A PERFECT CIRCLE: THIRTEENTH STEP 2003-2004
PARIS, FRANCE [LE ZENITH]
1.31.04


By Sinnister


I had no ticket for the APC gig, so my only goal was to see Jeordie before the gig. I arrived at the Zenith at about 4.30pm. I found the place where the tour buses were parked: it was a bus park on the right side of the Zenith, and it was separated from us by a wire fence. We were about 6 people waiting in front of the wire fence. I came alone, but there I met a boy I knew from the Manson’s gig. He was with a girl who got Jeordie’s cell phone number after they’ve met in Paris in September (the boy and the girl are called Dominic and Sarah)

Just a quarter after I arrived, 2 taxis came down the street and stopped in front of the wire fence, waiting for the security guard to open it. Meanwhile, we recgonized James, Josh and Jeordie in the taxis. Josh was smiling widely, but Jeordie hid himself from us. Then the taxis drove to the car park and the wire fence was closed. They all came out of the taxis, and Dominic, Sarah and I called Jeordie, we called “here is Sarah, you know her”, but Jeordie didn’t look at us and went quickly inside the Zenith… we were a bit disappointed. We then tried to call Jeordie on his cell phone, but Sarah didn’t had the prefix code for a US phone, so it didn’t work. A few minutes later, another taxi came with the guitarist of Melissa auf der Maur. She stepped out of the taxi to talk to us before getting on the other side of the wire fence. After talking with her, Dominic and I asked her if she knew the prefix code to call a US cell phone. She gave us a code, but she got it wrong, so we still couldn’t phone Jeordie. After a moment, another taxi came down the street: it was Melissa herself. She stepped off the taxi as her guitarist had done, and talked with us. Then we asked her if she could tell Jeordie that Sarah was waiting outside. She said she would tell him that, and she went inside the Zenith. Both Melissa and her guitarist were really nice. But then we heard that APC was doing the sound check, and after that, we heard Melissa’s sound check, so I think Melissa didn’t have had anytime to talk to Jeordie, and that’s understandable.

Then, at about 6.30pm, (there was only the 3 of us left, waiting) Sarah and I were bored of waiting and we were freezing since there was no sun anymore. But Dominic pleaded with us to stay a bit more. We said “ok, but just a 1/4 of hour, then we go”. A few minutes later, we saw a musician of Melissa getting out the Zenith to smoke. As I was bored of waiting, I said “that’s our last chance” and I waved at the guy. He came to see us, and I asked him “Do you know if Jeordie will come out before the gig?” and the guy answered “I can ask him”. We said “oh yeah!” and Dominic said “there is Sarah here, Jeordie knows her”. The guy said “ok, I’ll tell him”. He got back into the Zenith, and one minute later, Jeordie came out!!! He came to us, but the security guard wouldn’t open the wire fence, so we couldn’t give him hugs. He first talked to Sarah, asking her with a very sweet voice “Hi how are u? U must be freezing here!” and put his finger through the wire fence to touch her hand. He then began to sign what Dominic was giving him: there was Manson’s CD covers (on which Jeordie signed “Twig”) and the APC’s CD cover (on which Jeordie signed “Jeordie”). Sarah gave him her APC’s CD cover too. I had no CD covers, but I had brought my Manson’s biography… but I was afraid of giving it to him, because I didn’t want to bother him or upset him. He saw that I didn’t gave him anything, so when he finished signing the other stuff, he gave me an inquiring look. I told him: “I have something for you to sign, but I think you’re gonna be upset by that”. He asked me with a very sweet: voice “why? what is it?”. I then answered him: “it’s Manson’s biography, because this book really mean to me, but if you don’t…” and he said at once: “oh ok! I’m ok with that! I’ll sign it!” So I gave him the book, and he signed it on the cover. But I was afraid that it would fade away because the cover is in plastic. So I told him: “oh, can you sign it inside it as well?” and he said like a child: “and inside it as well!” and he signed it inside. Then he said he gotta go, but Dominic asked him if he could take a picture. I then took a picture too, and Jeordie said “ok, I really gotta go now”, he waved at us and went back inside.


Review by Teenage Zombie

I arrived at Zenith around noon with my best friend to make sure we’d be in front. I regretted it because people were coming around 3 pm, so we’re there for hours freezing in the cold for nothing! But at least it was worth it. Around 6:15 pm, they were letting people in, and we made our way to the barrier on the left side! It was a long wait and then it finally started!!!

Melissa Auf de Maur came on stage, she was wonderful!! There was a great ambiance, the audience was quite receiving (well I didn’t hear anyone wanting her to get off stage like pervious opening bands). She told us it was her first time touring with her own group and she was really happy to start like this. She also said we were really nice! Hehe The guys on the keyboard and guitar gave me everything he could lay his hands on while packaging their stuff… nice brief opening act

We waited for APC to come on stage!!! They started with Vanishing just to give us a taste of what’s to come and to set the ambiance. The guys were dressed really classy. James Iha’s hair was blonde and much longer than it was in September, the last time I saw them. Billy is still bald, Jeordie had a half pony tail of dreads…so really only James’ appearance was different. They followed with Pet and it warmed up the public, who started to move gently. More songs followed, and were done impressively!! The sounds was great, Maynard sang without fault (or so it seemed to me)… He danced the same way as usual, it’s really nice to see, it changes a bit! It seems to me that all the songs were done perfectly! The crowd was relatively calm, a few jumpers and slammers but nothing really mean. We all probably fell into the unique magic of APC live!!

I always had a hard time remembering setlist and mostly the order of the songs, but I think this is exactly the same one as Strasbourg:

Vanishing
Pet
The Hollow
Magdalena
Weak and Powerless
Orestes
Blue
Rose
The Package
3 Libras
The Nurse Who Loved Me
The Outsider
The Noose
Judith


And on top of that (though predictable) we got a nice song from James who sings very very badly! It made everyone laugh, the band and the crowd. Jeordie sat next to him on a chair, he had his head on his shoulder saying “it’s time to go to sleep children!!!” Jeordie also sang is famous song “Fred’s got slacks” hehe!! While joking around James jumped like a savage on Jeordie who turned hi back and I really thought that he would die of a heart attack!! He laughed after he found out what was coming… At the end of the show Billy was on the drums, Jeordie on the guitar and James sand another little something with his psychotic voice… During the show Maynard said funny things about the girls in front of Jeordie saying “ Jeordie I want to marry you”… He also spoke about cameras and the flash they made…we understand…

Josh and Billy played like mad during the whole performance, but outside of that they were more reserved, so they didn’t join in a lot of the jokes on stage… There you have it, what’s from the show… And for the after show, a roadie gave us backstage passes from Jeordie! So once we got backstage, I had the honor of getting my foot crushed by Josh who was looking for his hat and laptop and he didn’t seem to be perturbed having crushed my foot until about 20 seconds!! He left right away. I saw Maynard with out his wig and really I think I prefer it like that! He seemed a little shy and reserved. He spoke a little and asked how we were doing. He spoke with a soft and calm voice “are you ok?”. James Iha tried to speak with everyone… Oh well, Jeordie is the only one that stayed the whole time! He’s a big kid who likes to play tricks!! He was the first to make a relaxed atmosphere! He sat on a table, took away the drumstick that Melissa Auf Der Maur gave me and started drumming on the table and the plates, and then he started tossing plates and plastic cups on everyone. Basically he’s really funny. Then we saw Billy who signed autographs, spoke with us a little saying they’d try to come back in the summer! It was simple and kind…!!