Post by davidhr on Nov 5, 2013 11:00:08 GMT -5
Lara resumed her concert tour this past week in Russia, and she was in top form. After all the ‘Sturm und Drang’ of the previous week, it seemed as if she was highly motivated to put on good shows, and despite some problems, they were very well received. For the moment the health concerns have receded into the background, although she apparently is still ‘in treatment’. Here are some of the highlights:
**It was essentially the ‘Le Secret’ tour show, with a few modifications in view of the audience, and the desire to provide some variety with two shows in each city (St. Petersburg, Moscow). So she included a few more English language songs (I Guess I Loved You; Mademoiselle Hyde; I Will Love Again), and the Russian song (translated as ‘Love is like a dream’, on which the audience occasionally joined in)…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCl9e3yHXzg
or in another video:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202165826085468&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
The Lara Fabian Romanian site provided a link to a video of the woman (Igor Krutoi’s sister) who taught Lara to sing the song in Russian:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-RMgBrPTTA
‘Mademoiselle Hyde’ was the one link to the Mademoiselle Zhivago project which had propelled Lara’s career in Russia the last few years:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQKv7ytSkdU
**Despite the restrictions in Russia, Lara did sing ‘Deux ils, deux elles’, on November 2nd in the Kremlin:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BCIH4-FK6E
as you can see, she ended it with the comment ‘long live tolerance’. With the controversy about her cancelled Uzbekistan concert and human rights, she had to do it at least once. It turns out Patricia Kass and Mylene Farmer were also in Russia at this time, so the government had a number of French singers to worry about!
**Referring to ‘storms’ in life in general, and perhaps to her previous week as well, Lara had a wonderful discussion (as Julie Clift McGraw noted on the MZ FB site) of the meaning of the song ‘La vie est la’ (in English):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xae9k5c1is
**A highlight was her singing of ‘Je t’aime’, not in the acoustic mode that has predominated on this tour, but in the older, ‘belt it out’ fashion. The ‘Lara Fabian Romania’ site speculated that it was because the Russian houses were so big that the acoustic version wouldn’t have carried. Alternatively (or in addition) Lara may have wanted to make a statement with this iconic song. And of course, Igor Krutoi had so strongly encouraged her to use her full vocal power, what more appropriate song to do it on? At one point fans had wondered whether she was capable of singing it that way anymore – as this video shows, she certainly is:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202139284221938&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
**Lara with St. Petersburg fans:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=574572969263038&set=a.168982793155393.43222.166959643357708&type=1&theater
** And, reciprocating, the fans surprised Lara in St. Petersburg by turning on their phones to appear like ‘stars twinkling in the sky’ on her introduction to "Je rêve d'une étoile"
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=574631755923826&set=vb.166959643357708&type=2&theater
You can also see her reaction to it at the end of the video for ‘Putain de grand amour’
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202161441495856&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
Lara posted a photo of it on her Instagram site, thanking the fans with all her heart:
Lara Fabian Romania explained that the fans action had another benefit: “When Lara opens her hand and starts to send sparkles into the audience... for some reason her glove "didn't work". It didn't reflect light the way it was supposed to. We can't speak for her, of course, but I assume it must have been disappointing for Lara. Eyewitnesses report that she had been focused on her glove for a brief while, until... she looked up and realized that the whole concert hall had turned into the starry sky. The grateful audience had made the magic happen for their ÉTOILE...”
**The Russian fans produced a floral display representing the cover of ‘Le Secret’ which Lara posted:
**Another surprise (report provided by Geo Faucon on the Mademoiselle Zhivago FB site): Russian fans held up signs for Lara, which on one side had the logo of the album, while on the other was the inscription "Do not Give Up" (the song she finished with at her last concert in France, when she couldn’t continue…)
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200287722990515&set=gm.659520974092018&type=1&theater
**Lara responding to a bouquet from the first St. Petersburg concert:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=574647542582876&set=a.104315726282729.2679.103390503041918&type=1&theater
**The concerts were not without problems. The 10/30 show in St. Petersburg had a cold, drafty stage, as Lara discusses in this affecting video:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202147772154131&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
**During the 11/1 concert in Moscow, the drum fell onto the stage prior to Humana, eliciting a comment about the magic in Moscow:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202163664991442&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
**Photos from ‘Le Secret’ concerts in Russia
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.637450739611260.1073741843.127093573980315&type=1
and updated photos of the entire Le Secret tour so far:
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151847188357417.1073741861.382393522416&type=1
Other videos are available on the web, often on youtube, but see also the fans sites, and in particular
vk.com/lf_cp
which is based in St. Petersburg, and has an archive of many Lara’s videos.
In other news, a preview of the duet of “Io Canto/Je chante” with Laura Pausini can be heard at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWmgBClPFu0
The 2 CD package on which it will appear, Laura Pausini’s "20 greatest hits", is to be released on November 18. However, Lara’s site has announced that the collector’s edition of "Le Secret” will also include the new duet.
Hopefully, the new release will inspire further sales. Lara’s release in Canada has sold only 1550 copies in 5 weeks (currently 187th on the charts). Of course she’s not there to promote it, and fans have had six months to buy it as an import, but that might also indicate that she is basically not known by much of the current record buying public in that country. One wonders what that implies for her upcoming concerts there. In Belgium it is down to #120 (and still off the charts in France).
There is a new Lara Fabian fansite, from Serbia:
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianSRB
A chance to brush up on that language …
Evergig indicated on Lara’s Twitter site that they have uploaded a new version of the Paris ‘Le Secret’ concert from April 15th. It is available at:
www.evergig.com/player/775DC1E2-E738-43E3-9C46-5C28260912A2
And FNAC is sponsoring a contest in which one can win tickets for Lara’s upcoming concert at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on November 17th; see www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151940872301308&set=gm.658587387518710&type=1&theater
So Lara did manage to pull off the Russian concerts, and gained power as they went along. Concerts in these ‘countries to the east’ continue to revitalize her, despite the inherent human rights problems they sometimes present. Now she has four concerts back in France this coming week, and we’ll see whether she can maintain her enthusiasm and overcome any remaining ear problems. We can also expect the first appearance of the ‘Collector’s edition’ of ‘Le Secret’, which in addition to the duet includes an interesting DVD.
David
**It was essentially the ‘Le Secret’ tour show, with a few modifications in view of the audience, and the desire to provide some variety with two shows in each city (St. Petersburg, Moscow). So she included a few more English language songs (I Guess I Loved You; Mademoiselle Hyde; I Will Love Again), and the Russian song (translated as ‘Love is like a dream’, on which the audience occasionally joined in)…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCl9e3yHXzg
or in another video:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202165826085468&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
The Lara Fabian Romanian site provided a link to a video of the woman (Igor Krutoi’s sister) who taught Lara to sing the song in Russian:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-RMgBrPTTA
‘Mademoiselle Hyde’ was the one link to the Mademoiselle Zhivago project which had propelled Lara’s career in Russia the last few years:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQKv7ytSkdU
**Despite the restrictions in Russia, Lara did sing ‘Deux ils, deux elles’, on November 2nd in the Kremlin:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BCIH4-FK6E
as you can see, she ended it with the comment ‘long live tolerance’. With the controversy about her cancelled Uzbekistan concert and human rights, she had to do it at least once. It turns out Patricia Kass and Mylene Farmer were also in Russia at this time, so the government had a number of French singers to worry about!
