The roy, the rose and the lou(p) | In the annals of the Francos

“We don’t know if we will have another opportunity like this! “launched Ariane Roy. “I am buzzed, added Lou-Adriane Cassidy. Ostie we like that, making music together! ” The inevitable happened.

Emilie Cote
The Press

Cool weather and raindrops weren’t going to stop a queen from dominating, a rose from blooming and a wolf from howling.

And a crowd to attend a show that will mark the spirits. A show that brought together three of the most gifted and inspired singer-songwriters of their generation: Ariane Roy, Thierry Larose and Lou-Adriane Cassidy.

The title of the show, The king, the rose and the lou(p)was a nod to two event concerts that used the same concept, namely I saw the wolf, the fox, the lionwhich in 1974 brought together Félix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault and Robert Charlebois, as well as The wind, the sea and the rock, which featured three stars of the hour at the Francos in 2003, Daniel Boucher, Éric Lapointe and Kevin Parent. All men (including two whose reputation is no longer very enviable)…

Fortunately, (re)welcome to 2022, where it would be inconceivable that a musical meeting at the top did not include any women.

Especially when their names are Ariane Roy and Lou-Adriane Cassidy.

Hair flying and outfits halfway between grunge and disco, what a fiery look and presence they had on the Clark Street stage, while they were alongside their friend and third headliner of the evening, Thierry Larose, who had received the Félix-Leclerc song prize at the start of the evening.

Union of their talents obliges, the public only had big tunes to put in their mouths. The trio got the ball rolling with you wanted to talk by Ariane Roy, Cantalou by Thierry Larose and Yes the snake is watching us by Lou-Adriane Cassidy.

We were in the front row, and what excitement radiated from the stage! The girls were dancing feverishly, Thierry Larose closed his eyes to believe if all this was really true.

The tempo slowed down when they interpreted in three voices and three guitars what is perhaps the most beautiful French ballad of the last decade, Twenty-Five Penny Island by Thierry Larose. Beautiful to cry.

Friends first

Longtime friends, Ariane Roy, Thierry Larose and Lou-Adriane Cassidy already shared the stage together long before the idea of ​​the show The king, the rose and the lou(p). They like each other as much as they admire each other, they told the crowd.

They are three seasoned instrumentalists, but the chemistry between them also gave them Saturday night at the Francos a lot of ease and casualness as performers. You had to see Lou-Adriane Cassidy give everything on his very “Hole” version ofBetween my legs.

Or see her perform with Ariane Roy – they have known each other since the age of 9 – the song Girl to wear.

Otherwise, we still have goosebumps thinking back to when Thierry Larose gave the cue for the first notes of his pop home run every time, The lovers of Pompeii.

ten on stage

To complete the enviable trio of headliners, we found on stage Charles-Antoine Olivier and Pierre-Emmanuel Beaudoin on drums, Sam Beaulé on bass, Dominique Plante on guitar, as well as Vincent Gagnon and Odile Marmet-Rochefort on keyboards.

The title of musical director of the show went to the one who collaborates with “the king, the rose and the wolf”, namely Alexandre Martel (Anatole). Hats off to all of his work.

The show – attended by many teenagers – had something to reassure us about the future of French song.

Ariane Roy, Thierry Larose and Lou-Adriane Cassidy embody a generation of inspired, talented, but above all uninhibited musicians.

To close the show before the unexpected and improvised encore (we heard in the distance as we left Between Matane and Baton Rouge by Isabelle Boulay), the trio of the evening had invited – against all odds – Gilles Valiquette to interpret with him his great success Life in pink. A fine mark of respect for the great Quebec pop of the past.

Ariane Roy, Thierry Larose and Lou-Adriane Cassidy showed both class and enthusiasm. It was a chance to attend their show which could have taken place on the big stage and which will remain in the annals of the Francos.