Bran Van 3000 | Party, party, party

Bran Van 3000 celebrated Friday evening on the Place des Festivals the 25th anniversary of his first album, Glee, released in 1997. But because Bran Van 3000 has rebelliousness pegged to its identity, the group began its show with a track taken from its next album, Discosis (2001). Inconsequential choice? Wise choice. In Loaded, Sara Johnston sings about her desire to play guitar and be a movie star, to wipe her ass off (get fuckin loaded) and do the party, party, party. do it party, party, party ? Friday night, that was precisely the plan.

Dominic Late
The Press

Behind her electric guitar, the blonde singer, dressed in a black t-shirt in the colors of her group and denim shorts, embodied the great promise that Bran Van 3000 represented during his short stay in the firmament. What promise? You just have to want it to be a rock star.

Or, more precisely, it is enough to have at your side a friend as magnificently stubborn, as magnificently charismatic as James Di Salvio, leader of Bran Van 3000 and professional reveler, whose most precious talent remains this magnetism allowing him to gather around him the best his city, Montreal, has to offer in terms of musicians.

At 53, the unrepentant partier, fed on the beautiful and good music that once rocked the bars run by his illustrious father Bob, remains the coolest guy wherever he sets foot. From where we were standing, the Bran Man seemed to have escaped the grip of time, so much did he display the same slender silhouette and the same b-boy look as at the end of the 1990s, under his well-fitting cap. girl and her Biggie t-shirt.

If the evening therefore had the appearance of a reunion between the collective of very variable geometry and the public of the metropolis, it also had the appearance of a reunion between the members of BV3 themselves. What a joy to see appear for Rainshine Jayne Hill, who, in the good old days, completed with Sara Johnston the main duo of female voices having forged the sound of the group. If the latter pursued a solo career, Hill remained more discreet in the years following the end of the adventure.

If we had to sum up this show in one image? We would probably show you Stephane Moraille (the voice of Drinking in LA) who embraces Sara Johnston while jumping in the air, during the first measures ofAstoundedeternal hit from Discosis.

Shelley Kwanza, the star of this current line-up, performed admirably in the refrains of legendary soulman Curtis Mayfield, who allowed Bran Van to delve into his studio scraps after he left this world for another.

But just as the party was taking off, Sara Johnston was going with two softer (too soft? ) songs, including call mefrom the group’s third album, Pink (2007), an album that is absolutely no one’s favorite album. So here we are gathered to celebrate the quarter century of Glee, but trying to sing songs from another much, much, much less important album. Which is difficult to defend, especially since the group will have omitted, in the end, the classics of Glee as Couch Surfer and forest. Curious decision.

To tell you the truth, the rumor in the media room went as follows: that Bran Van 3000 is finally on stage again this summer is nothing more or less than a miracle, as the (failed) attempts at reunion have multiplied over the of recent years.

The show we saw on Friday didn’t exactly feel like it was outrageously rehearsed, but were we going to hold it against James Di Salvio and his comrades? Of course not.

Of course not, because we all have a lazy friend like James Di Salvio, on whom all the problems in the world seem to flow like on the back of a duck who has smoked a cigarette or two of artist’s tobacco.

Images of the Dude, the indolent character of Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski of the Coen brothers, appeared on the screen when guitarist Nick Hynes finally sounded the unforgettable first notes of Drinking in L.A..

And suddenly it was obvious: James Di Salvio is this guy that it is good to find once a decade (more or less), in order to remember how sweet it was to be young, and crazy, and carefree. ” Twenty-five years of love shouted Stephane Moraille towards the end of this absolute hit by Bran Van 3000, which would never have had such an impact without his titanic voice. Twenty-five years of love: that was the important thing, that was the main thing, and on Friday evening, we were happy to honor them.