The opuses Bitter America and Save my soul delivered in quick succession, in full, it is, say, quite strong as a doubling. This is what Luc De Larochellière offered on Friday during his visit to the Palais Montcalm.
Two very big albums which marked the beginnings of the singer-songwriter and singer who grew up in Laval.
Two opuses performed in the order they are found on these two albums launched in 1988 and 1990.
a Bitter America in acoustic formula and a Save my soul who is now 31 years old. All songs he wrote before he was 24.
“We were supposed to celebrate the 30 years of this album, but something happened that delayed this meeting,” he said after performing Bitter America in duet with bassist Yoland Houle.
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He was then joined on stage by his musicians of the time, Marc Pérusse on guitar, Sylvain Clavette on drums, Gérard Cyr on keyboards and Paul Picard on percussions: the Paul Picard of Maneige and who also played with Céline Dion . We also found the choristers Dominique Faure and Monique Paiement.
“When I had the idea of remaking Bitter America with the gang at the time, i was surprised they were all still alive. Some more than others … If you close your eyes, they haven’t aged a bit. Trust your ears, ”he said, before attacking Le silence, which he wrote, when he missed the last bus that was to bring him back to the family bungalow in Laval.
During the part devoted to his very first album, the musicians are in acoustic mode, except for Gérard Cyr’s keyboards.
Bitter America, The road is long, Chinatown Blues, The elections, Still a liar! and The coach are part of the good moments of this first part of the concert.
Before interpreting Chinatown Blues, Luc de Larochellière tunes his acoustic guitar while his old gang started the whole thing. We wonder if he’s going to get there and he barely gets there when he has to sing the words “lost on an island, lost in the crowd”.
Classic Brick and Coke
Just like this excellent version, full of emotions of the room The fright of the next day, delivered on its own to the guitar. A play he wrote, as he says, when he was a young author who was a little green and a little young, where he made brick rhyme with classic Coke. He is alone on the boards, but everything is there. We would have taken even more of those moments.
Throughout the evening, the 55-year-old author, composer and performer recounts anecdotes surrounding the songs that many believed, at one time, that Chinatown Blues, first excerpt fromBitter America, was a song by Daniel Lavoie.
After the intermission, Luc de Larochellière left the machine with the “hit” Save my soul. With bass and electric guitar.
In distress
Save my soul, it is also My generation, the excellent Avenue Foch, Cash City, Yes fragile and Marie elisabeth. Big stock. However, we will have great difficulty with I am bourgeoiss where bassist Yoland Houle, Paul Picard and Luc De Larochellière got completely lost. We took it three times without succeeding. And the guitarist Marc Pérusse had the right word, suggesting to go listen to the piece on the album.
With The machine is my friende, Luc De Larochellière embarks on a perilous exercise. There are a lot of lyrics, he hasn’t sung this song since the S tourraise my soul and they are written on two sheets which he holds near him.
Listening to these pieces, nine of which have been broadcast on the radio, we see that the author, composer and performer had a strong, solid start to his career and that he wrote some damn good songs. And all that makes you want to dive back into these two albums.
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