Live report: 18th September 2010, WOODPIGEON(CAN) + YETI LANE(FR) + PLANTS & ANIMALS(CAN) at Flèche d'Or, Paris

I don't like when interesting bands play the same night in different venues, so you have to make a decision and not regret it. That night in Paris the Canadian artists Peter Kernel and Wolf Parade played at Point Ephémère. Also the English young singer Siobhan Wilson, the French bands Kid Francescoli and Edward Barrow at l'International. I heard good feedbacks of this two shows the next day. I went to the gig at Flèche d'Or.

Here was the lineup there (approximative time):

 before 9:00pm? - 9:25pm: Woodpigeon solo(CAN)

10:00pm - 10:45pm: Yeti Lane(FR)

11:15pm - 00:24am: Plants and Animals(CAN)

 

Woodpigeon

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I forgot (again) how far Flèche d'Or is from metro stations and didn't know that Woodpigeon opened the show. I arrived there just before 9:00pm and the venue was quite crowded, maybe about 60-80 people. The attentive audience was watching Mark Hamilton, the bearded frontman of Woodpigeon who played alone on stage. A bit surprising to see him alone, because the idea of a small orchestra with instruments like cello, violin and many musicians on stage spring to mind when talking of Woodpigeon, but not that much surprising in a French venue, you can understand that not all bands can come abroad with all the usual members. It made me think of the great UK band Broadcast 2000 who also came in this venue with only 3 members on stage. How about the performance of Woodpigeon? He played ukulele, guitar and loop pedals. As he was alone on stage, some people would think that it couldn't be a very impressive performance, but I quite liked that 'intimist' atmosphere. I missed Woodpigeon's gig at Espace B in last May and read good reviews and got positive feedbacks from people, so this time, it was the chance to confirm that by myself. I don't know which songs he played, but I remember that the songs were good, Mark's particular soft voice alongside guitar melodies. Calm and good folk songs. The audience was so attentive that you could hear the (same) creaking door of the venue when people came in the gig room, talking loudly. I must admit that I prefered the 20 minutes I saw from Woodpigeon than the 2 hours from the two other bands. The last album 'Die Stadt Musikanten' with the bonus EP 'Balladeer' sounds good. And Mark is a very nice person.

 

Yeti Lane

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The French duo Yeti Lane came on stage after 10:00pm. Drums, pianos, electric guitars, analog synthetizers, material with several buttons and a laptop on stage. Shoegaze songs and experimental rhythms. It wasn't bad, but I didn't like the same music notes on each song that made me feel a bit bored and lost. It's like the song doesn't have any end or a definite melody, but why not? I probably appreciate their songs when listening again on their website, but at the time, I didn't really like it... :/

Plants and Animals

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I heard good feedbacks about this band based in Montreal and bad feedbacks about the cover art of their last album... Plants and Animals are a 3-piece band with a drummer, a bassist and a lead singer on guitar. Energic rock songs, fast and straight beats. I didn't enjoy all their songs, but they played some good ones, the two or three last songs... at the end of their set and at their short encore including the song 'Bye Bye Bye'. People in the audience, especially girls, enjoyed the show and danced a lot. A supportive French audience there. Good then. They played late and finished... late, at 00:25pm! So, people rushed to the exit door to catch the last metro or the last bus.

More pictures of the show:

Read the live report of the show about Yeti Lane and Plants and Animals, by Oliver Peel of Konzerttagebuch (in German).

Check out the pictures by Sarah Bastin at Le Hiboo: Woodpigeon, Yeti Lane, Plants and Animals.
Check out the session of Woodpigeon at Planet Claire on February 2009.