2024 - Solide Salad's 40th Anniversary | History of a Legendary Show

The show Solid Salad by Michel Lemieux has marked an entire generation. It totally symbolizes the renewal that Quebec was thirsting for in the mid-1980s. Forty years later, the designer recounts the birth of this curious salad that mixed technology, innovation and overflowing creativity.

Published at 1:13 a.m.

Updated at 5:54 a.m.

In 1984, in Quebec, Ding and Dong triumph at Place des Arts, Céline Dion launches her album Melanie. At the cinema, we go to see Amadeus And Paris, Texas. Boy George and Michael Jackson are scouring the world’s great stages. On Montreal radio stations, Luba (Let It Go) and Bronski Beat (Small Town Boy) are riding high on the charts. The compact disc is revolutionizing the music industry.

Four years earlier, the referendum failure left its share of bitterness. Musical groups that had made the heyday of the 1970s broke up. Some artists traded their guitar for a synthesizer.

It is in this context that an artist will show that “multidisciplinary performances” normally intended for art galleries can reach a wide audience. On September 20, 1984, Michel Lemieux arrives at the Spectrum with Solid Salad and at the same time marks the history of entertainment in Quebec.

It was at the age of 18, in 1977, that this Longueuil native entered the National Theatre School in technical production. He rubbed shoulders with René Richard Cyr, Sylvie Legault, Suzanne Champagne and many others. “I gave the cue to René Richard for his audition and in return, he typed my entrance work,” he told me during an interview that took place at his home.

As he takes portraits rather well, he becomes the photographer of all the young actors who want a portfolio. This is what attracts the choreographer Édouard Lock, who wants an image for the poster of his show Lily Marlene in the Jungle. “He saw an electric guitar at my place. He took me on as a musician in Orange And Businessman in the Process of Becoming an Angel. That’s where Louise Lecavalier arrived.”

In the process, the owner of the Véhicule Art gallery, where Marie Chouinard got her start, asked Michel Lemieux if he had any equipment for a performance. “I said yes, even though I had absolutely nothing.” That’s how he created The singer’s eardrum in November 1982.

Then it will be The rechargeable eye, which he presents at the Atelier continues. Along with the Conventum, it is one of the high places of counter-culture Montrealer. Michel Lemieux plays some instruments, sings and creates visual effects live. It’s a success. He takes the show to Paris. “It was less and less a performance and more and more a show. It was rehearsed and constructed.”

On his return from France, Michel Lemieux expressed his desire to go further to lighting designer Alain Lortie (who would become a loyal collaborator). “I really liked Alain. I imposed him on Édouard. I still wanted to work with him.”

The idea of a popular place is imposed. The Spectrum is targeted. Michel Lemieux takes up some segments of The rechargeable eye and records the songs I Want, Venitia And Romantic Complications on two 45s. “I had this idea in April and Solid Salad was created in September. We were creating very quickly at that time.”

Excerpt from Romantic Complications

René Richard Cyr, who is preparing Aurora, the child martyr at Quat’Sous, offers his talent as a director, Sylvie Panet-Raymond takes care of the movements and Édouard Lock casts his watchful eye. With Simon Pressey, Michel Lemieux composes several songs and musical pieces that will serve as the basis for the numbers. These are in fact video clips live.

At the beginning of the show, Michel Lemieux arrives in a costume (designed by François Barbeau) made of geometric shapes onto which visuals (created by L’Écran humain) are projected that recall the Russian avant-garde. The enchantment works.