|
Joerg Basler:
With respect to the show I have to tell you this was one of the best I saw within the last 15 years. It was equal if not superior to Divonne in the fall of 2004! Like in Divonne he played 14 songs, but he was even in a much better mood, smiling all over! And the audience went wild, something which was very much appreciated by Jerry. I'm not sure if Jerry would have played longer but maybe a couple of notes more while he was standing. Unfortunately, Patrick Rocher showed him the way off the stage and Jerry went.
Song selection was very good, well balanced between slow and fast songs. It is a real pitty that German fans will not see him this time as Jerry is way better than in
March. Maybe this could be a hint for future tours: Do it in Summer time! And to the German promoter: Send the money over and you will have the Killer in town.
Folke Myrvang:
Just in from Paris, what a show!! What a performer, simply - THE GREATEST LIVE SHOW ON EARTH !
I flew in on a last minute decision as it was obvious that the show in Hamburg that I had planned to go to would not happen. Too bad, as I was bringing Stephen Ackles with
me and we planned to rock and roll all night long. Anyway, I was hanging out with Buck, Ken, BB and Robert when JW asked me if I wanted to say hello to Jerry. We walked down the
hall and into the dressing room of our man. Jerry was very relaxed, sitting on a chair that was tilting back and forth on two legs with his feet up on the table. Black t-shirt,
black jeans and shiny black patent leather shoes was the outfit for the evening. The dressing room was full of fans and friends, but I shook hands with Jerry and complimented him
on looking very good. He on the other hand mentioned that he had read some in my book the other day :-) The talk was mainly about the problems of getting ice for the drinks in
England way back when, and also how Jerry felt good for his age. He looked like a million bucks and seemed very happy. A genuine pleasure to hang out with him last night. After a
while JW said that we should all let Jerry get ready for his show and we all said goodbye to him. I asked Jerry if it was possible to get a request in for the night and he said
that might be possible. My request was of course "Down The Line" and Jerry shot back at me "I was considering opening the show with that one anyway" and he
grinned from ear to ear.
At showtime I was standing at the edge of the stage watching from behind the curtain. Perfect view of Buck, Ken and Jerrys playing for the most
part. I had my hopes, but still almost cried when he actually played my request for the first song. He also acknowledged that it had been a request and went into "Sweet
Little Sixteen" for the second number.
The show was simply marvellous and reminded me of the shows I saw in the late 1980s. The band was really smokin' and especially
Buck and Ken played like maniacs, one great solo after the other. The rhythm section was dead on the money and kept the heavy beat pounding. Jerry acknowledged his great band with
calling out for solos from the guitar players and smiling at the rhythm section when they were at their best. A small feedback on the second number did not seem to bother Jerry
the least. He kept playing and singing like he was going to be on stage all night. During "You Win Again" he started to get a little hoarse and could not get his voice
cleared, so he went quickly into "WLSGO" and "GBOF". I saw that someone posted that Jerry had to be taken from the stage by the promoter, but this is not
correct. The show was ended in the normal way, but Patrick and JW were there for Jerry with a towel and they all disappeared into the night in a limo as usual. I do think that we
would have gotten a few more numbers if Jerrys voice had not started to act up, but around 55 minutes or a little more is still a very good performance.
A truly great show by the old master on top form!
Wolfgang Guhl:
Doors opened at 7pm, but I
did not bother entering until 8pm as I was busy watching TV (football!). As usual at the Olympia Jerry's name was in lights at the entrance. Opening slot was Michael Kettier or
something, certainly not Trio Belleville as I first thought. Tony Papard and Peter Hayman with Pam were sitting next to me. We were probably the first ones to order tickets via
Internet as the first three rows seemed to be available by phone only. The support act started late at 20:36. He was kind of a Bo Diddley/Jimi Hendrix wannabe-mixture and did not
come across well at all. The audience at the Olympia which is usually quite reserved gave him a hard time. The only real applause he got was when he left the stage half an
hour later.
