Post by davidhr on Dec 15, 2009 13:28:06 GMT -5
Lara did indeed appear at the concert in Colfontaine, Belgium last Wednesday. What was presented was not the standard TLFM concert but an acoustic one with piano and guitar; hence more similar to the shows in Moscow, or as some fans suggested, the one for the charity AMTM, at the Paris casino in 2006. This was not greeted happily by some fans, who felt they were cheated out of seeing the spectacle (the holograms, in particular). On the other hand, some fans - especially those who saw the full show elsewhere - were quite happy with this intimate concert. Although the show was advertised under the same name 'TLFM make their show' as the previous concerts, Lara herself pointed out that the poster had said it would be an acoustic show. Many had not known what that really meant - and it had not been discussed ahead of time on the official site.
Apparently, this is not a one-time thing. Other acoustic shows apparently will be in Nancy, Metz, Geneva, Yutz, Ludres, and Porcieu. Therefore it looks as if Lara's tour is now becoming two tours - the TLFM big stage show, and a much more intimate, acoustic one. Obviously, it only makes sense to produce an expensive show if it is well attended. In addition, some of the theatres that Lara has now switched to are too small for the full extravaganza. It's not obvious that that was the original plan, it may have developed out of necessity.
As for the concert itself, prior to the show Lara allowed fans standing outside in the cold and rain to hear her rehearsal, a nice touch. The room itself was not full, perhaps because of the weather, and was described as extremely calm/silent. Lara's father showed up, the only family member - and it was reported he was prevented from going backstage to her dressing room! Many songs from EWIM were included, and it was said that the audience was allowed to choose them; the choices included 'Close to You', 'Crazy', 'Angel', 'Why', 'River', 'Alfie', 'The Man with the Child in his Eyes' - hence many that we have not heard of Lara singing live before. Overall, the concert was a mixture of TLFM and EWIM, as well as some older songs ('Adagio', 'Immortelle', 'J'y crois encore', 'pas san toi, 'la difference'), and Grand Grande Grande et Alfonsina y el Mar. Lara also sang a song that she said she had written that morning (it is already available on the web). Lara looked well, sounded great, and was very much at ease. The pianist, by the name of Vincent (who was with her in Russia), got special praise. Some nice pictures are available on the official site at:
www.larafabian.com/forumLara/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9496&sid=964cddace69b221336e1a6c935afe36a&start=300
And many videos are available on Youtube and dailymotion.
The show on December 11th at Tours de Vinci returned to the 'holographic' format. Lara again was in top voice, and the ambience was quite good, with the audience continuing several of her songs. Of course, now the other set of complaints arose: yes, the spectacle was there, but Lara was not close to the audience. "Adagio" was not presented, perhaps because Lara had a slight cough, not helped by an open door bathing her in cold air. Lara did not want photographs taken with her; an article in the local press said she didn't want anything less than 'controlled' photos, and her eyes were hurt by flash photography. At the end her car sped away rapidly, with people chasing it. A number of excellent pictures are available at:
picasaweb.google.fr/cpagnien/LaraFabianATours#
And there are several nice videos on p. 11 of this concert thread on the official site. [BTW, this re-emphasizes that there has been a sea change in how the official site views bootleg videos - they are now allowed. One slight aspect of their more 'user-friendly' goal.]
As first noted by elliot67, EWIM is now once again available on FNAC, and listed as being 'in stock', so presumably the difficulty was their not receiving their copies in time for the 7th. It is also now available at the Virgin de champs. It will be interesting to see how well it does in the commercial market, given that so far it is not available in English speaking countries.
elliot67 has (re)opened a Lara Fabian website in English, with EWIM as its opening page. It can be found at www.larafabian.st.tc/
"Amoureuse' is the next 'single' from TLFM; again, it is only for radio play, and will not be released as such (with the ability to download individual songs from various websites, releasing a single does not seem to be meaningful unless something else were included with it, say an unrecorded second song, video, or other bonus).
Although not strictly news about Lara, the news update cannot be concluded without mentioning the contentious discussions that took place on the official forum this past week, concerning the 'disastrous' lack of communication between Lara and her fans. It's not clear what precipitated this boiling over of dissatisfaction, as it has been building for, well, years, but it probably was most directly connected with the problems encountered on the current tour. Many fans noted that information on the official site forum about Lara often comes from other sites, or the fans themselves. Questions go unanswered; there is nothing more futile than asking a question in 'Papa Pierre's corner'. Questions specifically for Nathalie in the forum are rarely answered - actually people have generally given up asking (she does respond to personal emails, I have found). And then surprises occur without warning - concerts are cancelled, often at the last moment, venues changed, all with no explanation. The 'surprise' format of the concert in Colfontaine was just the latest example of this gap. It was even suggested that the 'undying devotion' of Lara's 'angels' had led her to not take the fans' needs seriously.
