In America, the articles I've read so far have all referenced 2009 as the year Phoenix became 'famous' in this part of the world. Yet, the French band from Marseilles has been churning out tunes waay before that, as early as 2000. I picked up my first Phoenix album It's Never Been Like That in 2006, when the single, "Long Distance Call," started playing in a radio station I'd listened to in Manila. Prior to that, their song "Too Young" was part of the Lost In Translation movie soundtrack in 2004, although I wasn't familiar with the band at the time. I eventually did find out that vocalist Thomas Mars was the boyfriend of director Sofia Coppola, whose movie mentioned above I particularly enjoyed (enough to have purchased the OST).2009 was when the band's latest cd, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, came out, which contained the now popular "1901" (featured in a Cadillac commercial), along with plenty of upbeat, happy songs that have been featured in a slew of movies and TV shows. That's when the bigger part of the U.S. started seriously noticing the French foursome. The Saturday Night Live and late-night talk show circuit guestings may have also helped.
What a great show!
The setlist, minus the awesome encore.So, on October 20, my husband and I finally got to see them live at the Madison Square Garden! It was awesome! Plus, a SURPRISE performance by the electronic duo, DAFT PUNK! You can read about it here and here.
I want to be them next Halloween.
I'M SO ENVIOUS! I saw this concert on YouTube. Huge fan of Daft Punk and love Phoenix since I heard them on NPR a few months a go. (I liked them so much I dug into their back catalog. All awesome.) My jaw dropped when I found out they played together. You and Alvin should have made a bootleg hahaha.
ReplyDeleteOh! Alvin kept recording (with pauses though) until he used up all the camera's memory :D I HOPE they come out with one of those "Live in..." cds! And, by the way, Thomas Mars reminded us of you!! Told Frances the other day. Ooh, I've never heard of NPR, Googled it just now.
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