Post by davidhr on Oct 15, 2013 9:19:25 GMT -5
Lara was off this past week, and apparently was spending time in Sicily, before, as she wrote, getting back on the road. She posted several pictures on her Instagram site, in particular,
and also
Having finished the first month of the concert tour, during which Lara had 12 shows exclusively in Belgium and France, it is perhaps time to take stock of how they went. In general they’ve gotten very good reviews from fans and the press, with just a hiccup here and there. She has been in very good voice, and in general looked quite pretty, although at times fans thought she seemed a bit haggard, and thin. There have not been many reports concerning how well-attended the shows were, but one presumes they were sufficiently populated otherwise that would have been reported. She has always had good audiences in Belgium; the real test will come when she performs at the ‘Zenith’ theatres, in Paris and elsewhere.
The setlist has included all the songs from the new album that she had performed at the April Showcase in Paris, except for ‘Je t’appelle’. Thus 14 of the 17 songs from ‘Le Secret’; perhaps she’ll add in the others during later parts of the tour. The ‘oldies’ featured the usual group (to which, for some reason, ‘Tout’ no longer belongs, ever since the ‘Un Regard Neuf’ tour), except for the inclusion of ‘Je zappé’, presumably due to its thematic connection with ‘Amourexique’. It also brought forth the extremely surprising reemergence of ‘I Will Love Again’, just in time for her two concerts in front of English speaking audiences, for whom it was her biggest hit. This seemingly replaced ‘Adagio’ as her English ‘oldie’, but perhaps both will appear before the New York and Toronto audiences.
We have videos available from the various concerts, some in high quality. For those who haven’t followed these closely on youtube, it seemed appropriate to provide links to what amounts to ‘a complete concert’. I’ve tried to choose very good examples for each of the songs - there are other choices that could have been made, at least for some of them, but I also tried to avoid using all from the same concert, to allow some of the variability in Lara’s performance and appearance to be displayed. Nevertheless, three of the shows had the highest quality videos and so were most often utilized, as is evident below. The videos are listed in order of the setlist that prevailed, but not all were presented at each concert.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1. Le Secret (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uvyEbx3rZY
2. Danse (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdRg-WviHng
3. Un ange est tombé (Namur 9-12-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofQ0gEW4zxo
4. Amourexique (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6MrQG4_Xh8
5. Que j’étais belle (Namur 9-12-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnTGanFp61Q
or with a different perspective from the same concert:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyuzeHJhBO8
6. La vie est là (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh2-BkTLuNk
7. Humana (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdHFudU4lgw
8. J’y crois encore (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-QoterhQzM
9. Deux ils, deux elles (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtOsbIX3G1I
10. Je t’aime (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3O22bzaliU
11. Il est lune (Liege (Liege 9-14-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL0r2O5BG3k
12. Putain de grand amour (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxskr0yrs7o
13. Je rêve d'une étoile (Namur 9-12-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XITOA9aDP-E
14. J’ai zappé (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x6f2fkXQC0
15. Immortelle (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=459KKTNVOqA
16. Mirage (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnSA65GOQmw
17. L’enfant du Gwenved (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_x1YwGC1TI
18. I Am A-Wa (Namur 9-12-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OP9VErSHHM
19. Mon désir (Brussels 9-21-13); first part of:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8aDbeGnZKw
20. I Will Love Again (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l67PU96uuQ
--------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously we owe a great debt to the people who took their time to record these videos for us to see. While it is wonderful for those people to have them as a remembrance, taking the videos does tend to diminish the videographer’s immediate enjoyment of the shear magic that prevails at Lara’s shows. Their sacrifice is greatly appreciated!
We also thank those who take pictures of Lara at the concerts and make them available. The site ‘Lara Fabian Is Here’ has collected some 498 photos that fans have sent in. They can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151847188357417.1073741861.382393522416&type=1
In future tour related news, more venues in France have been set for next year, and Lara has now added Uzbekistan to her list of Asian countries. This is coming up pretty quickly, towards the end of October just before four Russian concerts. In addition, we know that ‘Evergig’ gets videos from the audience and makes complete concerts out of them, which they did for the Paris Showcase last April. It appears they will be doing this for Lara’s concert on January 13 in Toronto at the Sony Centre, as can be seen from the video at:
vimeo.com/76638453
One would also therefore imagine that there will be an opportunity to take videos from the audience without interference, though that presumably should be checked with the concert hall; hopefully Lara’s people have informed them.
As far as the other concert scheduled before an English speaking audience, her December date at Carnegie Hall, Rozenn Roz on the MZ FB site provided a photo from 2000 of a big wall poster that was displayed prominently in Manhattan, indicating Lara would be at Carnegie Hall in September of that year. The picture can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202137941831658&set=gm.649433358434113&type=1&theater
We know that concert did not happen; hopefully this year’s outcome will be different. My estimate is that ~54% of the seats have now been sold.
