Lisa Symphonic | Between red neck and glamor

Every time Lisa LeBlanc goes on stage, something happens. By choosing to end his two years of touring Chiac Disco with a symphony show on Friday at the Wilfrid-Pelletier Hall, she created a unique event in her image: joyful, spontaneous and musically on point, with just a little touch of irreverence, and above all overflowing with life.

Queen of disco, western, banjo or bingo: the Acadian singer-songwriter was all that on Friday, and even more. Dressed in a long sequined dress, she arrived on stage curtsying, greeted with joy by an audience quite different from the one we see in this room generally made up mainly of white heads – this is not not a criticism, it’s an observation.

The atmosphere was already electric for Lisa LeBlanc, who chose to start the evening with one of her most moving songs, Kraft Dinner. Alone on the guitar, she sang this unusual love song in a soft voice, its melancholy side magnified by the Laval Symphony Orchestra, as if she had wanted to give a more ceremonial side to the evening.

But the tone quickly changed with In the juice, while her “traditional” group – Maxime Gosselin on drums, Benoit Morier on bass, Sunny Duval on guitar, Camille Gélinas on keyboards – came to join her. A song that lent itself well to arrangements, since its original version is already orchestral. But we appreciated the addition of the brass at the end, and that’s what made the beauty and intelligence of Antoine Gratton’s arrangements, all these little unexpected touches and these surprises, sometimes amusing, which added spice .

Followed the irresistible Why do today, where the orchestra led by Jean-Michel Malouf seemed more in the shadows compared to the electric instruments. They actually buried it at times during the evening, despite the securing being successful most of the time. It’s also a shame that the orchestra was a little hidden: all evening, we unfortunately didn’t see the musicians well.

After this first disco-funk block, applauded for a long time, the singer finally addressed the audience. “You’re going to make me bawl by the third song!” “, she said, obviously happy.

That’s how we like Lisa LeBlanc, both candid and rattling. Just as we loved this cinematic version played at a slow trot of I’m not a cowboy, so remodeled that you would have thought you were in a saloon. The western atmosphere was completed with two pieces taken from his album in English Highways, Heartaches and Time Well Wasted.

Lisa LeBlanc then returned to her disco chiac, which is “a meeting between red neck and glamour,” she explained. “This is how I feel tonight!” », she said before starting the excellent and exhilarating Gossip. Of course, there were also quieter moments, like the very beautiful Seems to me it’s easybut that was before the musician tried her hand at the “symphonic banjo” for two thrilling songs – a test, let’s say it, not too conclusive!

The final stretch of the show took place with a bang, launched with Gossip II, where we could appreciate the funk skills of the orchestra. Lisa LeBlanc then took us into her bubble joyful to make us dance… During the presentation of the musicians, the singer transformed herself into Belinda, her bingo queen character created during the pandemic to relieve boredom, then sang her big hit (!) It’s not a game, it’s a lifestylewhich ended with a heavy guitar solo from Sunny Duval.

We already knew, when we got there, that we had experienced a pretty left-field evening that was unlike any other symphony show to date. But when, finally, Lisa LeBlanc intoned Today, my life is shit with the same gentle restraint as in the first song and with the whole crowd singing along with her chorus of which we will never tire, we knew that we had witnessed the funniest and most offbeat show finale of the whole world history of show finals.

“It was the kind of evening once in a lifetime », had launched Lisa LeBlanc just before. Not just for her.