Post by davidhr on Mar 2, 2010 14:00:44 GMT -5
Fresh from her triumphant concerts in the former Soviet Union, Lara returned to France to continue her tour this past week, in Amiens on the 27th and Porcieu Amglagnieu on the 28th. As if to show that their enthusiasm could not be topped by fans elsewhere, Lara’s ‘angels’ turned out in force in Amiens, with some 1800 people in attendance, and were rewarded with an exceptional concert. Lara was in top form vocally. Perhaps for this reason – or maybe in preparation for the upcoming recording – the medley ‘dessins animee’ was returned to the standard TLFM program (to the fans’ great delight), along with ‘Do You Know Where You’re Going to’ (‘Babacar’ and ‘J’ai besoin de parler’ were still missing). The show therefore ran a bit more than 2 hours.
The real story though was Lara’s interactions with her fans. She spent some 20 minutes before the show talking to them, and giving autographs; a video of this (thanks to laramonange) is available at:
www.megaupload.com/?d=66TOAC7F
The fans for their part returned the surprise, having prepared paper hearts for the audience, who then held them up to show their love to Lara at appropriate times (after ‘Pas sans toi’, and ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’). A review in the local paper commented on the joint affection between Lara and her audience. Videos are available on the web, with links on the official site forum, and many photos can be seen (thanks to ‘latitefan’) at:
www.4shared.com/dir/32494760/d3900068/Amiens_2010.html
(my favorite is #127!).
Then it was on to Porcieu, for a very different show. Because of the setting, this was an acoustic concert (as had been the case in Colfontaine). Again Lara was in great vocal form. One highlight was another rendition of Lara’s new song ‘Mirage’ (which she explained she had written with the woman who co-wrote ‘Bambina’ ). [You may remember, on a bonus track for the live ‘Nue’ DVD, Lara showed the woman bringing to her the music for the song, and Rick Allison stopping by with some cogent suggestions.] Another highlight was that on “La Difference”, Lara invited a young girl onto the stage, and had her sit on her lap (reminiscent of her own experience with Nana Mouskouri). The set for this concert included: J'y crois encore - il venait d'avoir 18 ans - Soleil Soleil - La difference – Humana - Do you know - Wind Beneath my Wings – Angel – Grande grande grande – Alfonsina y el mar – J’ai besoin de parler – Je t’aime – Mirage – Adagio.
The fans also had surprises for Lara here. First they wore tee shirts with “ON T’M” on them, the audience rising so that Lara could see them. Then, having distributed 1000 posters with re-written words (by ‘Céline’ and ‘Aline’) for ‘On t’aime’, they sang it as a reprise for Lara after she performed ‘Je t’aime’ (a takeoff on the ‘incident in Rennes’ of a similar nature). Lara was noticeably moved. After the song, she spoke to the audience – here’s a translation of Lara’s comments, first reported by ‘vero39’ on the official site forum:
“It’s very very difficult to explain the emotions that arise when one is faced with such love. I knew what it was like to be the daughter of someone who one loves, and of becoming the mother of someone who one loves more than anything [someone cried ‘Lou’ and Lara responded ‘yes’], and if I can permit myself it is with this evening that I understand all the dimensions of love that one can share in the absolute.” She then added, “You have given me an enormous gift, if you permit me I’m going to get closer, I’m going to need my text, and I would like to be very near you” (and then sang ‘Mirage’).
Here (in translation) are the rewritten words the fans sung:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara we love you!
(Celine Jaegler and Aline)
In the heart of France, Lara came one day,
This perfect voice, she amazed us all,
For many of us, her songs have often guided us
In our life sometimes so poorly conducted.
Agreed that this slip of a woman, often appears for us,
Almost like a mother, she loves us understands us,
Thank you for all those moments, that you still share with us
After our words, our dreams, we want to cry out:
We love you, we love you
Like fans, like angels,
Like stars in this strange blue,
You see we love you like that.
In all intimacy (En toute intimité), you sometimes have been able to talk to us,
Or again this new look (ce regard neuf), that you knew to bring us,
In this concert hall, you make us all sing
We want so much to say to you that we love you, we thank you.
We love you, we love you
As a mother, a sister,
As part of our heart,
We love you, we love you
Like fans, like angels,
Like stars in this strange blue,
You know we love you like that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The video of this is available on youtube at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC6OpO5HkwU
and a video of Mirage at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeVV6_yHjdg
while some pictures, and a glowing review article in “le Dauphiné” can be found at:
www.ledauphine.com/show-c-etait-dimanche-soir-aux-marinieres-autant-lara--@/index.jspz?article=269727
With all the applause she has received in Russia and associated countries, and with the upcoming release of an album not meant for the French audience, there is a tendency to think that Lara will shift her emphasis onto the international stage. [And as an aside, Igor Krutoi will be at Radio City Music Hall in NYC this coming week – suggesting he may well be active in pulling Lara toward such venues.] However, despite the carping criticism from the critics in France and Belgium, she clearly must feel that her most loving fans reside there – and it is nights like these two that help Lara understand why she stays in this business.
