Namur 2024. Sunday groovy sunday

Shaka Ponk, the very big piece (photos Stéphane Risack)

Solidarities, Namur, August 25, 2024,

On this sunny Sunday, the Namur Solidarités festival has decidedly turned British. On the day’s bill, although Franco-Belgian, only artists singing in English! Concerts that are apparently far removed from the core target of Nos Enchanteurs, then? You don’t know us well, however, to believe that we would pass them over in silence.

Talisco (photo Sonia Chapelle)

Why indeed should we ignore Talisco ? It seems that it is the pseudonym of a singer from Bordeaux (Jérôme Amandi is his real name), but what we were actually able to appreciate on stage was a real group of 3 members (a drummer, a keyboard player and a singer-guitarist), so much so that the group was of a rare coherence and never featured the one who nevertheless monopolized the microphone. The group gives in to haunting, even oppressive electro rock, with liberating flights. A rigorous performance completed in apotheosis by Suntheir popular song serving as the theme song for the soap opera Such a big sun. A very good way to start this musical afternoon.

Jain (photo Sonia Chapelle)

Jain comes to us from Toulouse but had a globetrotting youth. What’s surprising then that she offers us an electro-pop in English mixed with rap, rock and reggae? A mixed music that resembles her, anchored in our times. Three albums already to her credit and a few nominations and trophies at the Victoires de la Musique. A fresh concert, sweet as a candy, light as a soap bubble in its first half, more rock for the finale. The artist knows how to do it, twirling and smiling, evolving in a very beautiful, very graphic decor, all in curves. A pleasant performance, which ends with her hit Makebawhich the mysterious ways of TikTok have recently transformed into a global hit.

Helmut Lotti (Frank Delandshere)

For a French person, the name ofHelmut Lotti must not mean much. The same is not true for the Belgian public, especially the Flemish. So you should know that, at the age of 54, the man is a superstar of the flat country. His thing: doing covers and singing hits. First in the classical music niche, which earned him his immense popularity, then in a bit of everything (Elvis, Russian airs, Italian songs, Latin music, etc.). His latest project, entitled Helmut Lotti goes Metalnow sees him striding through the fields of hard rock. What should we expect from it, this musical style being so far removed from the singer’s image? The mocking grin quickly gave way to an admiring smile, as the concert was easy to live without forcing. The fault lies first with the seasoned musicians who play hard and get legs moving. Then, thanks to the pleasure taken in listening to the greatest hits of the genre (Scorpions, Guns and roses, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Deep Purple or AC/DC were in the spotlight, as were our Jojo and his That I love you). Finally, thanks to the charm of a singer with doubtful credibility but who knows his job to perfection, plays the rock star with a certain derision (you only had to see his tailcoat jacket, a nod to his classical period, but … all in leather!) and ultimately makes us spend an exciting time without ever sinking into excess or ridicule. It is not the thousands of voices taking up with him Born to be wild or Highway to hell who will contradict me.

All that remained to round off the evening was the big event: the concert by Get Ponk ! After 22 years of career, the group announced that they wanted to stop to devote themselves to other projects in the field of environmental protection. However, they are not leaving us without a final tour, entitled The Final Fucked Up Tour. And the least we can say is that it was a very powerful farewell! It’s hard to describe such a concert. It’s simple: I’ve never seen such a performance! Everything was big, excessive, grandiloquent. An incredible scenography, with projections galore on giant screens covering the immense back of the stage, an insane light show, an enormous sound. To surround Frah (the singer), Sam (the singer) and their 4 fellow musicians, nothing less than a choir of 16 members, dressed all in white, arranged on both sides of the stage in a striking stage effect. And then an insane energy, which is impossible to resist. Songs mainly in English (two tracks in French), with a bonus cover of Nirvana that is dynamite. Rock that is certainly basic but extremely effective, mixing punk, funk and grunge. The visual spectacle is total, the sound madness merciless. We come out of there exhausted from having danced too much, stunned from having experienced such a moment. On stage, Shaka Ponk is indeed the greatest French rock band today and is likely to remain so for a long time to come. You have about ten dates left to realize it.