Meshell was back in paris yesterday for the festival "Jazz à La Villette" (where she performed last year with Marc Ribot).
This year, the show took place in a XIXth century food market and was sold out (about 2000 people)

We had the chance to attend a "Get Off" show, but it was quite different from what I could hear on the net from the californian nights and there was one reason for it : the musicians could'nt make it to Europe because of last week storm !
So Meshell had to hire musicians specially for this gig ! It was heard that a two hours rehearsal was the only preparation !!!

After the opening band (a young french jazz-punk-rock trio), came on stage James Watson (piano, rhodes and Hammond B3), a drummer (maybe Charles Haynes but i'm not sure, sorry for whoever it was) and, what a surprise, the fabulous Pino Paladino on bass !
What a chance to see these two great bass players on stage together : I immediatly understood it would be a great concert : I wasn't wrong !

Meshell started by introducing the musicians, explaining the situation : we could feel a kind of tension in the beginning,- Meshell directing the band and announcing the changing of chords - but they soon got reassured and seemed very happy and in a cool mood, after a couple of songs.

Meshell switched between bass and piano (nicely sweetened with effects) for this set list :

Dirty Mind
Shhh (instrumental)
Irresistible Bitch
Lady Cab Driver
With "All The Critics Love U In New York" people left their seats and came close to the scene to dance
Then came a beautifull version of Sign’O'The Times where the two bass players mixed their strings with a phenomenal groove (my favourite song of the show)!
The sax player of the opening band joined the band for a nice chorus at the end of Sign O the Times (he left the stage at the end of the song with the same smile on the face as a child having met Santa Claus )
This was followed by
Pop Life
On "Annie Christian" with the guitar player of the opening band joining the band to bring some more energy and electricity.
I Would Die 4 U (nice voice and piano slow duet)
Let’s Go Crazy

And finally, 2 "encore"
Purple Rain and When Doves Cry

The show sounded more jazzy and funky than I expected (Californian shows) and it was a true good surprise to me.
The songs, of course, are beautiful, and Meshell seemed to have a real pleasure to play them and it was cool to see her open the stage to the two lucky young musicians that had opened for her for a jam.
But what I appreciated the most was the meeting between Pino Paladino and Meshell : both had complementary styles (singing bass and... so much groove for Pino while Meshell was as always so deep and gracefull with... so much groove)
It was a great experience and my only regret is that there is no trace of this !
I just hope that somenody will soon make a recording or some kind of video available so that everybody can have an more concrete idea of how it was.

This is why I pay $250 a year to keep this forum online. The posts are rare, but when they are like this -- I know I'm not the only one smiling. Thank you for that Sébastien

Would love to hear the "Shhh" instrumental. Was it more Prince or Tevin Campbell? (Meaning, more rock and roll, or more laid back...)

As for the lack of rehearsal time, I'm all for it. The L.A. "Gett Off" show was done with very little rehearsal time and was fantastic. I think they had only rehearsed two or three times at that point. I like those kind of shows because sometimes they feel like a rehearsal and you never know what might happen.

If she isn't feeling it the first time, maybe she'll play the song again (back to back) like she did at the non-"Gett Off" covers show at the Largo.

Also, horns? The last time I saw horns at a Meshell show was in 2001. In fact, that may have been the only time. I sat outside that venue listening to them rehearse "God.Fear.Money" until they got it right -- that was the first time I heard that song.

Anyways, sounds like you had a good time. I hope something ends up on youtube...

Hi,
Was at the gig, kinda frustrating because of the (too) short length. Apart that fact and the one that new musicians were lined up, the mood, as said Sebastien, was more relaxed than what i've heard of the west coast stuff.
Was a reel pleasure to see the bass duet of Meshell & Pino, and the keyboard (mostly Hammond B3) player seemed to really enjoy the moment.
From what i've heard, some people were kind of disappointed with the whole act, some arguing that the band was not tight enough (especially the drummer and the key player), that her voice was too high to reinterpret correctly the songbook of Prince. One fact to understand is that for a certain part of the audience, Prince is God, and touching to God (being alive) is a sin.
I have the chance to meet Meshell tomorrow for an interview and had another chance to listen to the new album, which i really dig !
Take care and thanks Matthew for letting this forum alive.
ps : i personaly did not recognize any variation on Shhh and it did not appear there was a long time between the first two tracks.

Hello Doinel !
Wouahou you're lucky for the preview of the album and this coming interview : is it for a radio, a TV, magazine, for the web ?
Where and when will we be abble to read/hear/watch it ?

The variation on Shhh was a kind of transition between Dirty Mind and Irresistible bitch but they didn't really play the whole song. It was the cover of the only rocky introduction's riff, more than a complete performance of the song.

And yes a large part of the audience came because of the Prince thing and some of them (not the most part of them) are probably not ready to open their mind/ears and accept this kind of "sacrilege" !
Other Prince's fans were also happy to meet Meshell for the first time and appreciated the show (even if it was a bit short, that's right, but we can easily understand why)

Prince is not only a brilliant performer, he's also a great songwriter : his songs (not all of them...) can be interesting without their creator (even Prince doesn't understand this, I believe) and Meshell covers were truely respectfull but personal : that's what matters.
There is no need to compare to the originals.

So far could I only find one video of the show
Too specific to give an idea of the whole show, but a nice moment, though !

And here is Sign O The Times

Thank you so much for sharing that

The name of the band that opened for Meshell was:

Sidony Box
Elie Dalibert (saxophone)
Manuel Adnot (guitar)
Arthur Narcy (drums)

I'm too in love with this thread.

One more short video here !

Opening band guitarist joining for a solo on Annie Christian.