In other news, Valérie Lemercier and Gad Elmaleh acting as emcees on the ‘Cesars’ awards program (the French equivalent of the Oscars) performed a short funny, modified version of “Je t’aime” (‘On t’aime’). For once it was done very respectfully, and is good publicity for Lara. The link to the video is available (thanks to Christina) at
www.4shared.com/file/231504474/42617827/On_taime_parody__Cesar_2010.html
“La folie des années 90” was scheduled to air last night on France 3. Dedicated to the decade of the 1990s, it was to review the political and cultural aspects that in some instances set the stage for what is prevalent today. Lara’s inclusion in the promo suggested that at least one of her songs would be featured (‘Je t’aime’ and ‘Tout’ are possibilities). No report yet on the show.
“La discotheque ideale de Lara Fabian” finished its daily airing, lasting from February 15-26th. The complete set of Lara’s choices and links to the songs are provided by larafabiannews.com (see also larafabiangreek.blogspot.com/2010/02/lara-fabian.html), while the entire set of Lara’s comments (in French) and the associated songs can be heard in one file found on NABBOX (thanks to Piwi91). There were some interesting revelations. Lara indicated that some of her favorite experiences are shows she’s seen in New York ("Chicago", "Beauty and the Beast", "Lion King"). We’ve long known about her admiration for Jacques Brel, Maria Callas, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand, but she also mentioned artists as diverse as Charlie Chaplin and Simon and Garfunkle (could you just hear Lara singing ‘Bridge over Troubled Waters’?). Since many of Lara’s favorites were in English, some fans wondered why she hasn’t sung more reprises in that language, either on her own albums or in conjunction with those artists. Perhaps the opportunity just hasn’t arisen, or she thinks the audience isn’t there.
Farfallina 16 was mailed out this weekend, and already has been received by some in Belgium. Early reviews are good…
There is a topic on the official forum called ‘the most beautiful photos of Lara’ (under the ‘Entre Fans” section), which is worth checking out, and will likely continue to be as more people add to it.
This coming week Lara returns to Belgium for three concerts, culminating in the recording of the live DVD at Forest National in Brussels next Monday night. One hopes that she will be in as good voice as she has been for the rest of the tour (and in better health), and that the holograms work perfectly. Leaving everything to one show is a somewhat risky proposition, but, that’s Lara.
David
The real story though was Lara’s interactions with her fans. She spent some 20 minutes before the show talking to them, and giving autographs; a video of this (thanks to laramonange) is available at:
www.megaupload.com/?d=66TOAC7F
The fans for their part returned the surprise, having prepared paper hearts for the audience, who then held them up to show their love to Lara at appropriate times (after ‘Pas sans toi’, and ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’). A review in the local paper commented on the joint affection between Lara and her audience. Videos are available on the web, with links on the official site forum, and many photos can be seen (thanks to ‘latitefan’) at:
www.4shared.com/dir/32494760/d3900068/Amiens_2010.html
(my favorite is #127!).
Then it was on to Porcieu, for a very different show. Because of the setting, this was an acoustic concert (as had been the case in Colfontaine). Again Lara was in great vocal form. One highlight was another rendition of Lara’s new song ‘Mirage’ (which she explained she had written with the woman who co-wrote ‘Bambina’ ). [You may remember, on a bonus track for the live ‘Nue’ DVD, Lara showed the woman bringing to her the music for the song, and Rick Allison stopping by with some cogent suggestions.] Another highlight was that on “La Difference”, Lara invited a young girl onto the stage, and had her sit on her lap (reminiscent of her own experience with Nana Mouskouri). The set for this concert included: J'y crois encore - il venait d'avoir 18 ans - Soleil Soleil - La difference – Humana - Do you know - Wind Beneath my Wings – Angel – Grande grande grande – Alfonsina y el mar – J’ai besoin de parler – Je t’aime – Mirage – Adagio.
