Category:Music
We spent last weekend in Paris, France. Nothing too much exciting. We went to Paris to go see Mylene Farmer at the Palais Omnisport de Bercy. We bought the tickets for last Saturday’s concert in December of 2004.
Mylene Farmer is one of my favorite artists. Her concerts are renowned for their extravagance: beautiful costumes, lot’s of dancers, excellent lightshow and many surprises. She decided to promote her latest album Avant que l’Ombre… with just 13 shows in Paris. She did not want to play concerts anywhere else.
I was expecting it to be big, but I have never seen a stage show like Saturday’s concert! I was just blown away: 2 stages, big video screens, lights everywhere, surround sound effects. It was awesome. Ticket prices were quite high, but it was worth it every penny.
The only drawback of the night: the hostesses that we guiding us to our seats asked us for a little token of appreciation. We paid 132 EUR per ticket and those girls actually had the nerve to ask for a tip!
The release date for the Born to Run 30th Anniversary box is drawing near. Just a few more days… After tonight, I can hardly wait. Sony-BMG and my good friends at Be True had organized a private screening of the concert DVD that comes with the box. I had to drive all the way up to Almere for it, but it was worthwhile. We got to see part of the concert in world premiere. It is just wow!
This is just the best of Springsteen on DVD I’ve ever seen. Although the concert dates back from 1975, the picture quality is good. And Bruce and the band are ROCKIN’! On top of that, the interview with many current and former band members is insightful: I was surprised about how many different takes of the Born to Run songs were recorded. Both DVD truly are an addition to the original Born to Run album.
I went to the 2nd annual international Rolling Stones fan day yesterday. A friend of mine is an active member with Sticky Fingers, the Belgian Rolling Stones fan club. It was a fun evening with lots and lots for rock’n’roll. They had 2 tribute bands on stage and I promised my friend I would shoot some photos. I’ve put a few photos from yesterday night on my gallery.
SONY Music has just announced the re-release of Bruce Springsteen’s album Born to Run to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original release. The album is perceived to Springsteen’s best album by many of the fans. I be inclined to agree; it’s an excellent rock album.
This 30th anniversary re-release is very exciting because it will contain 2 bonus DVDs: one disc contains a “making of” documentary and the 2nd disc contains a full live show from the Born to Run tour. The show was taped live by at the Hammersmith in 1975 by the BBC. It is said to be a stunning show.
For the press release longtime manager Jon Landau wrote: “I believe that the combination of the great 1975 concert footage, the brilliant documentary of the making of the album and the dazzling remastering of ‘Born to Run’ add up to a nearly perfect storm of Bruce’s music.”
The Belgian Rolling Stones fan club Sticky Fingers is having its 2nd international fan day in a couple of weeks. My friend Peter De Vreese is helping to organize the fan day, so I thought I’d put a shameless plug for their thingy on our blog.
So, if you like the Rolling Stones, you should be in Lede on Saturday, October 29, 2005.
After 2 more shows last weekend–Düsseldorf last Thursday and Rotterdam yesterday evening–Springsteen’s Devils & Dust tour is over for me.
Düsseldorf was another excellent show: 3 tour premieres and another 4 songs Springsteen didn’t play in Brussels. I Wish I Were Blind just knocked me off my socks. And I was just as impressed with Incident on 57th Street and Racing in the Street.
I was a little disappointed with the Rotterdam show. The sound was inferior to the 3 other shows I’ve seen, and few little annoyances made in the experience a little less interesting than the other 3 shows. Still liked hearing My Father’s House though.
A few statistics: In the 4 shows I’ve seen, Springsteen played a total of 101 songs (48 different songs). That is almost 10 hours of music! He played all 12 songs from his latest album Devils & Dust during those 4 shows.
Bruce Springsteen was in Brussels last night for a solo acoustic concert in his Devils and Dust tour. And despite all the problems with the ticket sales, I managed to get a pair of tickets for the 13th row. It was a very enjoyable show.
As important to me as the show itself, is meeting new and old friends before the show. So we made our way to Vorst Nationaal way before the start of the show. Parked the car near the venue–no stress for us–and had a few drinks with friends. It was so good to see al those people that I hadn’t seen for a long time.
But on the main event: Springsteen’s concert. I was afraid that, after seeing the show in Los Angeles, the European shows weren’t going to as good. But I was wrong! The Belgian public respected Springsteen’s request for silence during the performance, but greeted each song with enthusiasm and heart warming applause. And though Vorst Nationaal is big venue for solo acoustic performances, Bruce was able to make it feel small and cozy. It felt more like my living room than a venue that holds 7000. Springsteen reached everyone; the show had power yet created an intimate atmosphere.
Although Devils and Dust isn’t Springsteen’s best album–at least not in my opinion– must admit like this tour just as much as concerts with the E-Street Band. And I like this tour better than his 1st solo acoustic tour. This tour has a good mix of old and new songs. And in Brussels, Springsteen impressed me most with Reason to Believe, State Trooper, Thougher Than the Rest and Racing in the Streets. Matamoros Banks and Reno are still the best songs from his new album.
I was really impressed with Springsteen’s performance. I hope he will impress me again in Düsseldorf and Rotterdam.
We arrived in New York City for a 10 day holiday. I flew from New York City to Los Angeles, CA for his 1st show in Springsteen’s new Devils and Dust tour.
An excellent show! Bruce played almost 3 hours at the Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. The Pantages Theatre is a very beautiful theatre and creates the perfect setting for an intimate solo acoustic concert. Springsteen plays guitar and piano on this tour. He was very focused on telling us his stories about love, children and everyday family life. But despite that he staid very in touch with the audience and treaded us with a few laughs. And he played quite some of my favorite songs. I particularly liked the new versions of Reason to Believe and Johnny 99.
Apparently there were quite some celebrities in the audience (Sean Penn, Jackson Browne, Meg Ryan, Danny DeVito and Pierce Brosnan), but I didn’t see any of them. I was too caught up in the moment to even think about looking for someone I might know, I guess.
You can read my full review of the show (in Dutch) on the website of Be True.
The release date for Bruce Springsteen’s new album called Devils & Dust is drawing near. Only 2 more weeks before the album is released worldwide. The marketing campaign is going full speed ahead. There have been listening parties all over the United States and now we get a chance to listen to the new album before it hits the stores. Kris has been invited to the Dutch listening party in Amsterdam on Monday.
And Springsteen’s new solo acoustic tour is about to start too. Rehersals are already under way and the tour will start on 25 april in the US. By the middle of May, Springsteen will play in Europe also. Ticket sales has already started. And although it was chaos as expected, we managed to score tickets for a few shows. You’ll be able to read our reviews on these pages.
Got very exciting news in the mail today: Bruce Springsteen is releasing a new album called Devils and Dust on April 26. The rumors about it were very strong the last couple of weeks, but still the announcement today came as a bit of a surprise. Probably because I’m no longer closely involved with a fan club.
The new album is going to be followed by a world tour. And guess what: I’m going to go see a bunch of shows. I Can’t hardly wait for it! Bring on the music.