The testimony of love of Ludovick Bourgeois

Ludovick Bourgeois presented Tuesday evening at the Théâtre Maisonneuve the media premiere of his major tour devoted to the songs of BB, of which his late father Patrick Bourgeois was the singer. A joyful show like the group’s repertoire, touching as a son’s tribute to his father can be, but a little wise.

Great idea to revive the many hits des BB, a trio which dominated the charts from 1989 to 1996, the time of three notable albums. And who better than Ludovick Bourgeois to sing them, he who inherited the same tone of voice as his father, capable of reaching the highest notes with impressive ease.

The resemblance is striking, and when he opens the show with Snob, while on the giant screen behind him we see Patrick Bourgeois singing the same song in sync, the effect is striking. It’s a shame that his voice didn’t always manage to stand out from the orchestra, particularly at the start of the performance. This is perhaps one of the reasons why it took a little while for the evening to get going, the others probably being the difficult opening audience, a bit of nervousness on the part of the singer and the fact that even with six people on stage, the crazy energy of the three Beaux Blonds, which radiates through the videos, is difficult to reproduce.

The fact remains that Ludovick Bourgeois puts all his heart into this show, and we feel it.

He also took care with his team, particularly in the lighting, a series of diamond-shaped LED lights that evoke the 1980s, with their garish colors and slightly cold geometric shapes.

From time to time, archive videos appear behind the singer. We sometimes see the group, sometimes intimate family moments. On the song The kid, it’s particularly moving to see Patrick Bourgeois leading a children’s choir at a party, or mini Ludovick behind his drums. And the young thirty-year-old does not hesitate to mention his father in his speeches, recounting a host of nice details and amusing anecdotes.

But he is also there to sing, and the songs unfold at a hectic pace, arranged in the same spirit as at the time: after Snob followed Horsewoman, Night twist, Perfumes of the past, Mermaid, The doll that says no (a song that always played at his house when he was little, and that the group covered in shows) and The kidpieces taken mainly from the BB’s first two albums.

But it took the indestructible You are in the moon so that the room finally turns into a giant karaoke – and even if the lyrics weren’t well synchronized with the song, no problem, the audience knows them anyway, so everyone sings anyway! And the singer Katerine Desrochers performed the unforgettable solo of the last bridge exactly, a great moment of rejoicing, we must admit.

Ludovick Bourgeois then dedicated a pretty, lesser-known song to his mother, I stretch my armsthen followed up with Thug, September evening And Where love awaits metaken from his father’s solo album released in 1998. But it was only after he thanked his musicians, his team, his family and former BB collaborators that the atmosphere rose a notch, on the hook unstoppable Be carefulthen with Give me my chancewhich everyone sang spontaneously.

One of the most beautiful moments of the evening, when we were finally able to feel all the beautiful sensations still aroused by these songs written 35 years ago. After this moment of pure happiness, Ludovick Bourgeois then recounted his last meeting with his father, a few days before his death on November 26, 2017 at the age of 55, to introduce Alone in battle… It was already difficult not to break down, but with his truly embodied interpretation, which ended with the children’s choir from the original, then in the dark with his voice alone, the emotion was at its peak.

He himself had to take a little break, thanked the two other members of the group, François Jean, who died a little over three years ago, and Alain Lapointe, who was there in spirit. The show ended with You’ll never know (another great moment of release), then LoulouBB’s first song released in 1989, which alone sums up the spirit of a group which never took itself seriously, and whose memory, despite the deaths of two of its members far too young, is synonymous with of lightness and carelessness.

It is quite a heritage that Ludovick Bourgeois has in his hands, and he pays homage to it with dignity and sincerity, and above all with generosity. This testimony of love that he shares with the public remains an exceptional and rare gesture: we don’t have too much of shared love at the moment.