After a 20-minute
intermission, the Killer Band came on stage, all dressed sharply. They did their usual numbers. At 21:39 Jerry Lee Lewis entered the stage, looking quite frail. Let's not
forget he is 70 years old! There are many 70 year-olds doing better, but also many 70 year-olds doing worse. I thought he did just fine. He opened with "Down The Line",
a real surprise with the hard core fans being really excited. I still think "Roll Over Beethoven" is the strongest opener. "Sweet Little Sixteen" was next.
Solid versions of "Georgia On My Mind", "Rockin' My Life Away" and "You Belong To Me" followed. In beetween he was taking sips from a bottle
of Sprite. I watched his hands closely and they were trembling again. Well, I think we all tremble a bit, we just don't take notice. Jerry's hands I get the impression are simply
shaking because he is an old man who is not doing much excersises to improve his health. Nothing special to be worried about. "Before The Night Is Over" was introduced
as song from this new album and the audience loved it. Quite polished version! I think it was before "Trouble In Mind" that Jerry was referring to the cancellation of
the German dates: "I got to slow it down a little so I can stay on stage long enough. If I don't do that I won't get paid. Well, I won't get paid anyway!!! HA HA HA!"
After a moving "Trouble In Mind", things got sped up witht the rocker "Chantilly Lace", always a crowd pleaser. "Mexicali Rose" and the great
"No Headstone On My Grave" were next, a favourite for many. "Drinkin' Wine Spo Dee O Dee" started out quite shaky, but Jerry improved as he moved on, playing
an extented version with several piano breaks. Piano playing was great throughout, voice was horse. Jerry had his foot on the keyboard twice during the show, kicked back the piano
stool and played with his butt. He was in better health than on the last Tour. The big hits "You Win Again", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" and "Great
Balls Of Fire" closed out the 56-minute show with everybody on their feet. Unfortunately the closing number was played rather lacklustre. However everyone left satisfied.
Overall a very good show! Folke said it was the best show in a long time. Yes, since March I thought, as he was also excellent on that Tour.
Sebastiaan Roelands:
First of all my thanks to Daniel Røssing from Norway, for persuading me going to the show at all, and for his help making it possible for me.
It can hardly be a coincidence anymore that the three best weekends in my life all include a Jerry Lee Lewis performance. It’s not merely the show itself, but also
meeting other Killer fans and band members. Many of the nicest people I know are Jerry Lee Lewis fans. I wouldn’t have believed it a year ago (when I had never met any fan and
never seen a show), but now I can imagine a Jerry Lee Lewis show without the Killer himself, like the UK tour in November 2005, can be a success!
The doors of the famous
Olympia in Paris, France, opened at 19:30, so I went in with Daniel, Per and Svein. I was the only not Scandinavian. Later on, Joerg and his wife from Switzerland, and Tony joined
us. On the right, in the passing through, before the concert hall itself, was a stand where some young ladies were selling programs and posters of this particular show, and Little
Richard CDs. I bought a poster (now I have to buy some nails to hang it on the wall). An official poster, very big, exactly the one hanging in the entrance hall of the Olympia.
At 20:30 a bell started ringing loudly, I doubt if it ever stopped. Everybody entered the concert hall, guided by three young ladies. Daniel and I had some trouble
with an old and stubborn Frenchman. He wanted us to sit on the far right, right next to the wall, while those weren’t our seats. Anyway, I was more determined on sitting on our
rightful places than he was on putting us away in the corner, he he. We were sitting in the right section. On my first show, at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Holland (2005) I watched
the show from the left, with a good view on Jerry Lee’s piano playing; on my second show, at the Kinodrom in Bocholt (2006) I was seated right in the middle, watching the Killer
en profile; this time looking him in the face.
