The storm came to play spoilsport Tuesday night at the Festival d’été de Québec: shortly after 8 p.m., the organization decided to evacuate all sites due to the potentially risky weather forecast. On the Plains of Abraham, where Karkwa was waiting to experience the largest concert in its history, an announcement broadcast over the loudspeakers indicated that “the show will not resume tonight,” before the organization later changed its mind and announced via social networks that the concert scheduled for 10 p.m. would be maintained.
“What a roller coaster ride these last two hours have been!” Louis-Jean Cormier whispered to us, relieved to have been able to tread the stage with his friends. Unlike the day, which was gray and rainy, this evening had started well: at 6 p.m., on Place d’Youville, the experimental punk duo DVTR spat their songs in the face of an audience bathed in the sun that we had missed until then.
The Acadian trio Les Hay Babies also took advantage of the mild weather to sing on the Plains, the first artists on this bill that also announced Tokyo Police Club (who managed to get on stage before the thunder and lightning) and, above all, Fleet Foxes, the excellent indie folk-rock project of American singer-songwriter Robin Pecknold.
Fleet Foxes opening for Karkwa? That was already, on paper, the promise of a great night. The most annoying thing about it all was that in less than an hour, the storm and rain had moved away, leaving behind heat and humidity. Huge disappointment for fans of veteran New York rapper Nas, headliner at Parc de la Francophonie, who was supposed to go on stage at 9:15 p.m. A decision had to be made: the MC stayed at the hotel.
The organization then announced that access to the Plains for the Karkwa concert would be exceptionally free, but the damage was done. When we arrived after 9:30 p.m., the big night crowd was no longer there. A pang in the heart for the guys from Karkwa, they will be able to say that they performed on the biggest stage in Quebec, but perhaps not in front of the sea of fans they dreamed of. Consolation, they could count on “the crazy people of Quebec, [présents] “No matter what the weather,” Cormier said happily.
That didn’t put them off, though. This concert was excellent — let’s say that after 25 years of playing together, an almost full year of giving concerts all over the province in the wake of the release of their “return” album In the second released in September 2023, these experienced musicians no longer give bad performances. There was even a kind of serenity to the one they offered on the Plains last night; against bad weather fortune, Karkwa put his heart into it, accompanied by friends Marie-Pierre Arthur, Klô Pelgag, Les Hay Babies and Talk.
It was their Carte Blanche, their unique event, an enhanced version of the concert they have been offering since last fall. Enjoy it, Louis-Jean Cormier said with a tight voice, “it will be the last time in your entire life” that Karkwa will give a concert on an outdoor stage in Quebec City.
House composer Cri set the table by inviting the crowd to dance, posted behind his machines – Christophe Dubé had even taken care to tinker with a remix of a Karkwa song (Do not forget), frankly successful. The five members of the group joined him on stage, melting their instrumental groove into the rhythm track of the guest, to then bite into the catchy Perfect on screenfrom the recent album. Surprise, singer-songwriter TALK! – who can now consider himself the adopted son of the FEQ – joined the group to add his voice.
“Hold on your hat, the Plains, it’s really going to take off!” Cormier then warned. In the mildness of this now safe summer evening, Karkwa delivered a nuanced concert, the softer grooves being abruptly interrupted by the prog-rock excesses of percussion, guitars and keyboards that give so much character to the band’s performances.
Karkwa played in a group, in a small space demarcated by curtains, surrounded by spotlights and cameras, like a film set on a stage. The desired effect, Cormier explained, was that of the intimacy and atmosphere of the small scenes they cherish. So much so that when the Hay Babies joined them, they huddled close to Louis-Jean to sing, among other things Mary, you are crying – a little earlier, Marie-Pierre Arthur met up with old accomplices for Do not forgetthen Klô Pelgag came to sing Me-lightso beautifully that one would have thought it had been composed for her.
As the evening progressed, Karkwa gained in intensity, increased tenfold by the complex and clever video images broadcast on the super-giant screens. This last right before the all too brief encore, the sequence of Glass path And Sleep during the daygave the group the air of a world power of scholarly rock. A famous concert, despite the bad weather.