Dan Bern

& the IJBC
sunday 18th may 2003
in concert at l'Esapce Jemmapes
116 quai de Jemmapes Paris 10
+ special guest
Chris Kenna

Sunday sees the return to Paris of Dan Bern, who like Mary Gauthier will have played in Paris three times in the past 18 months. Why so often ? Because we like them so much and they are both in the ranks of the finest contemporary songwriters around.
Dan's as sharp as a huntsman's knife and as a rule very, very funny.... with influences ranging from a couple of Bruce's (Lenny & Springsteen), Costello's (Lou & Elvis), Dylan's (Bob & Thomas), Woody's (Allen & Guthrie) plus a dose of the Charle's (Bukowsky & Ray) for good measure.... his postal adress is "Truth or Consequence" New Mexico and that just about sums up his songwriting too.... truthfull with a lasting after effect. He'll be appearing with his whole band this time making the concert even more appetising... opening we will have our very good friend Chris Kenna and his Moonray band too.

A Dan Bern show begs many questions. Is this the same guy who critics are overzealously proclaiming the newest folk "legend"? This man who plays the guitar like he just picked it up yesterday? This man who writes farcical songs about pretending to be a painter so he can con women into posing nude for him? Who affects an Okie accent that sounds like a cross between Woody Guthrie and Pee-Wee Herman? This is the next Bob Dylan?
Bern couples his songwriting skills with an ability to lock into an audience and make them hang on his every word. And, as with his approach to songwriting, he doesn't hesitate to think large. When fans at the show requested a song about Bruce Springsteen and "The Day They Found a Cure For AIDS," Bern decided to play "Cure for AIDS," as Bruce Springsteen, using three distinct impersonations to represent the man at different points in his career, and spontaneously revising the lyrics to mimic the Boss's New Jersey
dialect. The song culminated with Bern as a mid-Eighties Bruce bellowing out the bridge to the song (Bern claimed that was the only time Springsteen had musical bridges in his songs, necessitating that particular impersonation). Ultimately, Bern finished the song as himself -- one part bullshitter, two parts provocateur, singing bold and intelligent songs that folk hasn't seen since, well, you know....
excerpt from review in rolling stone

and the audience goes there !

In Concert
Aux Étoiles
61 rue du Château d'Eau Paris 10
Métro : Château d'Eau
Monday 7 October 2002

set list :
Jerusalem * Chelsea Hotel * God Said No * Black Tornado * Paris Song (written in Paris 10/7/02) * Frenchy (written in Paris 06/24/02) * I had a peach in Paris * Allright Kind of Girl * You're gone baby bye bye * Closer to You * Albuquerque Lullabye * Talking 911 Blues * The Fifth Beatle

Dan Bern is steeped in the mythology of popular culture. He's literate, reflective, boisterous, fearless, witty and very funny. His current album "New American Language" has hardly left my turntable since it was sent to me. Produced by Dylan and Springsteen knob-wielder Chuck Plotkin it is simply, in my humble opinion, better than anything that either Bob or Bruce have done in years. Unmissable !!!

"Thanks to Dan Bern, folk is finally relevant again… he's a song-writing machine, so close to the curve of current events that he sometimes comes across more as a singing political columnist than a poet"
Rolling Stone

"Bern is steeped in the mythology of popular culture… literate, reflective, boisterous,
fearless and witty. A brilliant late flowering talent has finally come into his own." Uncut

"The modern day answer to Ginsberg or Kerouac…. you know this is someone special."
Reviews Unlimited

"Dan Bern has had some interesting conversations with God!" Robyn Hitchcock

berning issues