Brother & Bones + Lianne La Havas + Ben Howard @ La Cigale (30/01/2012)

Into a Cigale that was still filling up, Richard Thomas came on stage with his guitar saying "It's amazing to be in such a beautiful place !". He's from the English band Brother & Bones and explained to us that usually he's not the only one on stage, he is with the rest of the band and that the music is a little bit heavier. Still, it was a cool discovery. I really liked listening to him,  the sound of Brother & Bones can be compared to Mumford and Sons, it's a mix of folk, blues, rock. Worth the listening ! If you wanna find more about them: Brother & Bones.  

Then came a little lady that bewitched some of the boys around me, Lianne La Havas. She was really smiling and sweet. She came straight from London and introduced some of her material in French, which the crowd appreciated. She was sympathetic on stage explaining the meaning of her songs such as Forget and Gone written on her ex-boyfriend. Her music is folk and soul. If you wanna find more about her: Lianne La Havas. 

Ben Howard arrived with his musicians around 9pm in a Cigale full since it was sold out. He sat down and started the first notes of Depth Over. It was a good introduction song as it was a bit mystical. Ben had his guitar on his knees and he produced music by beating it and by touching the chords. 

The crowd was into him from the begining to the end of the gig. I must admit that I was surprised to see the whole venue sing along with Ben Only Love ! It was a bit shy at first sight but then the crowd started to feel more confortable and we all sang together at the end of the song. It was easy to feel more confortable because Ben is simple, sympathetic and talkative on stage. He spoke a lot about being in Paris, giving personal anecdotes and thinking the public. He even said that usually they fuck up Paris but not this time ! 

He performed almost all his debut album Every Kingdom. His voice was impressive live, even better than on his recorded materials ! Of course, The Wolves and Keep Your Head Up were well expected and  everyone enjoyed these songs. He did a long version of The Wolves and when he was over, the crowd kept singing along the "Ooh oh oh oh". He has been joined by Richard Thomas on guitar for Keep Your Head Up and they finished the song by a guitar duet with complicity.

He came back on stage under tons of applause, screamings and noise to play Move Like You Want and The Fear. Then he and his musicians thank once again the crowd that has been amazing and very enthusiastic all the evening long. There was a real complicity between Ben and the crowd, people didn't hesitate to scream out loud what they wanted to say. 

The concert lasted around 1h25 which is pretty good since he only has one album. I had seen him when I attented the French TV show Taratata last september but he only sang 2 songs so it was pleasant to see him on his own tour. He said that he keeps coming to Paris doing venues bigger and bigger so there is no doubt we'll see him again soon. As usuall I filmed some songs and you can watch them on Youtube. Here is the setlist: