. It took forever for Prince to come out but I have to admit it was well worth it. We finally got home about 3 am that night and just felt we didn’t want to see Rodger Waters and we know that even though we were going to miss Dimitri of Paris we would have to forego the day and get some rest. We’ve got some up and coming events we are really looking forward to. Bruce Springsteen, Radiohead, Joseph Arthur, Bloc Party, Eddie Izzard, Madonna – sounds pretty exciting and it is spread out over sometime so that will make it easier to accomodate.

Joseph Arthur Troubadour November 9, 2006 – The Pet Shop Boys – The Wiltern – November 8, 2006

There are few moments indeed in life when truly exhilarating musical moments are exhibited on stage, after all of the concerts Mr. A and I have attended in the last couple of years, I can probably count less than six such performances – Thursday night at the Troubadour Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts came on to the stage and rifled through the first four songs of Nuclear Daydream with precision, tight licks and energy leading to a full-tilt electrical crescendo with Electrical Storm. My God! Joseph has put together a fine group of musicians behind him, who keep up with his bright smile and pulsing emotional lyrics – belting out a wild rendition of one of the best songs on Nuclear Daydream: Electrical Storm. It went on forever and I for one couldn’t see the end coming, I was so wrapped up in the beat and sound, watching the guitarists, the drummer, the percussionist and Joseph melt, intertwine and make a great sound and lyrical montage. You could see on Joseph’s face and the rest of the members of the band that they had reached that point of no return that moment when sound and lyric had reached a zenith, an emotional black hole that swelled while capturing this voice and their backbeats. Drums, guitars, voice all swallowed up in a measured roar and then it ended. As I stood there mesmerized by this song I wanted to cry. Song ends – Devil’s Broom comes up and starts us off down another road.

Well here we were once again at the Troubadour. We had such a great time at this venue the last time we were there, when we saw Patti Smithperform her Horses anniversary concert with Lenny Kaye, her daughter and Flea – what an incredible concert that was, four hundred fans who were waiting in line to get in – and the incredible rendition of Birdland was heart stopping and another one of those moments when the crowd, musicians and air was tangled up in a maelstrom of energy – much what I felt watching Joseph and group playing Electrical Storm. I was really mesmerized. Unlike the Patti concert – there wasn’t a line when we arrived. It took us 3 hours to get into LA for this concert and the night before when we saw the Pet Shop Boys at the Wiltern it only took us and hour and half to get in from Palm Springs, incredible traffic Thursday – bumper to bumper all the way from San Bernardino. More about the Pet Shop Boys below. Open act Annie Stela was better this time, I enjoyed her music and I had the vantage point of seeing her better from the side of the stage. She is an accomplished music writer and she really plays with a heartfelt stomp, her two band mates, bass and drum and an incredible backup to her songs, they really romp – on occasion I felt they overwhelmed the music and yet it was good to listen to. Ms. Stela did one song that I felt exceptional in her set, where she was accompanied by her drummer on percussion and the guitarist and no organ. Really enjoyed that song. Mr. A. snagged her set list, thought I’d share.

