+44 @ L'Elysee Montmartre - Paris, FR

so showtime on the ticket read 20h00 (8pm). i got there at 815 wanting to see the opening act, "the tommys":http://www.myspace.com/thetommysband (see my "preview":http://mog.com/chulsmith/blog_post/39566). when i got there, another band was onstage. the lead singer/guitarist and second guitarist were long haired rockers - long hair like, to-the-butt long hair. one played a sunburst les paul and the other a bc rich "mockingbird":http://www.bcrich.com - yeah, they were rockers. and the bassist looked like cameron from ferris bueller's day off. i couldn't see the drummer because he wasn't on a platform and was hidden behind the locks of the singer/guitarist sporting his bc rich. they played a straight up rock and roll style of music - unfortunately for me, i wasn't feelin' it. then after the song, they spoke french to the crowd. wow - a french band. i thought they were some native english speaking band because their lyrics were in english. interesting, it's gotta be difficult to write songs in a second language - i'm just trying to speak french and am having a hell of a time. maybe they're french-canadians. all i know is that their count-ins were: one. two. one, two, sree, foe!anyway, they finished and to my disappointment, the tommys weren't to be heard from. LAME. maybe it's because it was a school night and they had to be in homeroom early the next morning back in the UK. i got me a beer and as rawk pointed out a while back, i peeped my ideal spot - by the soundboard (best sound) and slightly elevated over the crowd (best view of both the band and the pit). the venue, "l'elysee montmartre":http://www.elyseemontmartre.com, was a fairly small place, for those minneapolitans, about the size of the main floor of the quest, but more girth and less length - but it was used well ;) so it held maybe... i have no idea - i'm horrible at estimating crowds. here's a photo i took from 'the spot' - it's at the very rear of the venue - only about a 5-6 foot aisle (~2 meters) and the bar were behind me.after a short break and chants of (phonetically): PLOO CARE-AUNT CAT, PLOO CARE-AUNT CAT, "+44":http://www.plusfortyfour.com hit the stage. travis, the drummer, was sans cast, but per doctor's orders, played with only one arm. now, i know this has been done before a la def leppard, but travis' drumming blows rick allen's drumming away. if you haven't seen travis drum with one arm, here he is playing with the game for aol.granted, he used some snare triggers, but seriously... he actually did a one handed drum roll that sounded almost flawless. crazy.anyway, as they came onstage, mark (singer) says "bone swar, pairee. noo sums ploo care-aunt cat". (good evening, paris. we're +44). good for him. they're the first US band that i've seen here that's spoken more french than 'merci'. however, they didn't seem to have a whole lot of energy on stage (except for travis who was rocking out the whole night). maybe it's because it was the first show of the tour and they just got here. they played 10 songs with minimal jabber in between each. it's pretty funny because all of the american bands i've seen seem to feel really awkward when they're speaking to the crowd. my guess is that it's because they don't know how many kids can actually understand them. just before the 11th song, mark said that it's their last song and the crowd reacted with a BOOOOO. he said he was kidding and said something to the effect of "we're gonna play this song, then go stand offstage for a minute, then come back and play one more. that's how it works. it's called an encore." i found it funny because encore is a french word. hehehe. then one of the guitarists started puking and the crowd went nuts. they played the song, went offstage, then came back and covered 'metro' by berlin. they chose that song because it mentions paris and london in it - "perfect for the european tour" mark said.although it was a decent show, i can't recommend going to see them live. save your $30 and buy six pints of ben and jerry's or something.be gentle, this is my first ever concert review - what am i missing? besides setlist because i don't know the names of songs to save my life. i know them only as track x on the so-and-so album.