NO UPSTAGING YANN PERREAU
He’s everywhere at Franco Folies
Yann Perreau is all over this year’s FrancoFolies.
“To get up to date with francophone music, there isn’t a better festival than Les FrancoFolies in Montreal,” said the Montreal singer-songwriter in a recent interview at the Mile End offices of Bonsound, his record label and management company.
“So if I’m there doing shows, it gives me the chance to see other concerts, too, and to hang out with the artists who are doing shows. You hit two birds with one stone. I get to participate and because I’m participating, I’m more tempted to be here. Normally in the summer, if I’m not playing festivals here, you’re more likely to find me in the country, on the banks of the river. So I’ll be a full-time resident at Les Francos this summer.”
He has already flagged a number of gigs at the festival he’s hoping to check out, including Katerine (Friday at 8 p.m. at Théâtre Maisonneuve) and Albin de la Simone (Thursday, June 15 at 8:30 p.m. at the Cinequième Salle in a double bill with Saratoga).
Perreau himself performs four times during the festival, which kicks off Thursday and runs until June 18. His highest-profile appearance is a free outdoor gig Monday, June 12 on the main stage: the Scène Bell.
The Yann Perreau fest at Les Francos begins Friday with Perreau et la lune, a revival of a much-buzzed-about show he mounted 10 years ago for a tour of Switzerland, Belgium and France. Then he brought it home to play the Gèsu during the Festival en lumière and it ended up touring the entire province for almost all of 2007, for a total of about 100 shows.
Like the original, this year’s model features the same two performers — Perreau and his old pal, Alex McMahon — with just two keyboards. And like the first show, it has once again created no small amount of heat, with the duo set to embark on a little tour of it once again.
“It’s a show that’s really kind of timeless,” Perreau said. Actually, that’s a good description of his own music, which goes from intimate singer-songwriter fare to booming electro numbers that wouldn’t sound out of place on a dance floor.
“It’s kind of old-school chanson at one point and then it becomes full electro. It’s a hybrid. It’s also very theatrical. It’s poetic, romantic and often quite funny. It’s intimate. It’s surprising for people because they’re used to seeing me on stage in a more exuberant style of performance.”
The show focuses solely on Perreau’s first two albums: Western Romance (2002) and Nucléaire (2005). He hasn’t updated the repertoire for 2017.
Perreau will also be taking part in Desjardins, on l’aime-tu!, the free outdoor homage to Richard Desjardins on Sunday at 9 p.m. on the Scène Bell. He’ll be singing Desjardins’ Dans ses yeux, a tune he recorded for the recent Desjardins tribute album.
The great singer-songwriter from Rouyn-Noranda, best known for his song Tu m’aimestu, was one of Perreau’s early inspirations. “I always liked his lyrics,” Perreau said. “I like that he’s someone who can play with words and turn them into poetry. It can be esthetic, it can be historical or political.”
He recalled seeing Desjardins for the first time, at Théâtre St-Denis: “I was 15 or 16, and it changed my view of what it is to be a singer-songwriter. That’s when I decided I wanted to do this. At the time, I was playing in rock bands that did covers and I figured I’d play music with my pals for a while and then go back and find a real job. But when I came out of that show, I realized my real job was doing what he did. It’s really something for a guy, alone with a piano or a guitar, to be able to touch a teenager like that.”
Next up on Perreau’s actionpacked FrancoFolies schedule is his big free outdoor gig on Monday, June 12. It will essentially be the same show he’s been delivering throughout the province on his current tour, although at the festival it will feature a few special guests, including Pierre Kwenders, Laurence Nerbonne and Philippe Brach. The concert (and his tour) focuses on his most recent album, the harddriving yet lyrical Le fantastique des astres. It’s his most commercially successful album to date, in large part thanks to the impossibly catchy electro-dance number J’aime les oiseaux, a big radio hit last summer.
Thanks to upbeat songs like that and Baby Boom, it’s a record that’s tailor-made for a concert setting.
“It’s like that album was made to be performed at a big free outdoor show at a festival,” Perreau said. “I had done a tour for the album À genoux dans le désir with just two other musicians, and so it was pretty intimate. Then after that I did a solo tour. I like playing solo and doing intimate shows, but after a while I felt like coming back with my big band, with the big war machine.
“I really wanted to go out and burn some calories like an athlete. It’s very therapeutic. It’s physical. It brings people together.”
Last but not least, Perreau will also turn up at Nerbonne’s show on the outdoor Scène Ford on June 15 at 8 p.m. along with fellow guests Rymz, Lary Kidd, Shash’u and Jason Bajada.
As if he wasn’t busy enough, he’s also the stage director on the big dance show Discothèque at Place des Festivals on July
1 as part of the jazz festival. It features Carly Rae Jepsen, Men Without Hats, Radio Radio and Muzion. The gig is a natural for Perreau because he’s always had a soft spot for songs that get folks out on the dance floor.
“I’m a songwriter. I write at the piano, but I also like dancing and I like electronic music,” Perreau said. “But I also grew up with rock thanks to my older brothers who played me the Doors, Led
Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. I’m lost between la chanson, oldschool rock and electronic dance music.”
So, he’s up for a big dance party. “Basically, the idea is to have a big nightclub party right in the middle of downtown Montreal,” Perreau said.