OPEN LETTER TO PARISIAN CONCERT GOERS

DEAR PARIS:
A: Moshing is dead.
1. Moshing was invented in the late 70s or early 80s and was usually practiced by dead-beat punk-rock fans with nothing to lose.
2. Moshing was perfected by my generation around 1996 (there is some schools of thought that believe it's pinnacle was at Homerpalooza in Syracuse in July 1996).
3. Moshing fell out of favor and died in the early 2000s.
4. It is now 2008, there is no reason for you to be practicing this archaic art-form.
5. If you must mosh, do so at any of the "teen-friendly" acts, such as Hannah Montana or Justin Timberlake. Mature acts such as the Black Keys are for adults to go and have fun at, not dodge (or elbow) 15 year old juvie escapees.

Sincerely,
Your Superiors
(/Grampa Simpson)

The worst part of the Black Keys show was this horde of 15-18 year-olds who decided to mosh at the exact point (~10 feet in front of Dan) that we were standing. At least a couple of them got elbowed in the jaw and lost teeth and/or got crowd-surfed right onto their heads.

This show was fucking excellent. I got to Paris at around 3pm on Tuesday afternoon. Took the Metro to my buddy Alex's apartment and pulled a bottle of JD out of my bag. We had our first whiskey by 3:30 and in the next two-and-a-half hours, we finished 1/2 a bottle between us and while smoking cigarillos. A bite to eat and right to The Bataclan for Akron Ohio's own BLACK KEYS!

They had two opening acts, which dragged on for a bit, although the drummer (who unfortunately seems to like pants) for the second group (the Ettes) was lovely.

Finally around 9pm (after a 7pm start!) The Unabomber's brother and his drummer-accomplice took the stage. I don't know exactly what the play list was (they mixed in some good old stuff "10AM Automatic," "Stack-Shot Billy," "The Breaks"), but basically it was non-stop rock'n'roll for 20 minutes, followed by "You're the One" followed by non-stop rock'n'roll for another 30 minutes. Break. Encore of "Psychotic Girl" and "I Got Mine". Thank you, good night and by 11pm we were drinking beer in a bar. These boys really know how to rock. I expected the show to be more bluesy and while the blues are always there, Dan's concert guitar work is fucking hard and brilliant and in the manner that he beats on his Gibson, it's obvious that he learned a few things about beating objects from Ike Turner before his snowy train-ride to hell.

I tried to take a few pictures with the Blackberry, but the image quality is pretty damn shitty (and no video is available nor sound recording with "The Pearl"). I'll be monitoring the youtubes for videos from Bataclan that I'll pop up here if I find one.

All-in-all a great show and I would not hesitate to go seem them again. Now I have to decide if I'm going to drop 70E to see Tom Waits at The Grand Rex Theatre at the end of July.

[UPDATE]

"Stack Shot Billy" from last night (27 may 2008) with necessary shit-sound.


"Your Touch" - Sound is terrible as well