“Tonight we face the challenge of turning the square into the largest dance floor in the history of Montreal!” Dumas introduced this Thursday evening during his open-air concert at Francos. The singer performed there to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his album The course of the days. Later that evening the party continued at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier with a special concert by Louise Attaque to mark the 25th anniversary of her first album.
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Our relationship with Dumas and the Cours des Jours tour is very special. On September 30, 2020, the singer gave the first performance of this tour in celebration of his outstanding 2003 album. The next day, the government closed concert halls indefinitely as they struggled with a new wave of COVID-19.
Six months later, exactly 176 days, the theaters were able to open their doors again. And who was back at La Tulipe to continue their tour? Yes Dumas! The show then started at 7pm due to the curfew and took place in front of a distanced and masked crowd. That time seems so far away to us today!
At our third show of the new Cours des Jours tour at Francos, this time we were offered a more normal festival evening, far away from the events with hygiene measures that have characterized the last few years. Finally, Le cours des jours could really unfold freely. And on our side, we might finally come full circle on a surreal era we’ve all lived through.
At around 8 p.m., Dumas appeared on the Loto Quebec stage, commonly known as the “Symphony Stage.” Even if the day had been rather rainy, the sky was no longer threatening when the musicians arrived. There was even a big sun in the head of Dumas, who wore smoke goggles.
“Big Luck”
As with the rest of the Cours des Jours tour, the concert began with the full performance of the album, in order. How perfectly the compositions worked two decades later was shown again.
“Did anyone see us wearing masks back then at La Tulipe or more recently?” the singer asked the crowd.
In almost an hour, the group had delivered all of the Cours des Jours pieces, including the outstanding pieces J’erre, Arizona, Vol en splinters and Linoleum.
“It is a great pleasure for us to play Le cours des jours in Montreal. It was written here and our first audience was here.”
anatole
Shortly before we could hear some songs from Alexandre Martel’s project Anatole. The musician is best known for his work as a director, behind Hubert Lenoir’s famous Darlène, and has also worked with Thierry Larose, Lumière, Alex Burger and Lou-Adriane Cassidy.
After starting the show intimately, Anatole sat on a chair and almost wanted to take us to his living room. He is vocally very fit and masters his songs well. We especially liked the last part of the concert, which was more dynamic, with the singer getting comfortable and starting to dance and play the electric guitar.
Louise attack
After Dumas’ performance, we ran to catch Louise Attaque.
The group is still rare here, their last appearance dates back to 2016, also at Francos, with a concert at the Métropolis.
This time the group performed in a very crowded and over-the-top Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier.
For their big comeback, the musicians had planned to play their entire debut album, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary.
It all happened there: love, I blow you up, your invitation, Parisian nights, Léa.
Since the author of these lines was just finishing high school at the time of this record’s release, it was a nice step backwards that the group let us see them live.
Since releasing a new album, the very solid Planète Terre, in 2022, the rockers have also released a number of new tracks, including Sortir de l’ordinary and La frousse.
The new “We, we want to live”, which is already very dynamic on the CD, was given an even more powerful dimension in concert with the refrain that the singer asked the audience to sing: “We, we want to live crazy, we want to live everything, we just want to live.”
Louise Attaque is of course the very special voice of Gaëtan Roussel, who also plays the guitar. But on the same level it is also Arnaud Samuel’s unmistakable violin. On multiple tracks, the violinist adds a celebratory touch that sets the room on fire.
During the new Evening Light/Daylight, the show enjoyed a rare hiatus. Roussel then sat down, the lights dimmed. And the spectators settled back into their seats.
But everyone quickly jumped from the next title, saying, “If it were yesterday.”
After a few tepid plays, Louise Attaque had saved a big weapon for last: don’t say anything. We then found the same current in the room as at the beginning of the concert.
As a reminder: After “Carelessness” Louise Attaque repeated her biggest career success: “I take you to the wind”. Yes, even if they played it at the beginning of the concert! For us, who had missed this track earlier in the evening because we were still with Dumas, it was a great gift to be able to see this piece in concert.
The musicians began the song on stage and quickly took a stroll through the crowd at Place des Arts. A perfect and highly festive finale!
*After Louise Attaque asked permission to take photos of the concert prior to publication, Le Journal decided not to include photos with this article.