When the support act was playing for some minutes, I figured the only thing I would write about it, is: “He (I
don’t even know his name) not worth writing about.” Well, maybe a little more: before he had finished his first song, people in our section started clapping. After the second
song (all dreadfully long songs) people started chanting “Jerry! Jerry!” and during the third song some started booing and others walked away to come back later. The old and
stubborn man next to me didn’t enjoy it either, but he waited until that not very entertaining entertainer had left the stage (possibly sooner that he had planned), never to
return. Daniel White’s dad, Darren, took his seat.
I think, when it comes to choosing an opening act for Jerry Lee Lewis, let Rolf Bresser take care of it.
During the break we were talking about Jerry Lee’s opening song. Someone suggested ‘I Don’t Want To Be Lonely Tonight’ (“No, that was in the 80s…”), another one
‘Down The Line’ (“Haha, early 60s!”), I guessed ‘Roll Over Beethoven’.
After the break the Killer Band went onstage. Buck Hutcheson, Kenneth Lovelace, Robert
Hall and B.B. Cunningham. All were sharply dressed. I just said to Daniel (Røssing) that I like the grey jacket Robert was wearing, and that it reminds me of the jacket Jerry Lee
wore in 1957, when Robert took it off. Now they were all dressed in black. Some fans shouted “Buck!” when he picked up his new blue guitar. B.B. used his old bass again; after
the show he told me his new bass had problems with the wiring et cetera, so it’s being repaired.
They kicked of with Kenny’s ‘Columbus Stockade Blues’, a good version with some new guitar licks by both Kenny and Buck.
“Most of you will know us already, but for the ones who don’t, I’ll introduce the guys to you,” Kenny said, and introduced all; B.B. introduced Kenny, as usual.
Robert’s song was ‘Honey Don’t’, the old Carl Perkins song. I love Robert’s way of singing that one; he really has that Memphis swing in it, even more
than Carl Perkins had. Again, Buck and Kenny played (partly) new guitar solos.
B.B. did ‘Sick And Tired’. I recognized it from the first note they hit (even
had Kenny not told us they were going to play it), but at the same moment the whole song sounded different. Whereas the guitar playing on the first two songs was partly different
from previous shows, this song was played in an almost completely new way. Much more exciting.
Buck’s song was ‘Big Boss Man’. I don’t think this song fits
him as well as ‘The Fireman’ and ‘Boppin’ The Blues’, but it was very good still. The way he shakes his left leg while playing a solo makes you think he has no bones in
it at all… it is such a pleasure seeing him enjoying himself so much on stage. The four of them sound so tight together, I would travel a hundred miles to see a show of them
alone, even without the Killer.
Then, at some point in time (I didn’t look at my watch all night, I never even thought of its existence) Buck’s song ended and they
received a lot of applause. Kenny told us it was show time, now, introducing the Legendary, the Killer, Mr. Jerry Lee Lewis! Jerry Lee walked to the baby grand piano with a big
smile. He didn’t need any help of promoter Patrick Rocher, nor J.W. Whitten’s. He was dressed all in black: a nice polo shirt, black pants en shiny black boots. He looked
healthy, fit and happy.
He launched into a rock and roll song, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, or well, that’s what I expected. “You can’t be my lovin’ baby,
you ain’t got the style!” Huh, what’s this? Something’s wrong. Now, I’m only 19, but apparently not very flexible minded. It took me some time to realize he was not
playing ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ at all. Daniel, sitting on my left, looked at me, all smiles and shouted to me: “Down The Line!” Yes, that’s the song! Oh boy, this was so
great, I was so happy for Folke that Jerry Lee opened a show with this song. It was rocking heavily. The instruments were all tuned well, the piano was loud. At first Jerry
Lee’s microphone was not loud enough, but that was changed half way ‘Down The Line’. Great sound.
After this opening song he said: “Down The Line, by
request…” He said something after that, but I couldn’t understand that. It sounded to me like “… from a Norwegian”, but I may have made up those words myself, because
I know our Norwegian friend Folke was backstage and that he has requested the song for ages, but never heard it live. Half the audience rose from their seats applauding wildly.
