Tour De Fleurs
(Fabulous Four Records FAB4-029/030)
Palais Omnisport De Bercy, Paris, France – October 10th, 1989
Disc 1 (70:12): Figure Of Eight, Jet, Rough Ride, Got To Get You Into My Life, Band On The Run, Ebony And Ivory, We Got Married, Maybe I’m Amazed, The Long And Winding Road, The Fool On The Hill, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Good Day Sunshine, Can’t Buy Me Love, Put It There, Things We Said Today, Eleanor Rigby
Disc 2 (59:24): This One, My Brave Face, Back In The U.S.S.R., I Saw Her Standing There, Twenty Flight Rock, Coming Up, Let It Be, Ain’t That A Shame, Live And Let Die, Hey Jude, Yesterday, Get Back, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, The End
Flowers In The Dirt, Paul McCartney’s comeback to relevance after the poor reception of Press To Play also lead to his first tour in the decade since the end of Wings. Starting at the end of September, it would last well into the new year and visit places he had never visited before such as Brazil and Japan.
But one of the early stops were three nights at the Palais Omnisport De Bercy in Paris, France, on October 9th, October 10th and October 11th. Tour De Fleurs documents the second of the three nights utilizing a very good audience recording. Released in 2002, it contains several little cuts between songs, one of which cuts off the “Hello, Goodbye” ending of “Put It There” and one after “Live And Let Die.”
There are also little cuts within some of the songs as if the taper turned his machine off. They’re not significant but noticeable.
The tape begins right at the beginning of “Figure Of Eight.” McCartney’s first tour in a decade starts off with songs from the new album instead of older Beatle rockers as in later tours. It gives the impression that he’s more interested in promoting the new material rather than embarking on a nostalgia trip.
“Figure Of Eight” is followed by the Wings classic “Jet” and, after wishing Paris a big “bon soir,” going into another new song “Rough Ride.” This performance of “Rough Ride” is used on the live album Tripping The Live Fantastic. Afterwards McCartney speaks in French and jokes “spoken like a true native.” He then introduces “a song Robbie wrote this morning actually” before the first Beatle song of the night “Got To Get You Into My Life.”
“Band On The Run” is played unusually early in the set and “Ebony And Ivory” is the only song from his early eighties output (an era which is still unfairly ignored). The new “We Got Married” forms a nice pair with “Maybe I’m Amazed.”
McCartney then plays a string of Beatles tunes starting with “The Long And Winding Road.” He dedicates “Fool On The Hill” to John Lennon whose birthday it was the previous night. “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” has a long guitar interlude in the middle, an arrangement he’ll use on later tours.
“This One” and “My Brave Face” are the final new songs in the set. McCartney makes the decision to include covers in the set. The first is Eddie Cochrane’s “Twenty Flight Rock.” Paul encourages the audience to dance to “Coming Up” only if “you got the energy left.” The horn section and drums play a crazy melody before the disco starts.
Tweety Bird from the Loony Tunes cartoons can be heard before Paul tells the audience he wants to play Chopin’s Piano Concerto in E Minor. He plays “Let It Be” instead, a joke he used to play with the audience before “Yesterday” in the seventies. He speaks about the massive program handed out to audience members for free about the Friends Of The Earth and remains at the piano for the Fats Domino cover “Ain’t That A Shame.”
“Hey Jude” closes the set and “Yesterday” is the first encore. Before the finale encores Paul greets Tina Turner in the audience. The finale from Abbey Road, “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight” and “The End” are the final songs played that night.
Tour De Fleurs came out on the minor Fabulous Four Records about the time Macca started his first tour in almost a decade. It’s a good document from the early days of the Flowers In The Dirt tour and, despite the cuts, is worth having.
