[Slowhand] Re: EC at the Albert - and a few other bits & bobs

[Eric Lacroix]

Hello all,

I'm starting to go down after this fantastic WE :
- Friday : EC at the RAH and meeting with fellow slowhanders Blonde 
Rocker, Susan and Karl.
- Saturday: The Derek Trucks Band Live in Paris and the end of the night 
in a bar with the band. Wow, what really nice guys ! I had good talking 
with Mike, the singer and Kofi the flute and keyboard player. I also 
chatted a bit with Todd the bass player, Derek and Susan. I also met the 
guys and girls from hittinthenote.com
- Sunday : EC at the Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy (aka POPB)

You can see pictures of these nights at http://461.free.fr/ (only in 
french for the moment, but there's only little text).


> I'm glad Susan and Ed mentioned this (the incident with the guy at the stage in RAH and the seemingly relentless photography issues).

I had no problem with my camera (an SLR). I didn't use flash and very 
little use of the LCD. I was in stalls, section J, row 2.


> To be totally honest, I found the guy who approached the stage was the highlight of the Friday show

The problem with the guy dancing in front of the stage is that he was 
the only one and disturbed the people just behind him. The stage of the 
RAH is not high enought to have the crowd standing in front of it. In 
other venues, I don't see any problems with that.


> Why not have 2 shows - one with a set advertised for the fans (Where's Eric, or ECaccess ??) 

I had the same thought just after the second show, in Paris. It could be 
great, and I think I would attend to both. I don't know why, but this 
year, it was the first time I was happy to hear WT live.
I'm sorry some of the songs from the first show were removed, but at the 
same time, I was happy with every song the played. I was glad not to 
hear SOYL once again as the encore. Pretending was a great opener. 
Playing Got To Get Better I a Little While right after Too Tired gave a 
new meaning to this song. Only two songs from Back Home were played.

In London, even if I was close to the sound engineer, the sound was too 
loud for me and I was happy to have earplugs. I love to listen to music 
loud, but too loud (too much bass and treble) I was able to hear 
everything in details. The guitar solos were more understandable with 
the earplugs.

Now, specifically about the Paris show. I was standing at the back at 
the arena, to just far enough to not need the earplugs. But once again, 
I heard only some bass sound, but not a bass guitar playing. Too bad :(
At the beginning of Back Home the crowd reacted and applaused 
immediatly. I was quite surprising for me, and to EC maybe. He raised 
his head with a nice smile. I was happy for him at this time.
Old Love was an highlight of this night.

I'll try to write a real review, and if it is nice enough I will post it 
there.

Cheers,
Eric.