After a long absence, Philippe Brach devoted great resources to bringing his magnificent compositions to the stage during the Montreal show of his Les gens qu’on amour tour.
Published at 12:31 p.m.
Philippe Brach always manages to create shows for his audience that remain in their memory and in their hearts. Often, in addition to the musical performance, it is also everything that Philippe Brach does on the sidelines to amaze his audience, make them laugh and entertain them in the most unusual ways: costumes, characters, curious moments straight out of feverish ones Dream.
There was a bit of that on Saturday night during the show called Mondo Delicatessen in Montreal. But less than usual. This time Brach concentrated mainly on the music. He concentrated on performing his pieces as masterfully as possible. The most recent pieces contain fewer words, more space and leave room for instrumental use.
PHOTO CAMILLE GLADU-DROUIN, PROVIDED BY M FOR MONTREAL
Philippe Brach
So instead of a colorful stage set or a theatrical performance, he surrounded himself with musicians. By many musicians. A set of strings, three guitarists, a drummer, a drummer (surrounded by more cymbals than necessary), a set of brass, and another set of winds. Behind the piano, Gabriel Desjardins, who created the excellent arrangements, also worked as a conductor.
And all this on the stage of the Métropolis (Philippe Brach refuses to call it MTelus), where the singer might have been a little cramped… if he hadn’t installed a catwalk in front of the stage, an “ego ramp”. which allowed him to be closer to the crowd.
The catwalk was also a good way to get the show off to a surprise start. He came to a kid rock song like a superstar. A hat imitating an orange mushroom on his head, but no shoes on his feet, a satin dressing gown on his back, and a well-tailored gray suit on top: the outfit didn’t make sense, but it was eye-catching. With a contrived arrogant attitude, he began speaking in English while the crowd cheered him and the jets of flame made the scene even more pompous.
Then Brach became Brach again and confessed to his audience: Basically, he was preparing another one of his concept shows, he was supposed to wear a “star outfit,” act “like a pile of shit the whole time,” and “send everyone to him.” . Shit.” The goal was to criticize fame, something like that. But a few weeks ago he realized that “it’s not about what the mood is.”
After a long absence, the singer-songwriter promised “two or three more nonsense things,” but above all a show that he put love into.
Grandiose… but sophisticated
The show started with Crystel. And from then on we felt the love he was talking about, all the care that was put into this show. He continued with Last Call.
Every time, and as will often be the case in the rest of the show, the musicians who accompanied him increased the pieces and brilliantly implemented this complexity, which sometimes threatens to fade live, but here is increased tenfold.
Born to be wild, Our blue wishes, Tic Tac, Alice, My white hands… In this show Brach presents around twenty songs from his entire repertoire, in a well thought-out sequence, a reduced but effective production, jointly signed by Philippe Brach and Nicolas Ouellet. Sébastien Pedneault’s lighting design is brilliant throughout.
Despite all this instrumental use, this force of execution that delights and amazes, we observe a certain sobriety in this show that Philippe Brach has put together, probably because we use his crazy performances from the last decade as a comparison. We take in the sights, not through artifice, but simply through the quality of interpretation. His recent albums allow for long moments that belong only to the musicians around him and that allow for great flights. At the time of Fear, for example, Avalanche or Suns of Autumn, where the acoustic guitar and the orchestra coexist with grace and panache. The instruments also take part in “You want to kill yourself, is that right?”, where Brach performs the three heartbreaking phrases of the song lying on stage.
PHOTO CAMILLE GLADU-DROUIN, PROVIDED BY M FOR MONTREAL
Philippe Brach and Anna Frances Meyer
Brach is always very funny when he speaks to the crowd. He also allows himself criticism in his jokes, for example when he points out that the drink prices at the bar “aren’t as bad as the ticket administration fees” and then thanks the Ticketmaster company with great sarcasm. He also takes the time to thank Karl Tremblay and Les Cowboys Fringants, the first people he saw live, three nights in a row, and who also got him playing.
When he sings, he is captivating. His voice is controlled, he is agile in his interpretation. When he doesn’t have a guitar in his hand, he happily wanders around the stage in his socks and makes us want to shake our bodies uninhibitedly to the sound of the music.
He was guaranteed two or three stupid things. The moment when Anna Frances Meyer (member of Deuxluxes) replaces him without any explanation during the performance of “And it’s not over” is pretty much in line with the kind of “silliness” that Brach likes to bring to his performances. Back on stage, he tells us that the song is a prediction of the future: “If you think it sucks, it’s not over, it’s just the beginning,” he says. Laughing, true to the pessimistic side we know from him.
A marriage proposal, a few flashes of flame, a long thank you, an encore where everyone stays in their place because it would take too long to get everyone off the stage, then a second encore later, that’s the end. And when we left MTelus we still felt how much love had gone into the show. That pleasant feeling that only great artists give us.
Philippe Brach will give a concert in Quebec until June 2024.