Another element that surfaced was genuine concern felt by Lara's fans for the state of her career. The fact that so many concerts had to be cancelled or altered, their format changed without notice, and some were half-full; that she has been on fewer TV programs for this promotion than previously; that her concert schedule had so many 'holes' in it, which prevented momentum from building up; that she's had very little airplay; that a single was actually released (only) in Russia without any notice to the fans ('Demaine n'existe pas'; one can already find a Russian ice-skating video set to it on Youtube); that, in contrast, EWIM was suddenly released commercially but with no single to promote it; that she backed out of the Telethon to go to a tennis tournament, with no explanation; and that her projects start and stop with no coherent career planning - all of this seems like a tremendous waste of talent and a prescription for professional disaster.
Nathalie, for once, responded to this cascade of complaints, saying that Lara's team was not perfect but that they worked very hard 24/7 to try and keep up. And fans noted that things have improved - at one point in time there was no official site, no quarterly magazine (and as noted above, videos are now allowed). Other fans noted that simply complaining did no good, that people should instead offer suggestions. The primary one was that Lara should hire a professional management team to communicate with fans.
Some of the problems fans have experienced are not completely Lara's fault - she is undoubtedly as upset (or more so) by the necessary cancellations/venue changes than anyone. And with respect to her career, Lara has often said she is impulsive, not a 'planner' - she does what feels right at each moment in time, often without career goals in mind. This has been especially true in the last few years, following her break-up with Sony. As for hiring professional managers, a suggestion made in these news updates time and again - it will do no good if Lara doesn't listen to them, or communicate with them.
My opinion is: when Lara changes her mind about something, or makes a last minute decision, most likely the thought of informing her fans receives very little consideration. She just does what she does - and how it will affect her career or anyone else does not seem to be a priority. In addition to her fans, many professionals in the media business have found this out the hard way. Ultimately, Lara will have as her fans those who have gotten used to her ways, and new fans who haven't yet fully experienced those 'ways'. What makes it worthwhile to those who stay is her incredible voice and her great personality in live interactions. For those expressing their disappointment on the official forum, they are bound to suffer further if they expect her to change.
Lara has 4 more concerts on the current portion of the tour during this coming week, starting tonight in Marseille. Then she (and we) get a holiday break!
David
Apparently, this is not a one-time thing. Other acoustic shows apparently will be in Nancy, Metz, Geneva, Yutz, Ludres, and Porcieu. Therefore it looks as if Lara's tour is now becoming two tours - the TLFM big stage show, and a much more intimate, acoustic one. Obviously, it only makes sense to produce an expensive show if it is well attended. In addition, some of the theatres that Lara has now switched to are too small for the full extravaganza. It's not obvious that that was the original plan, it may have developed out of necessity.
As for the concert itself, prior to the show Lara allowed fans standing outside in the cold and rain to hear her rehearsal, a nice touch. The room itself was not full, perhaps because of the weather, and was described as extremely calm/silent. Lara's father showed up, the only family member - and it was reported he was prevented from going backstage to her dressing room! Many songs from EWIM were included, and it was said that the audience was allowed to choose them; the choices included 'Close to You', 'Crazy', 'Angel', 'Why', 'River', 'Alfie', 'The Man with the Child in his Eyes' - hence many that we have not heard of Lara singing live before. Overall, the concert was a mixture of TLFM and EWIM, as well as some older songs ('Adagio', 'Immortelle', 'J'y crois encore', 'pas san toi, 'la difference'), and Grand Grande Grande et Alfonsina y el Mar. Lara also sang a song that she said she had written that morning (it is already available on the web). Lara looked well, sounded great, and was very much at ease. The pianist, by the name of Vincent (who was with her in Russia), got special praise. Some nice pictures are available on the official site at:
www.larafabian.com/forumLara/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9496&sid=964cddace69b221336e1a6c935afe36a&start=300
And many videos are available on Youtube and dailymotion.
