So he has arrived at the next step. After thoroughly exploring The origin of my specieshis “solitary musical theatre”, the very naturally gregarious Michel Rivard surrounds himself like never before to undertake The turn of the block, celebrating 50 years on stage. Fifty to eleven, twelve including him. It started in Longueuil on January 21, a journey with eleven musicians and singers all around Quebec until the end of March, with an extension in November and until February 2024.
Celebration? Not his thing, a priori. “It seems to go without saying, but honestly, I didn’t have a fixed plan, after The origin of my species. Me, I’m on the lookout for what will fascinate me, I’m constantly trying to fall in love with records and artists, you know me! ” TRUE. Not an interview where he does not spread the good news of a brand new album to listen to absolutely. “The celebrations, I’m never the instigator. Whether for Beau Dommage or for the 25th anniversary edition of the album A hole in the clouds, I do not think about it. Little or none, let’s say. Obviously, with the remix of the first Beau Dommage released last fall, and the 50th anniversary of the formation of the group, I must admit that it corresponds to my debut in song. We talked about it around me, it’s obvious. But I did not see a poster “My 50 years of career”, it is not my style. »
Celebration, instructions for use
What to do ? It’s a specification, birthdays. There aren’t a hundred ways. With guests, without guests, thematic retrospective or playful foraging in the chansonnier honey pot, Bell Center a couple of evenings or a thousand at the Gesù, A list of unmissable essential songs or caving in the beautiful rarity in the catalog? “I said to my team: well, if I really want to have fun in a show, by putting in a little money, it’s not in the giant screens and special effects, it’s in the human. It’s paying me the price at the musical level: my Flybin Band, three singers, brass, winds. And if I combine that with a repertoire of my songs from all eras, songs rather known than not known that will make the world smile, OK, that’s fine with me. »
Not a queue-leu-leu of great successes or a string of immortals. Michel Rivard had the great idea: a show in the form of a tour of the block. Montreal connotation, even Beaudommagian without ambiguity: a tour of the block is done on foot, hands in pockets, we look at the facades. “If I were Richard Séguin, I would have called it the tour of the forest,” he laughs on the phone. But when you’re a “ti-cul Villeray”, as he writes in The turn of the block, The show’s only new song, the mystery exists from bottom to top of the stairs: “You wanna know what it’s all about / If every house is a song / There’s secrets / In every kitchen / And ghosts in every living room. »
Closer to the original groove. The great luxury, for me, in this show, is that there is no synth. No samples, nothing pre-recorded that we would integrate. There is a whole section of my repertoire where there was a lot of electronics. But there, we have winds to do them. Being eleven on stage, twelve with me, that’s what it allows.
Similarities, dissimilarities. Same, not the same. “When you take a tour of the block in Montreal, you catch houses that date from 1900, others that were remodeled in 1960, some that have just been built. Montreal is an urban planning nightmare, but interesting in its variety. We know we’re in Montreal, not just because of the orange cone slalom. There is an identity. Multiple, with constants. A bit like an artist’s work, changing and recognizable at the same time, perceived over time. “I was able to remove the word ‘anniversary’ while keeping the ’50’. With The turn of the block, it’s a walk through 50 years of songs. »
Closer, more beautiful
How does he do them, for the occasion? “As close as possible to groove of origin. The great luxury, for me, in this show, is that there is no synth. No samples, nothing pre-recorded that we would integrate. There is a whole section of my repertoire where there was a lot of electronics. But there, we have winds to do them. Being eleven on stage, twelve with me, that’s what it allows. Fullness, beauty without being pompous. “Having three singers is a world of possibilities. To Lana Carbonneau and Audrey-Michèle Simard is added Renaud Paradis, it’s so beautiful that I would like to re-record everything with them. Renaud, moreover, he plays flugelhorn. I will not deprive myself of it. »
One thinks of a James Taylor, the care he brings to the harmonies of his row of choristers (he has four). “It remains a model for me, aiming like him for this degree of finesse, but without losing the fun. Lana has a knowledge of harmonies that is significantly greater than mine. The songs don’t change, everything is there, but here and there we try to embellish them. To be really happy ourselves, and for people to feel pampered. Not a high mass, but a certain elevation. As in the theme song: “You push your luck / You go around the block. Rigor and joy, hallelujah.