Belgian popstar Angèle has in a short time change into one in every of my favorite artists of the previous few years, and lately I had the pleasure of seeing her stay on stage in Lyon, France as she toured in assist of her newest album Nonante-Cinq.
After I arrived at Halle Tony Garnier round 14:00 pm, I used to be astounded to see two queues each filled with round fifty Angèle followers ready to get in. That they had snacks, card video games and gold foil to maintain themselves fed, entertained and heat as they waited in line. I had by no means seen this stage of dedication for a live performance earlier than, not since Coldplay performed Wembley in August. Followers had been singing songs with microphones, audio system had been blaring varied Angèle fan favourites and the vitality appeared very a lot alive in the course of the wait, even because it rained. Tons.
At round 17:00 pm, the gates opened and everybody rushed to the entrance. The Tony Garnier Corridor holds a capability of 17,000 folks, with a really vast standing space and hundreds of seats on the again and sides. It was just about inconceivable to get a foul view, however I managed to be about fifteen folks away from the entrance.
The assist act arrived at exactly 20:00 pm and introduced thunderous vitality to the stage. The assist got here within the type of French singer Maxence and his guitarist/drummer. I cherished each second these two had been on stage and am fairly frankly very jealous of Maxence’s vitality. He was fairly clearly ecstatic to be there and was smiling, laughing, dancing and singing with all the things he had. The viewers was particularly into it, too. He had us leaping to a few of the heavier hitting tracks like Flûtiste and likewise had us swaying our telephone lights within the air with slower ballads like Poids-Lourd. Whichever emotion he performed into, we had been all for it and it left a constructive impression on us. They each punctually left the stage at 20:30 pm to arrange us for the principle act. Then, at 20:57 pm, Britney Spears’ Hit Me Child One Extra Time blasted by the audio system. The followers had been singing. The lights had been dimming. The present was about to start.
After a really visually participating video of a curler coaster rocketing by totally different environments (and thus the themes of the album Nonante-Cinq), Angèle’s silhouette was forged into the center of the display screen. The corridor cheered and screamed, and it solely grew when the primary tune started, Plus de sens. It’s a simple pop-bop and was a good way to start out the present. Angèle was in full swing, strutting down the steps onto the centre of the stage. She was hitting notes and the group had been hitting them again simply as laborious. There’s one thing a couple of huge crowd chanting again lyrics that makes me really feel a part of a neighborhood, even when I had no thought what was being sung. Midway by the monitor, six dancers appeared from the again and all concerned carried out the primary dance sequence of the present.
So, to recap, within the first 5 minutes we’ve had an attractive video to start out the present, dramatic silhouettes, vibrant lights, an ideal deal with the artist’s voice, outfit and motion and a complete dance crew. These additions are what separates a superb live performance from an ideal present, and this was the case for just about the complete two-hour set. Nothing however an astounding stage of showmanship and ability was on present and it solely acquired higher. The following tune, Tu me regardes, took us again to 2019 with the Brol La Suite album. Among the many crowd, there gave the impression to be extra vitality introduced ahead for the older tracks, which was to be anticipated. I used to be completely happy to listen to no matter was on the setlist as nonetheless, to at the present time, Angèle had not made a foul tune. Not one.
Angèle took a second to calm issues down later within the setlist by performing the heart-wrenchingly stunning Ta reine. It’s a particular fan favorite, and it’s not laborious to see why. The viewers was in full pressure with their singing, and what made it that bit higher was the truth that Angèle sang the complete tune with a delight flag wrapped round her {that a} fan had thrown onto the stage. Good.
From this level on, Angèle performed a combination of songs each new and previous and each with and with out assistance from her dance crew. Her voice in each tune was pitch-perfect and her capacity to each sing and dance gave me an increasing number of causes to imagine she’s the very best pop artist Europe has to supply proper now. The excessive vitality got here to a halt when her dazzling white piano got here rolling out onto the stage, which then led us to be handled to a four-track medley performed solely on the piano. These songs had been Jalousie, Taxi, Solo and Mots justes. Of all of the tracks named, I’ve to deliver consideration to the fourth monitor. Mots justes is, in my view, Angele’s greatest tune. It’s rhythmic, sensual, and stylish, brings parts of classical in addition to pop and is all completed underneath a 6/6 time signature. It’s great, and I didn’t anticipate it to be performed that evening. Nonetheless, when these first chords had been performed, I actually needed to maintain again my tears and decide my jaw up off the bottom. Your complete crowd was silent. Nobody was shining a telephone gentle or making any distractions. All focus was on Angèle’s voice and piano expertise and was certainly an enormous spotlight.
The piano then acquired carted away and the present continued in its common style of upbeat pop tunes with glorious choreography, awe-inspiring stage lights, epic visuals and a few nice contributions from the stay band. Oh, yeah, there was a stay band with a drummer, a keyboardist, a guitarist and a bassist. As a result of why the hell not?
Issues began to warmth up for the climax of the present, with a fancy dress change for the final six tracks. These previous few songs had been arguably Angele’s largest tracks thus far. The tune that most individuals right here in England would recognise could be Fever, a Dua Lipa tune that Angèle options on. A projection of Lipa was on the massive inexperienced for almost the complete monitor, an concept that was repeated when Damso delivers his featured verse on Demons. It’s been completed earlier than however was nonetheless efficient on the evening. The aforementioned Demons was the primary tune that Angèle performed after the inevitable encore. It was bassy, and loud and stuffed the room with a demonic vibe. Harsh pink lights had been in every single place and the display screen projected a hue of pink smoke. It was intoxicatingly heavy, with the drummer giving it his all on this monitor particularly.
After a spectacular showcase of each particular person dancer’s dance solos, the present ended on a excessive be aware with Bruxelles je t’aime. Everybody loves a cheerful ending, and it’s precisely what we acquired. A really completely happy crowd chanted the catchy refrain again to the stay band and dancers as all of them took turns bowing and thanking us for coming.
Cheer and applause had been in abundance that evening, and my description of it doesn’t paint almost nearly as good of a picture because it ought to. It was a type of concert events the place you needed to be there to really feel simply how a lot love was within the room that night. All through all twenty-five songs carried out, not a foot was misplaced, nor a be aware out of tune. Everybody performed their half in delivering a lifelong expertise I’ll always remember.
Angèle, je t’aime.
