Black Sessions
Black Sessions are performances of live music broadcast on the French radio station France Inter. They are recorded in front of a live audience and feature on the C'est Lenoir show. The name is a pun based on the name of their creator, Bernard Lenoir, translated literally as "Bernard the black"
The first performance was in 1992 and since then many French and international artists have performed Black sessions including:
Arctic Monkeys
Band of Horses
Beirut
Belle & Sebastian
Belly
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Andrew Bird
Bloc Party
The Boo Radleys
Broadcast
Calexico (Session no. 163; recorded live at studio 105 May 22, 2000)
Nick Cave
The Cardigans
Catatonia
Chumbawamba (21 October 1994)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
CocoRosie
Cocteau Twins
The Cure
Death in Vegas (21 October 1999)
The Divine Comedy
Drugstore
Echobelly (21 October 1994)
Editors
Eels
Elbow
Emilie Simon
Field Music
Feist
Franz Ferdinand (recorded 2005)
Goldfrapp
Grandaddy
Guillemots
Gumball (May 26, 1993)
Gemma Hayes
The House of Love (Session no.6; recorded May 6, 1992)
Interpol (Interpol released The Black EP which featured a number of tracks from their 2002 Black Session)
Klaxons
Lloyd Cole (1993 [covered Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"], 1995)
Los Campesinos!
Lush (*01147 - Session no. 55; recorded live at studio 105 June 28, 1994 Paris, France)
Madrugada (Session no. 159; recorded live at studio 105 April 3, 2000)
Mazzy Star (1993-10-25)
Mojave 3 (in their first public performance)
Morphine
The National
Nine Black Alps (the Glitter Gulch EP released by Nine Black Alps contains "Coldhearted", the song performed on their Black Session)
Pavement
Placebo (band)
The Posies (1 March 1994)
Pulp
Radiohead
The Raveonettes
Ride
The Rentals
Röyksopp (with a power-out goof at the beginning)
Sleeper (8 March 1994 - bassist Diid Osman fell over onstage, as recounted in singer Louise Wener's memoir Different For Girls)
The Shins
The Smashing Pumpkins
Smoke City
Sparklehorse (Session no. 250 ; recorded September 25, 2006)
Suede (recorded October 4, 1996)
The Sundays
Teenage Fanclub
Yann Tiersen (2 December 1998, and released as Black Session: Yann Tiersen by Ici, d'ailleurs... on 2 November 1999)
Throwing Muses
These New Puritans
The Verve
Rufus Wainwright
The Wedding Present
Paul Weller (October 16, 1992)
Weezer
Wire - released as the album The Black Session: Paris, 10 May 2011
The Wombats
Similar Artists