The show on December 11th at Tours de Vinci returned to the 'holographic' format. Lara again was in top voice, and the ambience was quite good, with the audience continuing several of her songs. Of course, now the other set of complaints arose: yes, the spectacle was there, but Lara was not close to the audience. "Adagio" was not presented, perhaps because Lara had a slight cough, not helped by an open door bathing her in cold air. Lara did not want photographs taken with her; an article in the local press said she didn't want anything less than 'controlled' photos, and her eyes were hurt by flash photography. At the end her car sped away rapidly, with people chasing it. A number of excellent pictures are available at:
picasaweb.google.fr/cpagnien/LaraFabianATours#
And there are several nice videos on p. 11 of this concert thread on the official site. [BTW, this re-emphasizes that there has been a sea change in how the official site views bootleg videos - they are now allowed. One slight aspect of their more 'user-friendly' goal.]
As first noted by elliot67, EWIM is now once again available on FNAC, and listed as being 'in stock', so presumably the difficulty was their not receiving their copies in time for the 7th. It is also now available at the Virgin de champs. It will be interesting to see how well it does in the commercial market, given that so far it is not available in English speaking countries.
elliot67 has (re)opened a Lara Fabian website in English, with EWIM as its opening page. It can be found at www.larafabian.st.tc/
"Amoureuse' is the next 'single' from TLFM; again, it is only for radio play, and will not be released as such (with the ability to download individual songs from various websites, releasing a single does not seem to be meaningful unless something else were included with it, say an unrecorded second song, video, or other bonus).
Although not strictly news about Lara, the news update cannot be concluded without mentioning the contentious discussions that took place on the official forum this past week, concerning the 'disastrous' lack of communication between Lara and her fans. It's not clear what precipitated this boiling over of dissatisfaction, as it has been building for, well, years, but it probably was most directly connected with the problems encountered on the current tour. Many fans noted that information on the official site forum about Lara often comes from other sites, or the fans themselves. Questions go unanswered; there is nothing more futile than asking a question in 'Papa Pierre's corner'. Questions specifically for Nathalie in the forum are rarely answered - actually people have generally given up asking (she does respond to personal emails, I have found). And then surprises occur without warning - concerts are cancelled, often at the last moment, venues changed, all with no explanation. The 'surprise' format of the concert in Colfontaine was just the latest example of this gap. It was even suggested that the 'undying devotion' of Lara's 'angels' had led her to not take the fans' needs seriously.
Another element that surfaced was genuine concern felt by Lara's fans for the state of her career. The fact that so many concerts had to be cancelled or altered, their format changed without notice, and some were half-full; that she has been on fewer TV programs for this promotion than previously; that her concert schedule had so many 'holes' in it, which prevented momentum from building up; that she's had very little airplay; that a single was actually released (only) in Russia without any notice to the fans ('Demaine n'existe pas'; one can already find a Russian ice-skating video set to it on Youtube); that, in contrast, EWIM was suddenly released commercially but with no single to promote it; that she backed out of the Telethon to go to a tennis tournament, with no explanation; and that her projects start and stop with no coherent career planning - all of this seems like a tremendous waste of talent and a prescription for professional disaster.
Nathalie, for once, responded to this cascade of complaints, saying that Lara's team was not perfect but that they worked very hard 24/7 to try and keep up. And fans noted that things have improved - at one point in time there was no official site, no quarterly magazine (and as noted above, videos are now allowed). Other fans noted that simply complaining did no good, that people should instead offer suggestions. The primary one was that Lara should hire a professional management team to communicate with fans.
Some of the problems fans have experienced are not completely Lara's fault - she is undoubtedly as upset (or more so) by the necessary cancellations/venue changes than anyone. And with respect to her career, Lara has often said she is impulsive, not a 'planner' - she does what feels right at each moment in time, often without career goals in mind. This has been especially true in the last few years, following her break-up with Sony. As for hiring professional managers, a suggestion made in these news updates time and again - it will do no good if Lara doesn't listen to them, or communicate with them.
My opinion is: when Lara changes her mind about something, or makes a last minute decision, most likely the thought of informing her fans receives very little consideration. She just does what she does - and how it will affect her career or anyone else does not seem to be a priority. In addition to her fans, many professionals in the media business have found this out the hard way. Ultimately, Lara will have as her fans those who have gotten used to her ways, and new fans who haven't yet fully experienced those 'ways'. What makes it worthwhile to those who stay is her incredible voice and her great personality in live interactions. For those expressing their disappointment on the official forum, they are bound to suffer further if they expect her to change.
Lara has 4 more concerts on the current portion of the tour during this coming week, starting tonight in Marseille. Then she (and we) get a holiday break!
David
