LYON | In front of 10,000 jubilant fans who almost all disobeyed the instruction to wear a mask during the concert, the Fringant Cowboys offered themselves a triumphant reunion with the French public, Friday evening, in Lyon.
• Read also: A passion for Les Cowboys Fringants
For a good two and a quarter hours, it was as if the pandemic no longer existed.
The bleachers of the Halle Tony-Garnier were crowded, and in front of the stage, thousands of people of all ages, almost all with their faces uncovered, were jumping, singing with Karl Tremblay and happily clapping their hands. As before COVID-19, we even had the right to good old body surfingplayed by the exuberant bassist Jérôme Dupras.
Moreover, no one within the security tried to convince the spectators to put on their mask. The party was taken, there was nothing to do.
It must be said that the last visit of the Cowboys Fringants to France was in the summer of 2019. To say that they were eagerly awaited is an understatement.
When Marie-Annick Lépine appeared on stage to perform a few tracks from her most recent solo album, as the opening act, there was already electricity in the air.
“Marie-Annick, we love you,” shouted a fan.
The clamor was heavy, but it was nothing compared to the festive atmosphere that set in when the band started the evening by rocking an energetic version of All the same housesfrom the album The Antipodeswhose songs had never been performed live, in Europe.
America is crying hit the bull’s eye
It was moreover one of the question marks of the group, with whom The newspaper was able to chat a few hours before the concert. Have the recent big hits America is crying and on my shoulder were going to get the same favorable response in France as in Quebec?
The answer was a resounding yes. Good students, the French sang the words of the two songs in chorus, and during America is cryinghundreds of cell phones immortalized the moment.
The public repeated the coup of the choir on several occasions, in particular during Remi and always appreciated merchant navywhich has become a must at the end of the concert.
“It’s extremely impressive and touching to play in front of so many people,” said Karl Tremblay, speaking on behalf of his colleagues.
The group even had to come back on stage for a second encore, which seemed unplanned, lengthening the evening with a sympathetic and clumsy interpretation of Pub Royal by Karl Tremblay, solo on guitar.
And now Paris
This electrifying evening set the table perfectly for the highly anticipated concert at the Accor Arena, the former Paris-Bercy, on Saturday evening, in the City of Light.
Even if it cannot count on the support of the major French media, the group will thus have succeeded in the feat of performing in the biggest halls of Paris, following having also played at the Zénith and at the Olympia.
How to explain this notoriety which is constantly growing in Europe?
“As in Quebec, we are a word-of-mouth group, but with a fifteen-year lag compared to ours. Our public is very mobilized”, answers Jérôme Dupras.
“People project themselves, they love Quebec,” says Karl Tremblay. They may come to see a little piece of Quebec live on stage. In addition, our shows are really festive. »
No one will contradict him.
The biggest concert in Lyon since the beginning of 2020
LYON – The Cowboys Fringants concert in Lyon had great symbolic value since it was the first time since the start of the pandemic that an artist attracted a crowd of more than 10,000 people standing at the Halle Tony-Garnier.
The last time such a large crowd gathered in Lyon’s main performance hall was to see American metal band Slipknot in early 2020.
“In the current context, it is liberating. There are plenty of symbols, it’s the resumption of standing concerts, the bar will be able to run normally, people, even if they wear masks, will be able to party, ”rejoiced the director general of the hall, Thierry Pilat, that the Journal met at his offices on Friday followingnoon.
The Tony-Garnier hall has also suffered severely from the repercussions of the coronavirus. Despite a relaunch that seemed off to a good start in the fall, the room, which can hold between 5,000 and 17,000 people, had to close its doors temporarily in January during the Omicron wave.
“They held on”
As is the case with us, the uncertainty has dampened the enthusiasm of the spectators. Ticket sales were shy due to numerous postponements, notes Mr. Pilat.
That the Cowboys Fringants can play in front of 10,000 people under these circumstances proves the strength of their ties with their French admirers.
“They held on, despite three postponements. This means that there is a real enthusiasm for live Dashing Cowboys. It’s not as obvious for all the artists”, indicates Thierry Pilat.
Even if he has only been director of the hall since April 2021, Thierry Pilat is well placed to judge the ever-growing popularity of the Quebec group in France.
In the early 2000s, he was managing a small 600-seat venue in Lyon, the Ninkasi, when an association contacted him to organize a Cowboys Fringants concert.
“I said, what is this thing? I didn’t know them at all,” he recalls.
After listening to the music, he agreed. He did well. “Every day, we received calls from people with a Quebec accent who wanted to reserve places. Already, at the time, it had been fire. »
Since then, the fire has continued to spread.
An early French fan: “We have been waiting for this show for so long”
Photo Cedric Belanger
Present at the Lyon concert, Cédric Laugère has seen the Cowboys Fringants “between 40 and 50 times” over the years.
Cédric Laugère got his tickets to see the Cowboys Fringants at Christmas, in 2019, and even if he is the father of a four-month-old girl, for nothing in the world he was going to miss the return to Europe of his favorite group.
“We have been waiting for this show for so long,” said this long-time admirer, whom we met before the concert in Lyon on Friday evening.
Cédric Laugère is a real fanatic. Ever since he fell in love hearing a chansonnier sing autumn tuneat Les 2 Pierrots, during a stay in Montreal in 2002, he lost count of the number of times he saw them on stage.
After six months in Quebec, he then left for France with, in his luggage, the album Break syndical.
“I was there for their first date, in Paris, at the Élysée Montmartre. The following year, it was at the Sunny Day festival, then in 2006, at the Zénith with Robert Charlebois. Since then, I have seen them between 40 and 50 times, ”explains the one who proudly wore his dashing Cousins t-shirt, a group of diehard French Cowboys fans.
He followed them everywhere in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria, not to mention the concerts he attended at home, at the Bell Centre, but also in Drummondville and Saint-Césaire.
Quebec Nostalgia
If he likes the band so much, it’s primarily because of Jean-François Pauzé’s lyrics. “There is contact with nature, criticism of current society. You find that less in the more commercial songs, which have much less meaning than the songs of the Fringants Cowboys. »
It is also a matter of nostalgia. “Thanks to their music, I find a little bit of Quebec once more.