Just back from Paris. Still reeling from the show. Easily the best of the four I've seen on this tour, so far. She just put everything into every song. And she earned herself a second encore ('Sawdust & Diamonds') which she claimed was her first ever.
So Paris now claims my first and second favourite Newsom gigs. La Cigale is still probably my favourite but this comes a close second.
Roy Harper played Dylan's 'Girl From the North Country' which added to the special beauty of the evening. He seemed like he'd been rehearsing too. He played up a storm with no hint of the tentativeness of the early shows.
Organisation at the venue was chaotic though. Having got there around 5:30pm, there were only about ten other people. As more arrived we formed a queue but were then told we could queue at all six doors! Much shuffling around commenced. Then they opened just the one door. Everyone rushed for it but once we were inside, no one was there to direct us or take tickets. Then we were all ushered into a big hall with a small orchestra in the centre. It seemed they wanted us to watch a free Steve Reich recital before Joanna. Like hell! I rushed back out only to find a big queue had formed to get into the proper hall. They started checking tickets but my side went much faster than the other and I gained a few queue places back. Then they did the same game of trying to get people queuing at different doors. I refused to budge. And lo and behold the first door they opened was the queue next to mine! Amazingly, despite the chaos and being far from first through the doors, I still got to sit exactly where I hoped (the reason for getting there early in the first place). Thank heavens the UK venues have numbered seats. I don't think my heart could stand much more panic!
Close up pics and a video coming soon.