I
unexpectedly got to see one of my new favorite bands last night at the
Great American Music Hall! Paris Combo is, as their name suggests, a
group from Paris whom I discovered a few months ago on Calabash
Music.
Their music is largely cabaret jazz style, their lyrics are all in
French, they sing about love, and about watching too much television,
they remind me a bit of Pink Martini... and they're really fabulous in
concert.I guess a lot of other people "discovered" them too, because the Hall was packed. We got there early enough to snag a great table, but it was hard to see the stage through all the standing people (many of whom, but by no means all, spoke French. The people sharing our table, and the large party seated to the right of us, did chat in French). Still, I could catch a glimpse here and there of the singer, and could see the bass and guitar players off to the right. (They're all very cute.)
The lead singer spoke between numbers in charmingly accented English. People laughed at her remarks sometimes seemingly because of the accent, which seemed a little patronizing to me... I mean, I couldn't get up there and do an intro in French! No matter. The music was great. I particularly liked the way they'd harmonize their vocals on some of the numbers.
We ended up leaving early because we had to get home to bed, but not before I got a copy of their latest CD, which I am ripping as I type this!
(Michael commented, "I bet the Great American Music Hall sold more wine tonight than they usually do at their shows.)
Update: you can read more about Paris Combo in this SFGate article.