We have heard various times that Bernard Depoorter was outfitting Lara for her concert tour, and larafabianweb.com noted that he had updated his site to include additional photos of Lara. They can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/Bernard.Dp/media_set?set=a.10200822746106200.1073741840.1090074162&type=1
In these photos we can see the jacket Lara wears at the beginning of her show introducing ‘Le Secret’, with its symbol on the back; one can also see the ‘peacock cape’ that she wore in Namur (and which is included in the videos above), although perhaps in response to fans’ comments and its limitations, the dancer now sports it.
Concerning the album itself, Lara’s collector’s edition, due out October 28th is in the top 10 of ‘pre-orders’ on FNAC. Again, it can be found there at: musique.fnac.com/a6457554/Lara-Fabian-Le-secret-Edition-collector-CD-DVD-CD-album . The big lure here is the DVD, whatever it contains. The original double CD release has dropped out of the French charts, and is down to 80th position in Belgium. This is despite the occasional play given to ‘Danse’, both as a single on the radio, and the video on TV. ‘Le Secret’ is now on the charts in Canada, having entered at #140, initial sales presumably limited by the six months fans there have had to buy it from French on-line stores.
In support of the Canadian release and the four concerts, Lara will be one of the featured guests on the program ‘Access Illimite’ with Sylvain Cossette and Andrée Watters this coming Thursday, on the Canadian channel TVA. It was recorded in September. Different blurbs for it can be seen at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSP__rAgVek
and at
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151672847987073&set=vb.505036416203947&type=2&theater
There are several active polls in which one can vote for Lara. One is a poll of videos by performers who were part of Eurovision, at some point in their lives. It can be accessed at: www.eurovisionontop.com/votenow.htm
where one can vote for up to three videos. Another is being run by NRJ in Belgium, at: .It asks for you to indicate the song you are listening to these days.
In other news, Lara is once again leading the auction of ‘dolls’ in support of children’s vaccinations in Darfur; you may remember this took place in Paris last year as well. Here’s the translated message on her FB site:
------------------------------------
My angels,
I announce that for the second consecutive year, I have the honor to be the Godmother of the operation ‘Frimousses de créateurs’ [literally, creators of little faces] for UNICEF.
This event brings together the Houses of Couture and contemporary art's most prestigious artists ... They combine to create each unique doll, symbol of generosity and heart, whose inspiration this year will be drawn on the subject of ‘marvellous" Pari (s) ." [as there will be ‘betting’ (pari), i.e., auction, taking place in Paris, as well as betting on the future of the children].
These dolls will be exhibited at the Petit Palais from 26 November to 1 December, before the auction to be held on December 2 in support of vaccination programs by UNICEF for children in Darfur.
I'm really happy to be one of the "mothers" of UNICEF and lend my support to the cause of children, Love, Lara.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
On the site ‘purepeople’ (http://www.purepeople.com/article/lara-fabian-devenir-maman-fut-l-emotion-la-plus-intense-pour-moi_a129830/), Lara had the following (translated) comment: “To become a mother was the most intense emotion for me…To understand that to be there for a child can change your life instantly modifying my vision of the world…Today it is an honor to become one of the ‘mothers’ of UNICEF… A duty to measure the urgency to be there for them ... So that the lives of these children in Darfur may change, to be united is the only chance we have. To be of the family of those who will finally bring forth a new world is the most beautiful thing there is ... " The picture from the article has gotten some comment; it can be seen separately at: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152327590239896&set=a.10150465915284896.461501.7444659895&type=1&theater
On the other side of Life, Lara was listed along with other guests for a program on France 3 dedicated to helping improve the lives of the hospitalized elderly. An article concerning it can be seen at www.leparisien.fr/societe/hopitaux-bernadette-chirac-lance-l-operation-de-vie-08-10-2013-3207467.php There is no indication she was actually there, and we know that to boost interest the French press often advertises guests who have never agreed to be present (and sometimes don’t even know about the event).
Lara will be on the show "Les chansons d'abord" with Natasha St Pier on France 3, to be aired in November. And she was in the magazine ‘Feminine psycho’, with what is said to be two pages of interview and photos. One photo is available at www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200204994762361&set=gm.650623901648392&type=1&theater . She’s also on the cover, seen at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202040614074963&set=gm.650588861651896&type=1&theater
The concert tour resumes later this week in France, and over the next month will feature 16 performances, including those in Russia and Uzbekistan. Given the ban on promoting ‘alternative’ life styles in Russia, her activities concerning gay marriage will come under close scrutiny (by fans and presumably authorities alike!).
David
http://instagram.com/p/fQ1gakB8wN#
and also
http://instagram.com/p/faWUPEB80G#
Having finished the first month of the concert tour, during which Lara had 12 shows exclusively in Belgium and France, it is perhaps time to take stock of how they went. In general they’ve gotten very good reviews from fans and the press, with just a hiccup here and there. She has been in very good voice, and in general looked quite pretty, although at times fans thought she seemed a bit haggard, and thin. There have not been many reports concerning how well-attended the shows were, but one presumes they were sufficiently populated otherwise that would have been reported. She has always had good audiences in Belgium; the real test will come when she performs at the ‘Zenith’ theatres, in Paris and elsewhere.
The setlist has included all the songs from the new album that she had performed at the April Showcase in Paris, except for ‘Je t’appelle’. Thus 14 of the 17 songs from ‘Le Secret’; perhaps she’ll add in the others during later parts of the tour. The ‘oldies’ featured the usual group (to which, for some reason, ‘Tout’ no longer belongs, ever since the ‘Un Regard Neuf’ tour), except for the inclusion of ‘Je zappé’, presumably due to its thematic connection with ‘Amourexique’. It also brought forth the extremely surprising reemergence of ‘I Will Love Again’, just in time for her two concerts in front of English speaking audiences, for whom it was her biggest hit. This seemingly replaced ‘Adagio’ as her English ‘oldie’, but perhaps both will appear before the New York and Toronto audiences.
We have videos available from the various concerts, some in high quality. For those who haven’t followed these closely on youtube, it seemed appropriate to provide links to what amounts to ‘a complete concert’. I’ve tried to choose very good examples for each of the songs - there are other choices that could have been made, at least for some of them, but I also tried to avoid using all from the same concert, to allow some of the variability in Lara’s performance and appearance to be displayed. Nevertheless, three of the shows had the highest quality videos and so were most often utilized, as is evident below. The videos are listed in order of the setlist that prevailed, but not all were presented at each concert.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1. Le Secret (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uvyEbx3rZY
2. Danse (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdRg-WviHng
3. Un ange est tombé (Namur 9-12-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofQ0gEW4zxo
4. Amourexique (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6MrQG4_Xh8
5. Que j’étais belle (Namur 9-12-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnTGanFp61Q
or with a different perspective from the same concert:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyuzeHJhBO8
6. La vie est là (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh2-BkTLuNk
7. Humana (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdHFudU4lgw
8. J’y crois encore (Lille 10-5-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-QoterhQzM
9. Deux ils, deux elles (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtOsbIX3G1I
10. Je t’aime (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3O22bzaliU
11. Il est lune (Liege (Liege 9-14-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL0r2O5BG3k
12. Putain de grand amour (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxskr0yrs7o
13. Je rêve d'une étoile (Namur 9-12-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XITOA9aDP-E
14. J’ai zappé (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x6f2fkXQC0
15. Immortelle (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=459KKTNVOqA
16. Mirage (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnSA65GOQmw
17. L’enfant du Gwenved (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_x1YwGC1TI
18. I Am A-Wa (Namur 9-12-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OP9VErSHHM
19. Mon désir (Brussels 9-21-13); first part of:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8aDbeGnZKw
20. I Will Love Again (Brussels 9-21-13)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l67PU96uuQ
--------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously we owe a great debt to the people who took their time to record these videos for us to see. While it is wonderful for those people to have them as a remembrance, taking the videos does tend to diminish the videographer’s immediate enjoyment of the shear magic that prevails at Lara’s shows. Their sacrifice is greatly appreciated!
We also thank those who take pictures of Lara at the concerts and make them available. The site ‘Lara Fabian Is Here’ has collected some 498 photos that fans have sent in. They can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151847188357417.1073741861.382393522416&type=1
In future tour related news, more venues in France have been set for next year, and Lara has now added Uzbekistan to her list of Asian countries. This is coming up pretty quickly, towards the end of October just before four Russian concerts. In addition, we know that ‘Evergig’ gets videos from the audience and makes complete concerts out of them, which they did for the Paris Showcase last April. It appears they will be doing this for Lara’s concert on January 13 in Toronto at the Sony Centre, as can be seen from the video at:
vimeo.com/76638453
One would also therefore imagine that there will be an opportunity to take videos from the audience without interference, though that presumably should be checked with the concert hall; hopefully Lara’s people have informed them.
As far as the other concert scheduled before an English speaking audience, her December date at Carnegie Hall, Rozenn Roz on the MZ FB site provided a photo from 2000 of a big wall poster that was displayed prominently in Manhattan, indicating Lara would be at Carnegie Hall in September of that year. The picture can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202137941831658&set=gm.649433358434113&type=1&theater
We know that concert did not happen; hopefully this year’s outcome will be different. My estimate is that ~54% of the seats have now been sold.
We have heard various times that Bernard Depoorter was outfitting Lara for her concert tour, and larafabianweb.com noted that he had updated his site to include additional photos of Lara. They can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/Bernard.Dp/media_set?set=a.10200822746106200.1073741840.1090074162&type=1
In these photos we can see the jacket Lara wears at the beginning of her show introducing ‘Le Secret’, with its symbol on the back; one can also see the ‘peacock cape’ that she wore in Namur (and which is included in the videos above), although perhaps in response to fans’ comments and its limitations, the dancer now sports it.
Concerning the album itself, Lara’s collector’s edition, due out October 28th is in the top 10 of ‘pre-orders’ on FNAC. Again, it can be found there at: musique.fnac.com/a6457554/Lara-Fabian-Le-secret-Edition-collector-CD-DVD-CD-album . The big lure here is the DVD, whatever it contains. The original double CD release has dropped out of the French charts, and is down to 80th position in Belgium. This is despite the occasional play given to ‘Danse’, both as a single on the radio, and the video on TV. ‘Le Secret’ is now on the charts in Canada, having entered at #140, initial sales presumably limited by the six months fans there have had to buy it from French on-line stores.
In support of the Canadian release and the four concerts, Lara will be one of the featured guests on the program ‘Access Illimite’ with Sylvain Cossette and Andrée Watters this coming Thursday, on the Canadian channel TVA. It was recorded in September. Different blurbs for it can be seen at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSP__rAgVek
and at
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151672847987073&set=vb.505036416203947&type=2&theater
There are several active polls in which one can vote for Lara. One is a poll of videos by performers who were part of Eurovision, at some point in their lives. It can be accessed at: www.eurovisionontop.com/votenow.htm
where one can vote for up to three videos. Another is being run by NRJ in Belgium, at: .It asks for you to indicate the song you are listening to these days.
In other news, Lara is once again leading the auction of ‘dolls’ in support of children’s vaccinations in Darfur; you may remember this took place in Paris last year as well. Here’s the translated message on her FB site:
------------------------------------
My angels,
I announce that for the second consecutive year, I have the honor to be the Godmother of the operation ‘Frimousses de créateurs’ [literally, creators of little faces] for UNICEF.
This event brings together the Houses of Couture and contemporary art's most prestigious artists ... They combine to create each unique doll, symbol of generosity and heart, whose inspiration this year will be drawn on the subject of ‘marvellous" Pari (s) ." [as there will be ‘betting’ (pari), i.e., auction, taking place in Paris, as well as betting on the future of the children].
These dolls will be exhibited at the Petit Palais from 26 November to 1 December, before the auction to be held on December 2 in support of vaccination programs by UNICEF for children in Darfur.
I'm really happy to be one of the "mothers" of UNICEF and lend my support to the cause of children, Love, Lara.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
On the site ‘purepeople’ (http://www.purepeople.com/article/lara-fabian-devenir-maman-fut-l-emotion-la-plus-intense-pour-moi_a129830/), Lara had the following (translated) comment: “To become a mother was the most intense emotion for me…To understand that to be there for a child can change your life instantly modifying my vision of the world…Today it is an honor to become one of the ‘mothers’ of UNICEF… A duty to measure the urgency to be there for them ... So that the lives of these children in Darfur may change, to be united is the only chance we have. To be of the family of those who will finally bring forth a new world is the most beautiful thing there is ... " The picture from the article has gotten some comment; it can be seen separately at: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152327590239896&set=a.10150465915284896.461501.7444659895&type=1&theater
On the other side of Life, Lara was listed along with other guests for a program on France 3 dedicated to helping improve the lives of the hospitalized elderly. An article concerning it can be seen at www.leparisien.fr/societe/hopitaux-bernadette-chirac-lance-l-operation-de-vie-08-10-2013-3207467.php There is no indication she was actually there, and we know that to boost interest the French press often advertises guests who have never agreed to be present (and sometimes don’t even know about the event).
Lara will be on the show "Les chansons d'abord" with Natasha St Pier on France 3, to be aired in November. And she was in the magazine ‘Feminine psycho’, with what is said to be two pages of interview and photos. One photo is available at www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200204994762361&set=gm.650623901648392&type=1&theater . She’s also on the cover, seen at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202040614074963&set=gm.650588861651896&type=1&theater
The concert tour resumes later this week in France, and over the next month will feature 16 performances, including those in Russia and Uzbekistan. Given the ban on promoting ‘alternative’ life styles in Russia, her activities concerning gay marriage will come under close scrutiny (by fans and presumably authorities alike!).
David