Unlike the night at the El Rey there is a smaller tighter group of people in the Troubadour. Joseph and crew seemed more relaxed, less hyperactive, but intent on putting out a great show. We once again had a great stage place, the stage wasn’t chest high more like knee high so the closeness of the group to us was less daunting. No set list to grab Mr. A grabbed the poster off the wall – thanks Mr. A and there were some songs played I didn’t recognize, and I am looking forward to the recording of this set at the Troubadour which is supposed to come in the mail soon. Joseph came out and played an encore set with two songs acoustic and then the Lonely’s came out to join him – lots of cheering and noise and off they went once again, only to come out one more time. Joseph was dressed in a red orange leisure suit , marked from front to back with his drawings, his acoustic guitar was covered with his paintings of black and blue, he also played a triangular shaped guitar and an electric sitar for one of his encore melodies. Joseph took to the stage wearing mirrored sunglasses for the first four songs taking them off for Electrical Storm. Joining him on the stage was an artist decked out in heavy neck jewelry, who during the set did drawings off to the left side of the stage, Joseph holding them up during different songs, I don’t believe any of them were particularly impressive and it was a small diversion when the artist would walk around the stage. While Joseph did this incredible piece of music during the encore that I had never heard before the artist sat in yoga position behind Joseph trying his best to look like he was trying to meditate in the wall of sound, the song is probably on Junkyard Hearts collection which we don’t have but will soon purchase – it was an incredible droning melody with Joseph making low droning sounds into the microphone and the Lonely Astronauts joining in. As I said they said they recorded the concert and a cd was forthcoming which we purchased at the end of the concert with Holding the Void another great collection of songs and the ep and The Theives Are Gone – man I really like this short grouping of songs – personal favorites off of these two – “Savior Of The Sun” and “Blue Jay and Honey Bee“.

Unfortunately we got into LA so late Thursday night we were not able to get over to the Virgin Store on Sunset to get Neil and Chris to sign our EP of West End Girls from 1984, which we would have loved to do, as we had such a great time at their concert at the Wiltern November 8, 2006. For all of the cars that were in the parking lot when we arrived we thought we would be in the back rows with our GA (general admission) tickets, but we found ourselves about a foot back from where we usually stand at the Wiltern, front rail to the right first tier, which is a great vantage point, we stood there when we saw Bowie February, 04, Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds two nights in a row and the Pogues a few weeks earlier. The crowd was not as rough and ready as the Pogues audience but it did fill up quickly after we arrived. The set was minimal, a box with what looked like a shot of a dissected brain, music up and a couple of men came out – the crowd cheered thinking it was Neil and Chris, the two men faced the crowd posed, and another pair came out to another section of the stage and posed and finally the boys came out to a thunderous applause. The crew dressed like Ommpa-Lumpa TV technicians removed the brain images to reveal silhouette images of the boys and the Pet Shop Boys got down to business and did Psychological. This was the beginning of a great concert. Luckily we were within the ranks of a very adoring crowd – men and women who knew the words to most of the songs, and they played allot of their hits and quiet a number of songs from their newest CD Fundamental. Highlights of the nights included using the back staging of boxes sheathed in a very translucent material for staging – Rent was incredibly staged with Neil sitting behind the translucent screen while a dancer on the upper level to the right did some modeled stances, and the use of the boxes with translucent material was very effective during the medley of Minimal from Fundamental, Shopping for Actually, Dreaming of the Queen from Very (which if there was a dry eye in the house I would be surprised, I was carried over by such emotion from this song and the images being shot over the screen of the funeral procession for Diane and the music swelling and the dancers and Neil standing to the left of the stage in a sort of mourning stance, memories of those days, all of the friends we have lost over the years, my brother, my mothers who is very ill – I couldn’t stop the flow of the tears) and then that led into Heart from Actually – which revved up the engines again and took all those sad tears into happy oblivion. There was so much to love about this concert – there was the 20 minute intermission which was a bit strange – to get so ramped up and then have to stop in mid concert for a rest, but the boys came back out and did an incredible job on Numb from Fundamental with the beautiful Soviet imagery, snow and Neil and dancers dressed in winter garb, I’m with Stupid from Fundamental, Se la Vida from Bilingual, It’s a Sin from Actually, West End Girls – yes they did it – Where The Streets Have No Name (Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You) from Discography with an incredible back drop of cowboy dancers in gold lame and Neil face very stoically posted, The Sodom And Gomorrah Show from Fundamental and so much more I have lost track of everything we saw – it was a truly exciting show, but the best was saved for last – final encore – third – the boys did Go West from Very – what a great way to end the show – everybody joining in with the singing – Go West where the air is clean, waving their hands in the air in unison – it was a great concert. d