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What an Eiffel! – Paris
What a fantastic show! This was a treat and a half for me. On my 47th birthday we flew into Paris on a cold afternoon, quick trip up the Eiffel Tower back to the hotel for a quick change and on to the Zenith, great auditorium, difficult to walk to!
We arrived at around 8.45 got in and settled right of stage near S.M. and within minutes the boys entered the stage following a pre run video of them arriving in a flight case.
I couldn’t ask for better than a track I consider being the best to open the show “Pictures of Home”, the sound is spot on and it’s nice to see everyone enjoying the show so much.
The set list follows the London gig apart from the dropping of Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming and adding Speed King/Black Night to encore.
The new tracks all sound so much better live especially Junkyard Blues which allows the band to feature the heaviness of their riffs which are usually best heard live. Production on albums can be sometimes squeaky clean and its nice to have the rough edges as can be heard on In Rock.
Roger lost his bass during Wrong Man but was quickly given a replacement Vigier. Ian’s voice was supreme, he clearly ehjoyed every minute and his screams were not stretched but sounding as if he was back in the 70’s with strength and harmony.
There was still a few spots of misunderstanding but hey this early on in a two-year tour. I have to say that of all the gigs I have seen (see reviews 1974, ’85, ’03) this was clearly the best. The show was an excellent mixture of old and new and came to a fantastic crescendo with Highway Star, Speed King and SOTW.
The lighting and video was superb and it was great to have the camera shots for specific guitar licks and drum fills.
The band did a solid two hours and enjoyed every minute. The crowd were aged between 17-70 by the looks of things with even the kids in the front crowd surfing to SOTW! A solid show and tour to better Bananas. Go and see, enjoy and rock out to the finest around.
After show the band took time out as always to meet the fans and it was nice to say hello to Ian Paice (thanks for the one handed roll!) and Ian G. who looks better than his age would suggest. Thanks for giving us the time and good luck on this fantastic journey that keeps getting better. See you in Milton Keynes in June.
Dave Bonner
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing