Francos | Like a consecration for Karkwa

We feared for part of Thursday that it would turn into a storm in the evening. The downpour fell in the afternoon. The weather was still stormy on the Place des Festivals in the evening: in front of one of his biggest crowds in his career, Karkwa made rain or shine.

We knew Karkwa was at the top of his game even before a single note was played. Before even setting foot in the city center, in fact. Last September, a few days before the release of his album In the second, the group already demonstrated impressive cohesion at Esco. A few months later, at the MTelus, it was both compact and fine, airy and heavy.

That Karkwa once again showed impressive poise on Thursday as part of the Francos was therefore self-evident. We had the proof from the first songs, Opening, Perfect on screen And The arsonist. We felt just a little difference, a little more freedom under the fingers of François Lafontaine and in the noisy bursts of Louis-Jean Cormier’s guitar.

On the microphone, the singer proved to be particularly solid. More in his element than Tuesday, during the tribute to Ferland, certainly. We have rarely heard him sing in such a powerful way, rocking his voice as much as during the first half of the show with its impressive energy.

Less messy than often in his interventions, the singer invited the spectators to enjoy the present moment. “We’re going back to bed in our box in a few months for I don’t know how long,” he said, reiterating that this unexpected reunion was and remains temporary.

What was left to do? Take advantage of it, indeed. Appreciate that the group, completed by Martin Lamontagne (bass), Julien Sagot (percussion, guitar) and Stéphane Bergeron, feeds our ears with its new songs (New wave, Severity, In the secondetc.) and emerges from his past songs like The counter (striking and cosmic!), Do not forget And Glass paths. Then dare to play a song like Mary you are cryingwhich the quintet rarely performed in concert, said Louis-Jean Cormier.

Karkwa has improved with time like good wine, even without playing for half of its 25 years of existence, its singer joked. It’s not even pretension, it’s a fact. In the second, released last fall, is the group’s best album. Who has never played in such a united manner, fully mastering both his rock impulses and what we want to call his ambitions artsyfor lack of a better term.

These guys don’t owe anyone anything artistically anymore. They became a big group. Who has nothing to envy of the big names of grinding and thoughtful British or American rock.

The observation was self-evident when we listened to him deploy and make a song like Sleep during the daydeliver an old song like The Coup d’Etat or his more recent pieces, several of which owe a lot to the sonic madness of pianist François Lafontaine.

What more could we want at the end of this concert that Louis-Jean Cormier said ended with a pang in the heart, fearing never to find himself again on the Place des Festivals with these friends? That Karkwa, who invited his gaggle of children to go on stage at the very end to do The real happiness, reserves another fate for itself, precisely. That this summer which will take the group to almost all the festivals in the province will make them want to warm up their amps for longer than expected.