Mike is back, to tell us what he was up to on Valentine's Day....
Mélanie Pain is perhaps best known for her time in the band Nouvelle Vague, a popular beat combo who have been plying their trade for the past 23 years. Whilst Nouvelle Vague still tour despite the death of one of their founder members Olivier Libaux, Melanie has recently released her 4th solo album, How And Why.
YouTube flagged up the singles off the new album and I enjoyed all the tracks from that album so it was nice to see a very random gig pop up in the vast metropolis which is Weston-super-Mare.
It has to be said that Melanie is playing some rather random places on this tour. Shoreham, Hastings and the aforementioned Weston-super-Mare aren’t usual rock hangouts but more power to her for playing these venues. The ticket price of £20 when you also have Calexico’s lead guitarist supporting you seems very reasonable as the Blakehay Theatre was pretty tiny.
Brian López kicks off things early and it was well worth catching his set. He explains that between time touring with Calexico he has previously toured with Nouvelle Vague and felt a little differently than the French band members who were getting excited about some terrible town in the USA and buying all manner of shit foods. Coming from Tucson Arizona himself he wasn’t quite as excited at playing these godforsaken towns (which begs the question what did he make of Weston?)
Road To Avalon, a song he co-wrote with KT Tunstall was excellent and his penultimate track was a cover of Pink Moon and he went on to talk about how great Nick Drake was. I’m always interested which artists cover which tracks of Mr. Drake. My thoughts are that the first two albums represent a happier Drake whereas the album Pink Moon is definitely ‘depressed Nick’. I wonder if it appeals to the tortured artist a bit more or maybe I’m reading too much into it. Anyway, Brian played a lovely short set which was appreciated by all in the venue.
Mélanie came on soon after and was backed by Brian and two other French musicians – Jérôme Pichon and Sébastien Collinet on guitar and bass. I’d discovered a clip from a French TV Channel recorded in December 2025 where Melanie and Jérôme played two songs and was pleased to see the live set up was more of a band than a duo. Sébastien on bass added an extra layer to the sound which made the night more enjoyable. The set list was predominantly tracks from the new album but as I like the new album very much this enhanced the overall experience.
Same kicked off the evening, followed by Dreamloop which immediately showed the quality within the new album. Senden Daha Guzel was next which was sung in its original Turkish and was a delight (see what I did there!)
A bit more back catalogue for the following tracks Celle De Mes 20 Ans from 2009 and then La Cigarette with a nod to Brigitte Bardot beforehand. This then morphed into The Killing Moon which was originally covered by Mélanie during her stint in Nouvelle Vague. A fabulous cover.
Next up was Magnolia, my favourite track from How And Why. Mélanie played trumpet kazoo whilst Sébastien’s bass burbled away nicely in the background.
We were then asked what was the most important word in the French language, which turned out to be ‘Non’! This 2012 song included finger cymbals – not used enough in live performances IMHO.
Another instrument used for a cover of Kraftwerk’s The Model - a vibraslap - again, how often do you see one of those used at gigs you go to these days?
Tempo went down again for Cold Hands with Mélanie and Brian standing back to back and then Bluer Than Blue, which Mélanie explained represents how she feels many days and is a truly confessional song. Again a great song from the new album.
The final track of the main set was Bye Bye Manchester which Mélanie said could have been called "Bye Bye Weston-super-Mare" but, let’s be honest, wouldn’t have scanned so well..
Encore was two more songs from How And Why – The Bare Truth Of Me and the title track. Again, Mélanie was slightly emotional describing the final song – you get the feeling that this is an artist that has gone through a bit over the years and that she is immensely proud of the latest album as she has every right to be.
My trip to Weston-super-Mare was a 145 mile round trip and well worth it! I would thoroughly recommend seeing Mélanie live and also her latest album is well worth checking out!
In Mike's covering email, he wrote, "I think you would have enjoyed it!" and, on the strength of this review, he wasn't wrong. Thanks so much, as always, Mike!
No setlist recreation this time, given the predominant focus on the current album (which you should buy) but it is listed below. I was also unable to source any photos from the show that Mike was at, so I've grabbed a trio of screen shots of Mélanie and band from their gig at Nochtspeicher in Hamburg on Tuesday (17th).
1) Same
2) Dreamloop
3) Senden Daha Guzel
4) Celle De Mes 20 Ans
5) La Cigarette
6) Colours In The Dark
7) The Killing Moon (Cover of Echo & The Bunnymen)
8) Magnolia
9) Non
10) The Model (Cover of Kraftwerk)
11) Cold Hands
12) Bluer Than Blue
13) My Name
14) Bye Bye Manchester
[Encore]
15) The Bare Truth Of Me
16) How And Why
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