Gastero Prod

Le Grand Rex, Paris, 9/4/02.

B&S#1

© photo Ian Ralph

Q. How many Belle and Sebastians does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Probably quite a few, judging by how many it takes (we made it 12) to give a superb and long-awaited concert in one of the most attractive venues Paris has to offer.

B&S#2

© photo Ian Ralph

Seeing the ranks shuffle in somehow brought back images of school plays, before a mellow opener laid out what, from listening to their albums, could be thought of as B&S’ musical manifesto. Then a rousing and uninhibited flexing of their ’rawk’ muscles, complete with singer and front man Stuart Murdoch’s unique rug-cutting, let us know that, live, they can just as easily throw off the ’hello trees’ bedsit demeanour.

From then on, it’s nothing but skilled yet relaxed songs and refreshing humour, sometimes disordered but always on the right side of ’give a shit’, and with the band changing roles on stage as if playing musical, err…, instruments.

B&S#3

© photo Ian Ralph

Throughout the long (over two hours) gig, we are treated to predictably clever and amusing forays into crowd interaction in both French and English. Genius crowd-pleasers also included stylishly spot-on covers of Gainsbourg numbers, notably ’Harley Davidson’, performed after having invited a dozen or so fans onto the ’empty space’ at the front of the stage. And if this at first set alarm bells ringing (though the likelihood of a Mary Chain-style stage invasion was always going to be slim to nil), it provided a perfect example of how informal and good-humoured a show this was.

A long and seemingly shambolic (but who cares?) break occurred with an ill-advised call for requests, ending with the band playing what they were probably always going to play. However, this was not the case later, when a loud, lone call for Mary Jo (from their 1996 album Tigermilk) prompted a stunned "I don’t think we’ve ever played that in concert", followed by an impromptu and delicate rendition, and a promise of a tighter, rehearsed version next time.

A few songs from their new album "Storytelling", released on Jeepster on June 3rd 2002, were also given an outing. One of which was an instrumental, a style which, we were told, will feature heavily in the album. Another, a Latino-style affair with asked-for-and-got handclaps, proved another highlight of both the concert and the crowd’s enthusiasm.

B&S#4

© photo Ian Ralph

No encore, to everyone’s surprise, but an excellent night out nonetheless. Even the wobbly-headed fey twins in front couldn’t ruin it for me…

http://www.jeepster.co.uk/belleands...