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:

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