1h35m; Gabriel Gordon opened; "je rentre du concert apr s avoir fini la soir e avec un couple d'amis (pardon Wendy je suis arriv trop tard pour le pub). D'abord, une 1 re partie sympa 20h pile, puis Van vers 20h25, il est sur sc ne d s la 1 re chanson. Il est tard et je n'ai pas not les morceaux, mais pas de grande surprise dans la setlist, part une reprise de Ray Charles, I Believe It To My Soul (enfin je suis pas trop s r du titre). La 1 re heure tait tr s bonne mais sans vraiment d coller, partir de streets of arklow/you don't pull no punches c'est pass la vitesse sup rieure, It's All In The Game tait sublime! J'y allais sans vraiment savoir quoi m'attendre vu que je ne suis pas fan des ann es 2000-2003, finalement une excellente soir e, depuis d but 2004 Van reprenait du poil de la b te d'apr s les reviews des concerts pr c dents, cette fois-ci c'est confirm , he's back on top!" Fran ois Quick review of last night's show at the Olympia in Paris. It was fabulous! The opening act was a young chap I had never heard of before - Gabriel Gordon. He came on stage at 8 on the dot and sang for about 20 minutes or so. Pleasant enough to pass the time waiting for Van but nothing special. I was very excited as I was sitting in the front row for the first time so had a brilliant view. The band came on at 8.35, followed closely by Van. He was wearing a grey suit, black fedora hat and light sunglasses. From the minute he walked on stage I could see we were in for a treat as he was relaxed and happy. His voice was strong After a gig at the Olympia three or four years ago, Ralph Salmins told me that the Olympia is one of Van's favourite venues and always enjoys playing there. I presume the line-up of the band is the same. I only recognised Matt Holland so will have to rely on others to supply the names. Chris Barber was there and the only one to get a special mention. At the end, I noticed that the keyboards player had no shoes or socks on but don't know if this is his usual playing style or because the weather in Paris has been hot lately. Julien wrote down the setlist so hopefully he will post that later. The gig lasted one hour and 35 minutes which is an indication, I think, of the fact that Van was having a good time. The first hour of the show contained quite a few numbers from WWWTP. I don't like the album that much but it certainly makes a difference hearing the songs live. He moved on to what he called "A tribute to the great Ray Charles" and launched into "I believe in my soul". We then got a nice "Into The Mystic". Later there was the Vegas version of HITYLTILY, another first for me. The really took off after about an hour when Van launched into a stunning "Streets Of Arklow/You don't pull no punches". I was worried that a stupid girl in the front row was going to spoil the atmosphere as she clapped throughout each song and kept on calling out "We love you Van" between each song. Van took this in good part and even called back "We love you too" at one point. However, she was well behaved when it mattered! Another highlight for me was a superb " It's All In The Game" which Van introduced as a workshop on two levels (one and four), which would go on ad infinitum or ad nauseum..... He could have gone on all night as far as I was concerned as this was Van at his best. The encore was a greatest hits - Gloria and Brown Eyed Girl, not my favourites but they had everyone up on their feet - no mean feat in France (oops, bad pun there). Van introduced Gloria by saying that he had first played this song in France at the Olympia in 1966 when Them were playing support for Bo Diddley "when I was six years old", which raised a laugh. All in all, a great night. I wonder why Van keeps the band as I did miss the likes of Georgie Fame, Pee Wee Ellis, Richie Buckley et al but nevertheless, it was a magical evening. Regards Wendy in Paris