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.

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

Two Great Shows Back to Back – Joseph Arthur El Rey, The Pogues The Wiltern

Update: Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts at the Troubadour November 9, 2006.

Made it over to LA in good time both nights, arriving at 7:30 in front of the El Rey

to see Joseph Arthur. Doors were supposed to be open at 7 so figured we wouldn’t be standing up at the stage, but doors didn’t open until 8:30 and David while talking to our friend Jack captured incredibly the spot right at the stage, where Joseph chose later that night to stand right above us. Gotta say I felt a bit uncomfortable being up so close – my ears were still ringing from our experience with Mew and Bloc Party. Ages varied around us, some seemed as old as us, but most of the people around us were definitely younger. Doesn’t matter if you love someone’s music. We both really have a thing for Joseph’s music and lyrics, incredibly touching brooding optimistic sounds. The vantage point we had gave us a different perspective of the stage, my initial scan of the stage was fascinated with the cords and assorted pieces of instruments scattered about the stage, some of them decorated by Joseph’s alien art, and attached to the organ to the right of the stage an album cover from the 60’s Miss Pat Collins the Hip Hypnotist “

taking me down a nostalgic road of seeing her on Mike Douglas, the Lucy Show, etc.“ that crazy hair, and hypnotism, what did it have to do with Joseph was my question? The opening act Annie Stela wasn’t my cup of tea, not that she and her band weren’t good, I just couldn’t get into her music, I was struck by these absurd thoughts from my vantage point I could see her shoes stomping out the beat as she sat in front of the Roland 3000 she was playing, and I could see her upper torso from about mid upper arm and my head kept thinking she was without arms, just singing in front of the organ – it wasn’t until she stood up to sing next to last song did I notice she had hands to play the organ – great song though – the drummer and bass player really were excellent musicians – just couldn’t get into the music/lyrics and the kind of folksy moved here from Michigan, wrote this wedding song for a friend thing – even to point where some unattached voice from behind us asked the singer if the couple were still married. Curtain closes, polite applause.

Sat around waiting for Joseph until 10 when he finally came out with his band that we had seen a few nights before on David Letterman. Of course David and I and probably everybody else thought they were going to have a nostalgic performance of all of our favorite songs by Joseph but from the very start you knew you were going to be treated to a whole set of music, hard rocking ballads with a hard edged band backing him up, some of the band members as well as Joseph were dressed up in particularly funky costumes, Joseph had this great orange looked like leisure suit thing with embroidery of some of his art, going well with his acoustic guitar that was covered with his drawings and small plastic dinosaurs glued onto the front panel of the guitar, and at the top of the fret board a plastic worm or snake, the guitarist behind him dressed in an aerobics suit from the seventies, fish net stockings fashionably torn at the buttocks, sweat band and impish smile, the drummer had the throwback look of a young Monkeys look alike and the organ player/guitarist to our right was dressed rather plainly – but he could play that guitar. Joseph was in fine form – up close we lost some of the finer points of the music, but it was great having him stand right above us, Dave A was a bit intimidated by having him stand directly over him, but no matter he really enjoyed the entire performance. Josephs and crew were recording the concert and sold Cds of the live performance after the show. The third piece of music Enough To Get Away/Slide Away was very evocative, Joseph towards the end of the song climbed above the drums and sang a howling dirge that was highlighted by the lights and smoke in the theater – really sent chills down my spine. At the end of the concert Dave A jumped up on to the stage and grabbed the set list off the floor of the stage:

Of course this is not the set list he actually played: here is the set list as far as I can tell from listening over and over to the live recording we bought
Too Much To Hide
Black Lexus
Enough To Get Away/Slide Away
Cocaine Feet
Electrical Storm
Devil’s Broom
September Song
Precious One
Good Life
Honey and the Moon
Famous Friends Along The Coast
Mercedes
In The Sun
Miss You

The new CD Nuclear Daydream is definitely worth purchasing. Joseph is supposed to play the Troubadour Nov. 9th.

Friday we raced over to the Wiltern so see The Pogues with Dirty Pretty Things, instead of Dirty Pretty Things, we got to see two unknown groups to us, Angel City Outlaws and Ollin, Angel City Outlaws were incredibly loud for an empty hall – it was early and LA audiences being who they are didn’t really show up until late into the Ollin set, but ACO were very good, kind of Clash meets up with 50s rock, lively set, enjoyed it a lot, and then the boys from East LA Ollin came out and did an incredible set, their Mexican Irish bent on the music was exciting and fun, everybody around us was rocking to their sound and they had the entire audience by the end of their performance in their hands – these guys are up and comers. The Pogues have not aged well looks wise, of course so have we – Shawn and crew had lost their hair, grown heavy or wiry, but boy did they put on a show, good solid Irish rock, lots of emotions, unfortunately I haven’t listened to them enough as of late, so words were not in my head to remember during the songs so I felt a bit off in keeping up with the emotions those around me were feeling. There was a lot of booze flowing around, lots of beer and whiskey, and there was shoving going on around us, as the show progressed everybody was feeling the emotions, by the time they went off the first time, the crowd had been banging around, pushing us up against the rail, by the time Fairytale in New York happened it was a full on jump dancing enjoyment, it isn’t often you get the crowd so wound up, last time we saw it was Bloc Party at the Palladium. Had a great sweaty time and I spent all day yesterday listening once again to Peace and Love and Hell’s Ditch.