**Referring to ‘storms’ in life in general, and perhaps to her previous week as well, Lara had a wonderful discussion (as Julie Clift McGraw noted on the MZ FB site) of the meaning of the song ‘La vie est la’ (in English):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xae9k5c1is
**A highlight was her singing of ‘Je t’aime’, not in the acoustic mode that has predominated on this tour, but in the older, ‘belt it out’ fashion. The ‘Lara Fabian Romania’ site speculated that it was because the Russian houses were so big that the acoustic version wouldn’t have carried. Alternatively (or in addition) Lara may have wanted to make a statement with this iconic song. And of course, Igor Krutoi had so strongly encouraged her to use her full vocal power, what more appropriate song to do it on? At one point fans had wondered whether she was capable of singing it that way anymore – as this video shows, she certainly is:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202139284221938&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
**Lara with St. Petersburg fans:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=574572969263038&set=a.168982793155393.43222.166959643357708&type=1&theater
** And, reciprocating, the fans surprised Lara in St. Petersburg by turning on their phones to appear like ‘stars twinkling in the sky’ on her introduction to "Je rêve d'une étoile"
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=574631755923826&set=vb.166959643357708&type=2&theater
You can also see her reaction to it at the end of the video for ‘Putain de grand amour’
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202161441495856&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
Lara posted a photo of it on her Instagram site, thanking the fans with all her heart:
http://instagram.com/p/gD9kadh83c
Lara Fabian Romania explained that the fans action had another benefit: “When Lara opens her hand and starts to send sparkles into the audience... for some reason her glove "didn't work". It didn't reflect light the way it was supposed to. We can't speak for her, of course, but I assume it must have been disappointing for Lara. Eyewitnesses report that she had been focused on her glove for a brief while, until... she looked up and realized that the whole concert hall had turned into the starry sky. The grateful audience had made the magic happen for their ÉTOILE...”
**The Russian fans produced a floral display representing the cover of ‘Le Secret’ which Lara posted:
http://instagram.com/p/gGcMTsh816
**Another surprise (report provided by Geo Faucon on the Mademoiselle Zhivago FB site): Russian fans held up signs for Lara, which on one side had the logo of the album, while on the other was the inscription "Do not Give Up" (the song she finished with at her last concert in France, when she couldn’t continue…)
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200287722990515&set=gm.659520974092018&type=1&theater
**Lara responding to a bouquet from the first St. Petersburg concert:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=574647542582876&set=a.104315726282729.2679.103390503041918&type=1&theater
**The concerts were not without problems. The 10/30 show in St. Petersburg had a cold, drafty stage, as Lara discusses in this affecting video:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202147772154131&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
**During the 11/1 concert in Moscow, the drum fell onto the stage prior to Humana, eliciting a comment about the magic in Moscow:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202163664991442&set=vb.127093573980315&type=2&theater
**Photos from ‘Le Secret’ concerts in Russia
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.637450739611260.1073741843.127093573980315&type=1
and updated photos of the entire Le Secret tour so far:
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151847188357417.1073741861.382393522416&type=1
Other videos are available on the web, often on youtube, but see also the fans sites, and in particular
vk.com/lf_cp
which is based in St. Petersburg, and has an archive of many Lara’s videos.
In other news, a preview of the duet of “Io Canto/Je chante” with Laura Pausini can be heard at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWmgBClPFu0
The 2 CD package on which it will appear, Laura Pausini’s "20 greatest hits", is to be released on November 18. However, Lara’s site has announced that the collector’s edition of "Le Secret” will also include the new duet.
Hopefully, the new release will inspire further sales. Lara’s release in Canada has sold only 1550 copies in 5 weeks (currently 187th on the charts). Of course she’s not there to promote it, and fans have had six months to buy it as an import, but that might also indicate that she is basically not known by much of the current record buying public in that country. One wonders what that implies for her upcoming concerts there. In Belgium it is down to #120 (and still off the charts in France).
There is a new Lara Fabian fansite, from Serbia:
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianSRB
A chance to brush up on that language
…Evergig indicated on Lara’s Twitter site that they have uploaded a new version of the Paris ‘Le Secret’ concert from April 15th. It is available at:
www.evergig.com/player/775DC1E2-E738-43E3-9C46-5C28260912A2
And FNAC is sponsoring a contest in which one can win tickets for Lara’s upcoming concert at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on November 17th; see www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151940872301308&set=gm.658587387518710&type=1&theater
So Lara did manage to pull off the Russian concerts, and gained power as they went along. Concerts in these ‘countries to the east’ continue to revitalize her, despite the inherent human rights problems they sometimes present. Now she has four concerts back in France this coming week, and we’ll see whether she can maintain her enthusiasm and overcome any remaining ear problems. We can also expect the first appearance of the ‘Collector’s edition’ of ‘Le Secret’, which in addition to the duet includes an interesting DVD.
David
