When I arrived in Paris, it was already 6.15PM, and I was in a hurry. I quickly gave up on the trains
and caught a taxi, only to get caught in traffic. When I got to the Holiday Inn it was 7.15 PM and Wolfgang Guhl was pacing outside and almost jumping up and down. I
hauled him into the cab and we went directly to Le Bataclan and found the line to be very long. It didn't take us long to get in, the only person I knew from before was Peter
Hayman, who walked by us just as we entered the club.
Wolfie had a seat upstairs, and I was in the poor folks section downstairs, and found that the crowd gathering in
front of the stage was growing rapidly. I eventually joined the crowd and met up with a couple of guys from Holland who were very enthusiastic. I did not even feel
tired at this point, only excited to see the Killer for the 38th time. The crowd started cheering and applauding all of a sudden, and I guessed that Jerry had been sighted, only
to find out that one of the French rock & roll heroes had entered the upstairs area. I don't remember his name, the Dutch guys knew him, but it was not Johnny Halliday
(MvdT: it was Eddy Mitchell).
Support for the show was a French trio who played instrumental jazzy rock, and closed with Sweet Georgia Brown. They were well received
and Merci Beaucoup'ed a lot. Nice music, but wasted on most hardcore Killer fans.
The band of gypsies supporting Jerry Lee Lewis slowly made their way to the
stage. When Ken Lovelace appeared, the StarClub-like chanting of "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry" changed to "Kenny, Kenny, Kenny" and Mr Lovelace was very
flattered. Even BB joined in. Everyone seemed happy and I expected the show to be special. Kenny started off with his now standard Columbus Stockade Blues, and Robert
followed with a hot version of Mona Lisa with some wild guitar licks from the Lonesome Fiddle Man.
Jerry came on stage in a dark suit to a thunderous applause and launched
into a good version of "Roll Over Beethoven" and ended with hammering the piano lid a couple times. He acknowledged the fact that they were enjoying Paris, France,
hope you enjoyed the show - goodnight, and grinned like a little kid from his own joke. Above his head somewhere was a fan blowing cool air on him, and it made his hair fluffy for
the whole show, and he commented that it might blow all his hair off, and then said that you KNOW I dont wear a toupee another big grin and we all knew this night was
special.
"Somewhere Over The Rainbow" - the land Ol' Jimmie Swaggart dreamed of - was next and we were treated to some nice piano work. "Sweet Little
Sixteen" followed in high tempo, before Jerry was about to slow things down. There was a Price Chilton song I was going to do, but I dont remember the title, he said
looking at the guys in the band. Kenny leaned over and suggested She Even Woke Me Up, but Jerry said they'd definitely not do that one, and if Kenny couldn't remember the
title, how the heck would he do it?? - Robert Hall shouted out the right title and Jerry was all smiles and launched into a beautiful "You Belong To Me". Certainly one
of the first highlights for me. Next was a song from my new album which will be released in the future - I keep saying next month, but now I will stick to a future release
he said and "Before the Night is Over" was the usual teaser from the new album. I know ya'll will like it!!
"Chantilly Lace" - Just check my track
record baby, it stands up for itself. and A nice "Don't Put No Headstone On My Grave" was next before Jerry went into a heavy "Rockin' My Life Away"
where he soon started staring at someone on the right side of the stage with murder in his eyes. All of a sudden he cut the song with comments to the sound man (as usual)
and at the same time, Kenny gave the sound guy a thumbs up!! As Hank Williams himself would have said to Miss Audrey, probably on bended knees - "You Win Again".
Jerry mentioned that he had a gold record for that song and said the flip side wasn't bad either - what was that again?? I think it was Great Balls Of Fire he said with
another amused smile. I thought he was about to cut the show short, but he took us into "Georgia On My Mind" and a thunderous "Mexicali Rose" before the
well known WLS intro saddened me, as I was afraid our ways would part much too soon, but no, he went into "Rockin' My Life Away" AGAIN!!! He acknowledged the fact
that it was a blooper, but played about the same length of it as he had done before before stopping it, commenting that when you do the same song twice you don't have your mind on
what you're doing.
The next three songs really made the show special: "She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye", "Another Place, Another Time" and
"What's Made Milwaukee Famous", three country hits in a row and we were treated to versions that were perfect with beautiful piano and vocals from the old
master. After hearing how great his voice is, I look forward to the new album even more.
The closing with "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls Of Fire" was quick and dirty, and The Killer left us wanting more, as always.
Wolfie
and I tried to make it back to the hotel in time to greet Jerry, but we were too late, he had already gone to his quarters. 55 minutes of pure Killer with no filler had made
us every excited and everyone we saw and talked to had wide grins on their faces as we knew we had been treated to the old Killer. This was probably the best public
performance I had seen Jerry do since the 1980's.
The night was spent with a bunch of wild fans and the band at a restaurant where Rolf Bresser and Blondell supplied the
entertainment by singing and shouting, it was fun and I did catch an hour's sleep before getting up at 5AM to go back to the airport and fly home, via Copenhagen.
What a showman, I am very happy that I went to the two shows in Indiana and in Paris, and I am ready to do it all over again anytime.
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