Again, sorry about the delay with the Paris post, but it’s been really hectic at work lately, and I can’t be on top of things as quick and fast as I used to be, but I’m trying. Coverage of LP’s Paris show at Alhambra is again courtesy of my correspondent, Bekki (as are the photos in the gallery above).
photo courtesy of @del1997 – thank you!First few words from me, as I’ve watched the live stream. Well, it wasn’t perfect, especially compared to the London one. It was very dark, with lights that possibly worked well in the venue, but not on the screen, and a very chaotic camera operation.
Also there were issues with LP’s microphone, which was visible for those in the venue too. But still I enjoyed it. It will never be the same when you’re right there in the venue, the emotions are different. However when LP started singing ‘Switchblade’ it cut me just as deeply as I would have heard it for the first time.
photo courtesy of @champkol – thank you!Recently, LP songs are more catchy and targeted at a sort of wider audience, but there are still some rare ‘heartbreaking’ pearls in each of the albums, like One Night In The Sun at ‘Heart to Mouth’. I wonder which song will it be for me from the upcoming ‘Churches’ album.
photo courtesy of @del1997 – thank you!And now, let’s move to Bekki’s account. Thank you Bekki for sharing your thoughts with us.
I’ve travelled a lot since discovering LP. I imagine a fair few of you will have run in to me and Debbie – who I met at Under the Bridge in the summer of 2017 – and Clementine (who I met on MySpace when that was a thing!) in some country or another over the last four years.
This was our first concert in France though, and a last-minute addition to the planned concerts from this Fall mini tour, having only planned Stuttgart and London – but when Debbie mentioned she’d bought Paris tickets “just in case” we clearly had no other option but to use them!
photo courtesy of @del1997 – thank you!With that in mind, it meant we couldn’t travel until the day of the show, so it was guaranteed we’d arrive later than usual when it came to queuing. It was already very busy when we arrived around 5pm, but it was wonderful to see even more LP fans that we’d missed so much this last 18 months!
When you spend so much time (which we’re very grateful for) at the front of LP shows, it’s suddenly a different perspective being a few rows back. Not bad different, but different enough to mention. That said, it turned out to be the ideal conclusion to the intense confines of Omeara 4 days earlier, a show that I was still oh so overwhelmed by.
Viewing the show in Paris a little further from the stage was the right thing for me to bring me down gently. The show at Alhambra was also to be live streamed. Though not without its technical difficulties (can we blame Mercury Retrograde?), our first show in Paris was as beautiful as any other.
photo courtesy of @del1997 – thank you!Having freed myself from the front row and my camera for the night, I danced and sang along and just enjoyed the fact I got to be there at all! The French fans are a passionate and beautiful crowd! And LP was as they always were – a tour de force of music, kind, caring and devoted to their fans. Above all, a human trying to make us all happy on stage.
As expected, it was the same set list with a last-minute twist – another new song debuted this evening, named Conversation. Another uplifting and lyrically beautiful track from Churches – with a catchy chorus that easily embeds itself as an ear worm for a day or two! I have chosen not to dive into the song’s lyrics here, though I am sure you can all work out for yourselves what the song is about.
As we continue to hear new songs from the album, I can’t help but feel how personal this one is growing to be. I’m really excited to hear the tracks that haven’t been released yet, and whilst the push back on the release to 3rd December is disappointing, it just means it will be all the more sweet when it gets here. (I understand this is due to COVID impacting the manufacturing process).
And now I’d like to have a Conversation….
After the show, some fans were lucky enough to meet LP inside the venue, with others receiving a brief but beautiful back door encounter when LP left. I’m always grateful to be able to say thank you in person. And yet I feel like there is so much to say about our demands as fans of someone who already gives so very much to us.
video courtesy of Giulia Adamo & LPeople Italia – thank youThere is a feeling of frenzy creeping through the crowd – I witnessed someone try to start a fight after the show over a plectrum thrown from the stage – whilst they were still in the venue. That’s not okay. Fans refused to follow instructions and were reluctant to move when LP’s team were trying to move the car in to a safe and secure place. That is not okay.
There were even attempts to get to the door of the car when LP was already inside it. That is DEFINTELY not okay. And this isn’t children, this is grown adults behaving like this. I know that in the past LP has always been there for us, outside venues, in meet and greets and I understand that we all want our chance to say hello, for a photo or an autograph – but we can’t keep behaving like this or it will stop completely.
It’s become scary for me to see, and whilst we know we would never do anything to harm any of LP’s team or LP, they don’t know what any of us is about to do. And they can’t take a risk. I can only make suggestions to any of you attending a concert, whether you follow them is up to you. Don’t behave like the scenarios above.
If we can be calm and respectful outside of venues, follow instructions and requests of LP’s team – the more opportunity we will have. Don’t push or fight, and the quieter and calmer we can be, the better. Don’t make it hard work for her team, and in turn make it hard on yourself.
Only in love, Bekki x
Once again, thank you Bekki for your words! LP stayed in Paris for a couple of more days. She had some promo scheduled by PIAS label. She was at the Deezer Studios where she’s met with some lucky fans, I should have a post on that tomorrow. For more updates please visit my social media.