I expected a country song now, like ‘You Win Again’, but another rocker: ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’. A good version of the song, but no special solos as far as I
can remember. The piano solo, going from high chords down always has an Italian impression on me, somehow. After that he played some chords in the middle very powerfully. He was
Really Rockin’ in Paris.
“Here’s a song that I learned when I was about twelve years old. Maureen Calhoun taught me, back in Ferriday, Louisiana.”
‘Georgia On My Mind’, beautiful version. Many instrumental solos, all new solos, as well on piano as on both guitars. He extended the song as well. Robert was already slowing
it down, but Jerry Lee picked up the tempo and played another piano solo and sang another verse. Very pretty version of this song, the best I have heard. As after every song,
Darren stood up, applauding (Daniel and me after almost every song, like quite a few others in the middle section). Someone from the middle of the venue shouted: “We love you,
Jerry!” and Darren repeated it. More applause followed, so I couldn’t understand what Jerry Lee said in reaction to it, but by the playful look in his eyes, it may well have
been something like: “I think I’ve deserved that, after all these years!”
Then he speeded it up again with ‘Rockin’ My Life Away’. This was frantic!!!
A show on itself! He sang the first to verses, then there were some instrumental solos, it was getting better and better. After that, he sang that rap-like verse, followed by more
instrumental breaks. By now it was full speed; Buck was playing wildly, fast as I’ve never seen anybody play a guitar, shaking both his legs off. Kenny was picking it real well,
again new guitar solos by both. “Let me hear both them gittars now!” Then Jerry Lee sang the third verse, after which he burned up the piano. I thought I knew all his ways of
playing by now, but he was playing something in the middle of the keyboard that I had never heard nor seen before. It was cooking hot, he pounded it and played very fast and a
couple of times I saw his hands flashing high over the keys. Now he played the same chords with his right hand on and on with such great power that I’m surprised the piano
didn’t break in two. He leaned back while playing that, turned his body slightly away and looked at his hands out of his eye corners with that mean old Killer look. A hard rock
and roll boogie with both hands on the lower level of the keyboard followed, two rounds. This must have been the longest version of the song in years, and probably the wildest, in
early 80s style. He finished it with his boot on the keys (first time I saw him do that)! Later that night, B.B. told me that Jerry was hard to follow. “I was just trying to
keep up with him, you know.”
(On moments like these, time is a strange thing. First, I don’t care about it. Second, you feel like you’re in eternity. Third, even a hundred hours wouldn’t ever be enough.)
He drank some Sprite and said, “Let’s slow it down a little bit now, so that we can make the show longer than we have to. Because, if I’m on stage too
short, I won’t get paid.” He added, probably referring to the cancelled German shows: “I don’t get paid anyway!” People laughed and applauded, and then Jerry Lee himself
laughed too. He was often smiling throughout the show, especially during new guitar solos and between songs, when he looked our way and saw us standing, applauding and jumping. It
was very nice to see his face during the show.
The slow song was ‘You Belong To Me’. Beautiful version, again many new piano and guitar solos. I was hoping to
hear this song. He ended it with, “You belong…” (I was putting my money on “to me”, instead of “to Jerry Lee”) “… to me!”
“Here’s a song
from my new album, which will be released in… September. Finally!” He kicked off ‘Before The Night Is Over’ in a slightly faster tempo than usual. The band was extremely
tight on this song. Fast and precise piano playing, as fast guitar playing by both Kenny and Buck, and a tight rhythm section.
He did another song from his new
album (he didn’t mention it, though, since it’s a common song by now): the old blues song ‘Trouble In Mind’. At first I thought he was going to do ‘Over The Rainbow’,
because he played a similar intro, but he didn’t. “Please, let Your sun shine one Jerry Lee back door step someday,” led to some cheering and thumbs up in the audience.
