Winter snowmen from floor to ceiling, special guests galore and announced by the tinkling of bells, irony and sad songs, Pierre Lapointe offered an almost anti-Christmas show on Thursday at Place des Arts. The magic nevertheless worked: it was brilliant, touching and unifying.
Before even hearing a single note from his album Winter songs, three years ago, we suspected that it was not because Pierre Lapointe released a “Christmas album” that he fit the mold. The quotation marks count here, because it does not include any known tunes on this disc, which is mainly composed of sad “Christmas” songs.
He explained his trick on Thursday at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier: to make a Christmas song à la Pierre Lapointe, you basically just need to put a heartbreak in the appropriate context. So, changing the word “November” to “December” is enough of a sleight of hand to make his song beautiful The rare bird a Christmas song.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Pierre Lapointe and his guests performed in an inventive scenography by Geneviève Lizotte, with the collaboration of the illustrator and cartoonist Pascal Blanchet.
We will have understood, Pierre Lapointe invited his audience to celebrate a Christmas more blue than white, at Place des Arts. It was called melancholy, in fact, when he sang It’s okay I gave, Jules’ first Christmas, The rare bird And All the colourseven if it is carried by lighter music enhanced on stage and on record by brass instruments.
A well-rounded singer
The singer did not come to celebrate Christmas alone. He was surrounded by a group of five musicians, occasionally supported by two brass instruments and even a string quartet (the Molinari Quartet). And that’s not all: Pierre Lapointe receives guest artists throughout his tour, who all arrive “by chance” from Mother Christmas’s sleigh and are announced one by one by a jingle of bells. Pierre Lapointe feigns surprise each time, ironically nourishing the idea that this show is totally improvised.
He is obviously not and has touched perfection more than once. The duo of Pierre Lapointe and Patrice Michaud on his song Origami was finely executed and of great beauty. Atikamekw artist Laura Niquay left a very strong impression by performing two of her songs. Mitsou made the room smile by repeating his success Bye Bye my cowboy and made him stand up singing Tell me tell mea song once accompanied by a clip considered so sulphurous that it was only presented very late to MusiquePlus…
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PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Mitsou accompanies Pierre Lapointe throughout the month of December for the show Winter songsduring which she sings two of her hits.
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PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The beautiful song Origamiby Patrice Michaud (right), performed as a duet with Pierre Lapointe, was one of the most successful moments of the evening.
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PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The performance of Laura Niquay, who performed two of her songs, was warmly applauded.
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PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Melissa Laveaux also does the whole tour Winter songs with Pierre Lapointe. The pieces performed in tandem by the two artists were the weak links of Thursday’s show, their voices struggling to mesh.
1/4
Curiously, the artist with whom the duo went the least well is the only one who was both on the record and in the show: Mélissa Laveaux. Solo, she was able to showcase her superb voice, veiled and creamy. In a duo with Pierre Lapointe, on the other hand, things no longer fit. The oscillations of one seemed to disconcert the other, which was almost completely erased on Christmas Lougawou.
Disheveled and unifying
Winter songsthe show, looks like a party disheveled family: we don’t always understand what this or that guest is doing there, nor why this or that song is performed rather than another. It’s all down to Pierre Lapointe’s favorites and the humor in which he wraps things. Even though he cheerfully deconstructed the magic of Christmas on stage and invited people from extremely diverse backgrounds, he managed the feat of making it a unifying evening.
It also struck the chord of nostalgia, which is a powerful glue. Not only by bringing Mitsou to the forefront, but by her musical directions. Proving once again his attachment to the 1960s style, he walked in Joe Dassin’s flowerbeds (Every year we come back) and Aznavour (Jules’ first Christmas), winks at Michèle Richard (resuming Christmas rockFrench adaptation of Jingle Bell Rock) and sang The snow traila pretty song popularized by Les Classels.
Before closing the evening in a festive spirit with What we already know, Pierre Lapointe orchestrated the most touching moments of his show. He interpreted Jules’ first Christmas (introduced by a long and very comical presentation), Mom dad and a choral, but very minimal, version of Two by two gathered, which the crowd sang in unison. It didn’t feel very Christmassy, but magical it was.
The show Winter songs is on tour until December 22.