The 2021 Summer Festival may not be like the others, but there are still traditions that are not lost: for example, that of asking veterans at the twilight of their careers to come and sing their greats there. success.
In this exceptionally all-Quebec programming, it was Paul Piché and Michel Pagliaro who fulfilled, admirably well, this mandate to draw on their memories to the delight of an audience who wanted only that, Saturday evening, at the Armory.
First to do so, at 6.30 p.m., Paul Piché answered the call with a generosity that was sometimes disconcerting.
Alone on the guitar, he revisited his greatest hits “as I composed them and presented them to my musicians”, he explained, between two sips of his box of Oasis juice.
With an ardor and a good humor to see, he played all the classics of his flagship album, Who owns the good weather?
The catchy There isn’t much in the sky at night, second title on the program, easily got the crowd, very receptive, in the game whileHappy with a spring and My joe satiated the nostalgic who clamored for them.
Some hits from the album On the way to the fires as well as an unpublished one, which he entitled The one, have also littered a flawless musical journey.
Talkative
We had Paul Piché the singer and Paul Piché the storyteller. Between his songs, the 67-year-old artist systematically told an anecdote, often funny, linked to the following title.
The operation worked well until the second part of the concert when interventions that were too long and going in circles broke the rhythm and sharpened our patience.
What patience was rewarded when, before leaving the stage, Paul Piché delivered a formidable and moving version, a capella please, of The staircase.
One more proof, if one was needed, that we had in front of us one of the greats of the song from here.
Pag: rock in the skin
Photo courtesy, Philippe Ruel
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In an infinitely more rock niche, Michel Pagliaro also searched generously in his memory box at the end of the evening. Although since he hasn’t released an album for over thirty years, it would have been difficult for him to do otherwise.
It remains that at 72 years old, good old Pag still has it in it. Rock has it in his skin.
Photo courtesy, Philippe Ruel
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With his everlasting dark glasses in his face, dressed in jeans from toe to toe and backed by three excellent musicians, he has reviewed old blues, rock and country tracks from his 1970s repertoire and performed his greatest hits, from The spy at I hear knocking Passing by What The Hell I Got and Bombs, with constant energy and without noticeable vocal failure.
The most anticipated, at least from a guy at the back of the room who asked for it for a good hour before Pag played it? The Ballad Rainshowers, inserted halfway to slow down the hectic pace of the concert.
The break was not long, courtesy of the explosive chain Dangerous, Ti-Bidon and Riot in the prison. Our national rocker had the crowd in his pocket.
► It continues, Sunday evening, still at the Armory, with Steve Hill and Matt Lang, at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
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