“Play me the blues, Buck!” Buck played a mind blowing solo that reminded me of the amazing solo he did on ‘C.C. Rider’ in Bocholt, last March. “Good bye baby, may God
bless you, and may he bless ol’ Jerry Lee too. I thank God for the breath I’m breathing. It’s good enough for me; it oughta be good enough for you.”
“Helloooow, you good looking thing!” The capital of the Chantilly country blew off the roof of the Olympia – almost. ‘Chantilly Lace’ was like good thunder. For the
second verse he held his hand to his ear like a phone. “When you call me up on that telephone, you just yep and yep and yep and yep,” making that talking sign with his hand
and then put the horn on the hook. Half way through I forgot which verse was still to come when Jerry said “Huh?” He kept silent a very short moment longer than usual, but he
didn’t seem to have gotten lost in the song, like me. “I beg your pardon ma’am? Mind your watch, I thought you were going to pick me up at eight, and don’t be late!”
Without any talking, but with appreciative smiling for the overwhelming applause, he went into ‘Mexicali Rose’. A fine, high speed version with amazingly fast and
precise piano playing. He let Kenny play two solos. The first one was different from previous versions, the second even more. During that, Jerry Lee looked back to Kenny; it was
obvious they all enjoyed themselves very much with changing the instrumental parts of most songs.
Then he went into ‘No Headstone On My Grave’, a very good
version, but not containing very unusual things, as far as I can remember, apart from the ending. Instead of pausing, he didn’t hesitate a moment on telling us that “I am
looking for a monument.” He smashed the piano lid and made some karate moves.
Some fans started chanting “Jerry! Jerry!” He rolled into a blues boogie. Some
thought it was ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’, but it wasn’t. ‘Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee O-Dee’. The first part was a steady boogie, but with the piano solos he
brought some swing into it, very nice. Strong piano playing and good guitar picking, with an unusual solo by Buck, possibly by Kenny too. I’m not sure, but I think Jerry Lee
gave them a double guitar solo for the second time this show.
The audience got crazy, applauding wildly. My hands were burning. Almost everybody was chanting
“Jerry! Jerry!” now (obviously, in the middle section people shouted “Jerry Lee! Jerry Lee!”).
Jerry Lee played ‘You Win Again’ with that fine intro. I
didn’t notice at first, but I was told by others, that he had difficulty with his voice. I recall he didn’t sing out some of the verses as loud as he usually does, but it was
still very good. The piano solo was classic, and I love it.
Probably because of his voice, he went into ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’. That was amazing,
the best version I have heard. In the middle some people stood up, in the right section (ours) many. It didn’t take long before many fans behind us left their seats and ran to
the stage. Half way almost the whole venue was on their feet. Jerry Lee liked it, and sang the “come on” verse three times! First time as usual (“come on, come on”), second time with different emphasizing (“come on, come on”), and the third time like the first. Then one verse “Shake it, baby, shake it” and finally “Whole Lotta Shakin’… Goin’ On!!” I was told he hit the keys again with his foot, but unfortunately I didn’t see it. (I was picking up my sunglasses from the floor at that moment, for the third time. They just kept falling – or flying – out of the pocket of my blouse.)
The show ended with a standard short version of ‘Great Balls Of Fire’. It caused a heat wave in the venue, however. He kicked back the piano stool and saw
Patrick Rocher with a white towel. Jerry Lee looked at him, and Patrick went back a few steps. Jerry Lee looked into the jumping audience with a big smile and planted his behind
on the piano. He walked off the stage, facing the audience, smiling. Patrick and J.W. wanted to take him along, but he turned around for just a few more seconds to Buck, acting as
if he were playing a guitar himself, while Kenny went to his microphone, telling us that this was the Killer. Jerry Lee then disappeared.
A KILLER show it was. And then some, as Svein Amundsen from Sweden put it.
|
JERRYLEELEWIS.org on Facebook