After a disastrously rainy Thursday evening, the sky cleared for the arrival on the Plains of Abraham of the Canadian pop-rock-alternative muse Alanis Morissette, who continued her triumph at the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) tour marking (with two years of delay forced by COVID-19) the 25th anniversary of the release of his classic Jagged Little Pills. With Garbage in the first part and, further in the Parc de la Francophonie, the heroes of punk skate Pennywise and Millencolin, the rock of the 1990s thundered with all its guitars last night in the heart of the Capital.
Crowded plains, a multi-generational audience; Alanis Morissette attracted the ideal crowd for the Festival d’été de Québec. The Ottawa native has thus glorified the songs of the album which consecrated her in 1995 and which has since sold more than 34 million copies. Beginning with strength and ending with as much impact, his concert however suffered from a few soft, even soft sequences, which failed to keep the public attentive from one end to the other.
The first twenty or so minutes of his performance were flawless, with Morissette putting on All I Really Want (the first song of Jagged Little Pillthat sets the tone of the evening!), Hand in my Pocket (famous interpretation!) and Right Through You, all delivered with the passion and appetite of the young twenty-something she was when the said album was released. She was on fire, running up and down the stage, moving nervously as always, as if seized with spasms, her piercing, quavering voice having lost none of its brilliance.
And that smile, those stars in her eyes, again. Alanis Morissette has always had (at least since Jagged Little Pill) this denominational pen, and poured out on his following albums about his personal life, not so simple, particularly in view of his consumption problems, as on the song Reasons I Drink (from his 9th album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, released in 2020) that she will perform mid-concert. Seeing her so playful and dynamic on stage suggested that this tour has rejuvenating faculties.
However, it did not last, and already passed You Learn and Forgiven, Morissette had found a stand to hang her microphone on and someone to put a guitar around her neck. The tone would take on a more confidential air, at first with great emotion, his version of Mary-Jane seemed to bring tears to her eyes, and to ours by the same effect. But the sequel, made up of sequences of sweet songs from the celebrated album or the rest of her repertoire, made us somewhat impatient to find the angry Alanis from the start of the concert. The excellent and more rhythmic Head Over Feed served at mid-concert did not have the expected effect, while the musician and her accompanists continued with other sweets, until the powerful finale, ironic (Morissette giving the microphone to the crowd during the first verse), Smiling and of course, You Oughta Know.
In the first parts, the younger Beaches girls perfectly set the table for this evening with a very crisp rock, then Garbage (who never really stopped recording albums, except briefly in the 2000s) took to the plains of ‘assault. Guitars everywhere around the Armory, those of Garbage taking multiple forms: shoegaze, post-punk, industrial Nine Inch Nails style, all served with this pop and sometimes vaguely electronic sauce that has made the group led by the singer so unique Scottish Shirley Manson.
Which redoubled its efforts throughout the evening to address its public in French, its mastery of our language being of such a level that one would suggest it for the position of CEO of Air Canada – the expectations are already low, you might say, but Manson’s pronunciation was not only correct, his sentences were also complete. And his singing as seductive and dark as before. The group flew over its repertoire, from the most recent (Godheadfrom an album released in the summer of 2021) to the most classic Queer, Stupid Girl – the spark plug for the group’s success – and, of course, I’m Only Happy When It Rainsthat it was good to hear again.
Shirley Manson will however have been the only lucky one last Thursday evening at the Festival d’été de Québec. However, that evening promised to be nourishing with its solid rap poster on the two stages of the Parc de la Francophonie and a program under the sign of pop and reggaeton with, at the head of the bill, none other than the author -composer of success DespacitoPuerto Rican Luis Fonsi.
The queue to access the Parc de la Francophonie was already impressive when the group Snotty Noze Rez Kids, made up of rappers from the Haislas nation of British Columbia (and whose recent album Life After was retained in the short list of the Polaris Prize) swung his first rhymes, followed by the New York rapper Young MA, a rare visit to our region. Around the excellent Freddie Gibbs (who offered an authoritative and unassuming performance), the queue was now a few blocks away, festival-goers being admitted to the site in dribs and drabs.
Except that on the way to the stage planted in front of the National Assembly to attend the concert of Gros Mené, the sky was unleashed. On the plains, the evening announced itself as Latin and suddenly became Belgian: the downpours fell on Quebec, the lightning tore through the darkness. Most of the festival-goers sought shelter, the others, without umbrellas or raincoats, accepted their fate.
At 9:20 p.m., the FEQ organization announced on social networks that it was obliged to evacuate all outdoor sites. The evening was becoming uncertain, especially since the organization of the FEQ was slow to offer a statement on social networks. We first saw the public in the Parc de la Francophonie, then that of the plains, before concluding that all the concerts had been canceled due to bad weather. Consolation prize, Luis Fonsi’s concert was moved inside the Armory, at 10:30 p.m., for only 800 lucky people…