dimanche 19 décembre 2010

Live report: 16th December 2010, POKETT(FR) + SAM AMIDON(US) at Espace B, Paris

This was my last concert of the year (I think). Good lineup here: the French band Pokett and the American folk multi-instrumentalist Sam Amidon. The venue was not very crowded, good audience, good artists.

























Pokett(FR)
Folk rock/acoustica/pop
Labels: French Toast / Clapping Music / BS Records / Anticraft

Pokett(FR) at Espace B, Paris
Pokett(FR) at Espace B, Paris
Pokett(FR) at Espace B, Paris
Pokett(FR) at Espace B, Paris

9:20pm - 10:05pm
This band is part of the good French bands for me, because I saw some French ones that are not that good or awful. There were the frontman Stéphane Garry on guitar, the guitar player David Lopez, a young Asian woman on the bass and a drummer. Oliver Peel told me that the bass player played on the French band Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The band played most of the songs from their last album 'Three Free Trees' and a few songs from the previous albums (I guess there were: ''Strange' from the 2nd album 'The Peak', Marmelade' from the record 'Crumble', two favorite oldies). Stephane's gentle voice + songs on electric guitar and drums + nice melodies: good performance! They closed the show by druming at 3 guys.

Pokett - Someone You Know (official music video)





Sam Amidon(US)
Labels: Bedroom Community, Plug Research 

Sam Amidon(US) at Espace B, Paris
Sam Amidon(US) at Espace B, Paris
Sam Amidon(US) at Espace B, Paris
Sam Amidon(US) at Espace B, Paris
Sam Amidon(US) at Espace B, Paris
Sam Amidon(US) at Espace B, Paris
Sam Amidon(US) at Espace B, Paris
Sam Amidon(US) at Espace B, Paris
Sam Amidon(US) at Espace B, Paris
Give him support!

10:25pm - 11:35pm
I discovered him because he played with Owen Pallett, Nico Muhly, Beth Orton, Lightspeed Champion at the Union Chapel in London in January 2010 and I hoped all year to see him perform in Paris. And fortunately, he came to a single show on that 16th December, it was like a Christmas present. He played shows in Europe with many great artists including some I mentioned months ago, e.g. Leif Vollebekk and Snailhouse. This tall man with curly hair played mostly songs from his 3rd and last album 'I See The Sign', one of my favorite songs of him 'Saro', and 2 songs as the encore, one of them was his excellent cover of the song 'Relief' by R. Kelly from his last album 'Love Letters'. Sad that all the instruments like violins, flutes, trumpets, piano were missing. His solo performance was stunning and he interacted well with the audience of about 50 people, told some jokes, and invited them to sing along on some songs. I think it's on his song 'As I Roved Out' where he did some strange sounds with his voice, which made people smile and laugh. He was joined by a drummer on a few songs. Very nice and stunning performance!


Unsure setlist:
Way Go, Lily (with audience singing along)
Prodigal Son
Saro
Rain and Snow
Johanna The Row-di (with audience singing along)
You Better Mind
As I Roved Out
Pretty Fair Damsel
Climbing High Mountains
[encore]
Relief (R. Kelly cover) (with audience singing along)
More pictures:



Well-written reviews with more details: