Elysee Montmartre, Paris, France Audio Recording Exists

Opening Band: Mother Tongue

Monday, December 5/1995, 18:30 hours

I was at the "Elysee Montmartre" with Florence my girlfirend and Arnaud, my best friend. Towards 19:00 hours only a few people were at the place and suddenly Billy and Scott came into the room. Billy was wearing black leather trousers and a shepherd's jacket. A few minutes later, Ian came into the place too, dressed like Che Guevara! Suddenly, Billy and Scott came back with Craig. Billy came near to me so I decided to ask him for an autograph, but he refused courteously and explained to me that everybody would ask him for an autograph too. Scott was talking with a girl but I decided to ask him for an autograph, also...and he accepted. He signed my ticket stub.

About 30 minutes later Mother Tongue began their show. An excellent show, by the way. They were a really surprising band.

About 20:45 hours the lights came down again and the intro to the Cult concert began (an intro of a Peter Gabriel song with good lighting effects). Arnaud asked me which song would I think The Cult would open with, and I told him Nirvana because it's my favorite song. Arnaud thought that they'd open with a new song, so what a surprise it was when they started with Nirvana! I was at the bar and decided to stay there because I thought I was too old for jumping on the front of the stage. I'm 23 years old. Plus I wanted to stay with Florence and Arnaud.

Lil' Devil came next and it was really impossible for me to stay at the bar, so I ran towards the front of the stage and jumped in like a pogo stick. Everybody was jumping during the song, as usual.

I was really surprised to see Ian and Billy dressed with clothes less theatrical on stage before the show. The band played their classics and new songs with energy. Everybody was very surprised to hear a lot of Love songs. Ian was very friendly and spoke in French as much as possible. he told the crowd that he was at the Picasso museum earlier in the day and seemed really fascinated by what he saw. He also joked about Johnny Hallyday, our old French "rocker"! He even picked up a banderole with "Ian is a wakau" written on it and he seemed appreciated.

The band ended this part of the show with Love Removal Machine. The group came back for a first encore and Ian asked for a cigarette from the audience, but only two cigarettes arrived after a long time. Ian asked for a lighter too and only two lighters arrived on stage. Billy grabbed one of them and lighted the cigarette for Ian. Ian and Billy seemed very friendly at that moment.

The show started again with Sacred Life. Afterwards they played She Sells Sanctuary and the sound of the Gretsch was fantastic. During this song, Ian chanted "Paris, Paris, Paris, Paris" as if he was a Paris Saint-Germain soccer supporter! Great!

The band left the stage again and came back for the second encore. They played Earth Mofo with an intense energy and left the stage defiantly. I was exceptional by this exceptional concert.

Florent Gilloury

Set list:

Nirvana
Lil' Devil
Coming Down
The Witch
Love
Edie (Ciao Baby)
Rain
Black Sun
Be Free
Fire Woman
Star
Wild Flower
The Phoenix
Love Removal Machine

Encore 1

Sacred Life
She Sells Sanctuary

Encore 2

Earth Mofo