The fans also had surprises for Lara here. First they wore tee shirts with “ON T’M” on them, the audience rising so that Lara could see them. Then, having distributed 1000 posters with re-written words (by ‘Céline’ and ‘Aline’) for ‘On t’aime’, they sang it as a reprise for Lara after she performed ‘Je t’aime’ (a takeoff on the ‘incident in Rennes’ of a similar nature). Lara was noticeably moved. After the song, she spoke to the audience – here’s a translation of Lara’s comments, first reported by ‘vero39’ on the official site forum:
“It’s very very difficult to explain the emotions that arise when one is faced with such love. I knew what it was like to be the daughter of someone who one loves, and of becoming the mother of someone who one loves more than anything [someone cried ‘Lou’ and Lara responded ‘yes’], and if I can permit myself it is with this evening that I understand all the dimensions of love that one can share in the absolute.” She then added, “You have given me an enormous gift, if you permit me I’m going to get closer, I’m going to need my text, and I would like to be very near you” (and then sang ‘Mirage’).
Here (in translation) are the rewritten words the fans sung:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara we love you!
(Celine Jaegler and Aline)
In the heart of France, Lara came one day,
This perfect voice, she amazed us all,
For many of us, her songs have often guided us
In our life sometimes so poorly conducted.
Agreed that this slip of a woman, often appears for us,
Almost like a mother, she loves us understands us,
Thank you for all those moments, that you still share with us
After our words, our dreams, we want to cry out:
We love you, we love you
Like fans, like angels,
Like stars in this strange blue,
You see we love you like that.
In all intimacy (En toute intimité), you sometimes have been able to talk to us,
Or again this new look (ce regard neuf), that you knew to bring us,
In this concert hall, you make us all sing
We want so much to say to you that we love you, we thank you.
We love you, we love you
As a mother, a sister,
As part of our heart,
We love you, we love you
Like fans, like angels,
Like stars in this strange blue,
You know we love you like that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The video of this is available on youtube at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC6OpO5HkwU
and a video of Mirage at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeVV6_yHjdg
while some pictures, and a glowing review article in “le Dauphiné” can be found at:
www.ledauphine.com/show-c-etait-dimanche-soir-aux-marinieres-autant-lara--@/index.jspz?article=269727
With all the applause she has received in Russia and associated countries, and with the upcoming release of an album not meant for the French audience, there is a tendency to think that Lara will shift her emphasis onto the international stage. [And as an aside, Igor Krutoi will be at Radio City Music Hall in NYC this coming week – suggesting he may well be active in pulling Lara toward such venues.] However, despite the carping criticism from the critics in France and Belgium, she clearly must feel that her most loving fans reside there – and it is nights like these two that help Lara understand why she stays in this business.
In other news, Valérie Lemercier and Gad Elmaleh acting as emcees on the ‘Cesars’ awards program (the French equivalent of the Oscars) performed a short funny, modified version of “Je t’aime” (‘On t’aime’). For once it was done very respectfully, and is good publicity for Lara. The link to the video is available (thanks to Christina) at
www.4shared.com/file/231504474/42617827/On_taime_parody__Cesar_2010.html
“La folie des années 90” was scheduled to air last night on France 3. Dedicated to the decade of the 1990s, it was to review the political and cultural aspects that in some instances set the stage for what is prevalent today. Lara’s inclusion in the promo suggested that at least one of her songs would be featured (‘Je t’aime’ and ‘Tout’ are possibilities). No report yet on the show.
“La discotheque ideale de Lara Fabian” finished its daily airing, lasting from February 15-26th. The complete set of Lara’s choices and links to the songs are provided by larafabiannews.com (see also larafabiangreek.blogspot.com/2010/02/lara-fabian.html), while the entire set of Lara’s comments (in French) and the associated songs can be heard in one file found on NABBOX (thanks to Piwi91). There were some interesting revelations. Lara indicated that some of her favorite experiences are shows she’s seen in New York ("Chicago", "Beauty and the Beast", "Lion King"). We’ve long known about her admiration for Jacques Brel, Maria Callas, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand, but she also mentioned artists as diverse as Charlie Chaplin and Simon and Garfunkle (could you just hear Lara singing ‘Bridge over Troubled Waters’?). Since many of Lara’s favorites were in English, some fans wondered why she hasn’t sung more reprises in that language, either on her own albums or in conjunction with those artists. Perhaps the opportunity just hasn’t arisen, or she thinks the audience isn’t there.
Farfallina 16 was mailed out this weekend, and already has been received by some in Belgium. Early reviews are good…
There is a topic on the official forum called ‘the most beautiful photos of Lara’ (under the ‘Entre Fans” section), which is worth checking out, and will likely continue to be as more people add to it.
This coming week Lara returns to Belgium for three concerts, culminating in the recording of the live DVD at Forest National in Brussels next Monday night. One hopes that she will be in as good voice as she has been for the rest of the tour (and in better health), and that the holograms work perfectly. Leaving everything to one show is a somewhat risky proposition, but, that’s Lara.
David