Raised fists, cheers greet him. It would be caricatural if it weren’t so spontaneous, so sincere. Richard Séguin’s reaction is similarly happy, very obviously happy. It’s been a long time, after all. “It’s been five years! Richard clarifies without being asked. We must feel the same. Space. The absence. A certain emptiness within. He repeats to make it even truer: “No scene for five years! Not just any scene, either. We are in L’Outremont, in other words we find ourselves at home.
The music house of the 1970s, the place where we recorded the “live”, where it happened, at the time when the houses were buyable and often inhabited by artists of Quebec song. François Cousineau, Luc Plamondon, Kate McGarrigle, Carole Laure and Lewis Furey, many others. At the time when the district was not yet a district, Outremont was not yet annexed to France.
A big village in town
Richard may talk about his village and its 98 inhabitants, his St-Venant-de-Paquette where “we know the names of all the cats”, the feeling of returning to our household is strong. The need to feel there, still there, against all odds, is imperative. The songs are received as people we love and who we missed more than we thought. Hello again Staying up ! Cheers under the chimneys ! So console us with Cry for me… What do we leave them? ask again the question that matters and the new song Forest paths responds, angry!
The voice of Richard Séguin, so beautiful, so soft, so beneficent, can rise, strong, notes of strong wind which whips. It does us good, invigorates us. It does him good too, obviously the bad guy had to come out. Frustrations must be vented, so is the survival of hope. When arrives Double life, the first anthem of the evening, powerful with the support of a group of musicians as it had not had for a long time (in duet with its faithful Hugo Perreault, it is very good, but there is an increased fervor in a group), we find our Richard Coeur-de-Séguin, the paladin of our dreams, the ardent knight. Richard who smiles with full teeth and he has a lot of them, it shines, it restores confidence. It even makes you want to bite into the words.
The reappropriated place
The bed is made for a triplet of novelties which, born in doubt, assert themselves, rise up: Close to the aspens, We would like and Since. The salvo of hymns that follows is nourished by it, the breath of Richard Séguin has returned and fills our reclaimed Outremont theater. The wandering angel and america day can produce their full effect, make hearts beat and souls exalt.
Without a doubt, it will be at least as unifying and supportive this Friday in the same place, and everywhere on tour thereafter. And after ? We’ll see what wood we’ll be fired up with. Rekindled flame.