Alain Chamfort presents his album “L’Impermanence” in the small Parisian room of Point Éphémère: grace at the rendezvous

Surrounded by a very pop group, the singer released several titles from the album which he presents as the last, punctuated by a few timeless songs from his repertoire. With simplicity and elegance, as always.

Alain Chamfort announced it at the time of its release last March, Impermanence would be his final album, at least in the “Long play” format as it has been practiced for around seventy years. The singer was already asking himself the question when he launched the superb Disorder of things in 2018. “There are other ways to continue doing this job,” he confirmed on March 22 on Franceinfo radio before two concerts at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre in Paris. At this point, he had already taken action: before Impermanence, the singer launched a tasty EP in January (four tracks in this case), the result of a musical meeting with Sébastien Tellier. The singing tour premiered on Tuesday June 4 in Brussels, then presented two days later in Paris, at Point Éphémère, perhaps constitutes the start of the ultimate promotional tour for an album by Alain Chamfort.

Also, this Thursday, June 6, if you like Alain Chamfort and if you live in Paris (or not too far away), you had to be there at Point Éphémère, a small venue on the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin. Present, enduring and patient. Present, if you’re lucky because the evening is (obviously) sold out. Enduring, because it’s hot, it’s a standing concert and we no longer necessarily have our twenty-year-old knees. Without forgetting that in these pocket rooms, the sound system will immediately fill your ears. Thursday evening, the Point Éphémère sometimes forgot the expression “soft, the basses” (or else, our eardrums also got old)… Finally, we had to be patient, because the show announced at 8:30 p.m. started an hour later.

But the wait will be worth it. After a final scare. The concert starts with a frankly rock group, without Chamfort… We then think: “Oh no, not a first part, not now…” But we are reassured: this rock intro is Chamfort, Baby Boom, an old song played by the group that accompanies him on the tour of Impermanence. The singer finally appears and makes everyone agree with Fever in the blood, catchy hit from the 80s. The singing tour consists of a dosage of titles from 2024 and others released between 1975 and 1997, from Time running (adaptation of a hit by Barry Manilow which was itself an adaptation of a theme by Chopin) to Our history, with some old titles not necessarily known to the general public. On the other hand, the repertoire of Disorder of thingsthe previous album, was put aside.

Alain Chamfort, sometimes on keyboards on the right of the stage, sometimes standing at the front, retains this delicate elegance that has become timeless over the years. Suit, black shirt and tie, satin jacket that shines under the spotlights, tinted glasses, sometimes dancing with this frail dandy silhouette and this mischievous smile, he never ceases to seduce and move at the same time. Its greatest charm is its simplicity. He enjoys “small crashes” of this program still in progress, like this false start on In beauty. The orchestrations most often sound rock, pop, with the members of the group on backing vocals and some very beautiful effects, like this theremin sound which haunts certain choruses. But other, much more stripped-down arrangements allow us to savor Alain Chamfort’s voice in all its assumed fragility.

The singer has entrusted the musical direction of the tour to Adrien Soleiman, a musician who comes to play a saxophone solo during the evening. “We were looking to do something new” [par rapport aux précédentes tournées]confides Alain Chamfort to the audience at the start of the concert. “So it was either the big stadiums or the small clubs!” Another desire for change, this decision not to sing everything and to leave two or three titles to the group. That, finally, of not appearing during the interpretation of Night owl, leaving the scene immersed in blue lighting.

Among the great moments, we will not forget this sequence of two of the most beautiful classics in his repertoire: Heaven, then, of course, Manureva, which is impossible to get tired of. After this grand finale, Chamfort returns alone to the keyboards for one of the emblematic tracks of the last album: Grace, sung as an encore. A song which sums up the artist’s questions after sixty years of career, as he himself explains to the public before singing this final little gem: “If only once, alas/Even if only for a fleeting moment/Would I have known how to touch grace?” Thursday evening at 10:49 p.m., when the singer slipped away, we just wanted to say “yes” to him.

Alain Chamfort will return in concert in Paris on December 2, at the Trianon, then on March 25, 2025 at the Folies Bergère. In the meantime, he will perform at a few summer and back-to-school festivals, then in the fall.
The singer’s concert schedule

The setlist for Thursday June 6, 2024 at Point Éphémère

Baby Boom (rock intro by the group only) – 1981
Fever in the blood – 1986
Love, year zero – nineteen eighty one
Against love – 1997
Clara wants the moon – 1993
Our history – 1997
Old-fashioned (by the group only) – 1979
The Happy Apocalypse – 2024
In beauty – 2024
Ice Whiskey – 2024
Inadvertently – 2024
Time that flies by (chorus and finale) – 1975
Night owl (Chamfort sings off stage) – 1990
Giant – 1979
Heaven – nineteen eighty one
Manureva – 1979

Reminder :
Grace – 2024

Alain Chamfort’s group : Julia Jérosme (keyboards, vocals), Clément Fonio (guitar, vocals), Jérôme Arrighi (bass, vocals), Antoine Boistelle (drums). With Adrien Soleiman, musical director of the tour, on a saxophone solo on Our history.