October 23, 2023.
There is no crowd – but it is a Monday evening during school holidays – to welcome Sunny War for her first Parisian headlining concert (she opened for George Benson at the Olympia in the summer 2022), but, as is often the case, it was those who were absent who were wrong…
In the opening, the singer Bobbie – a regular at the opening acts, who has even already performed at Bercy – presents herself alone with her guitars. Vibrant and crystalline voice, a bit like Emmylou Harris, assertive stage presence and repertoire of well-shot originals taken from an album coming in the spring, she has no trouble capturing the audience’s attention in a modern country register ultimately not very common around here. There is no doubt that the release of his record, combined with his numerous opening appearances, will allow him to be widely noticed.
Bobbie
Sunny War
If Bobbie’s performance was characterized by its sunny side, the appearance of Sunny War is its dark counterpart. Completely lived in black and accompanied by a single drummer, a certain Alan whom she specifies that she only met the previous week, the singer does not hide her nervousness and gives the impression, throughout her show , that she would rather be anywhere other than on stage. Obviously, the uneasiness that she expresses in her songs is not a fiction, and the intensity of her interpretations is at times almost disturbing, especially since her spoken interventions do not help to disperse the uneasiness. , especially when she talks about her various stays in psychiatric hospitals before concluding that she thinks she will have to return there soon.
If several of the tracks played are taken from his latest album, “Anarchist Gospel”, like the very beautiful New day et l’intense His lovethe singer – who exchanges at length in a low voice with her drummer between each title –, explores widely her discography and offers in particular several pieces from “With The Sun”, her first record released on a label in 2018, including He’s my cell opening then If it wasn’t broken. Some titles, such as Big baby dedicated to her guitar, are a bit lighter, but the overall tone is dark, and the audience can only hold their breath when she performs the beautiful but desperate Love became pain.
Two solo covers ease the tension a little: a reinvented version of the She loves you of the Beatles (she also mentions a project of Beatles cover records in gothic mode) and the Freight train by Elizabeth Cotten. This last title allows us to particularly admire his very personal guitar playing, sometimes a little drowned out by the arrangements on his albums, influenced in particular by Cotten but also by Mississippi John Hurt, and which at times evokes the sound of Ali Farka Touré .
Close to a Tracy Chapman or a Joan Armatrading on record, Sunny War reveals an unexpected degree of intensity and depth on stage. If his music does not fit into the musicological boxes of blues, its expressive power makes it a close relative of that of Robert Johnson or Skip James. Reminder understood, the concert is only an hour long, but Sunny War seems to have reached the end of his abilities – and so did the public, as this performance departs from the usual concert standards. It’s hard to imagine what path Sunny War’s career will take next, but it’s obviously worth following.
Text : Frédéric Adrian
Photos © J-M Rock’n’Blues
More pics ici.
2023-11-02 10:40:40
#Sunny #War #Morning #Paris #Soul #Bag
