May 202. After two years of lockdowns worldwide. After bearing witness to a graphically tumultuous time. What seemed to me to be a lifting of the veil that took the world by storm and rolled out a series of socio-political reckonings and subsequent shit shows. Somehow, after two years of social upheaval and a virus that had grabbed our global society by the scruff of the neck and shaken the shit outta it, tickets to my solo European tour (that had been postponed twice!!) were still being held on to by fans. WTAF!!! Seemed like I wasn’t the only one who was holding on to the idea of something better on the other side of what ever the hell we’d all been through. This tour, during the first spring after it all, was nothing short of a tender balm on a weary heart. A soft bandage on a raw wound. It felt like that for me at least and I know many of the audience felt the same way. I’m so glad it was solo. It needed to be intimate, raw and vulnerable. It needed to go back to the very basics and the core. To story telling and bearing the bruised heart open so all could see that we were in the same boat together trying to work out what had just happened and where we were now. The fact that I could record a couple shows in Paris during this tour was truly a gift. France has always, from the very beginning, welcomed me like a long lost brother. We have a kindred spirit of rebelliousness and fire. Of cheeky irreverence and a passion for romance and art at it’s most unabashed. I’ve been wanting to make a live album in France for decades. I’m so grateful it happened when it did. In such a profound time and in a spring that will probably never have the same prelude again. I hope you enjoy it even half as much as I did making it. With love always, John “Live in Paris” Recorded at Le Trianon, Paris, France on the nights of May 26th & May 27th 2022
