Post by davidhr on Jun 3, 2014 9:22:45 GMT -5
This morning, Lara’s FB site finally got around to acknowledging her upcoming concert tour, with the following (posted in English):
-----------------------------------------------------
Just Announced: Lara Fabian @ Kuppelsaal in Hannover, Germany [https://apps.facebook.com/concertsbybit/facebook/events/8233162/rsvp?artist=Lara+Fabian&came_from=123]
Friday, October 10, 2014 at 8:00PM
More Tour Dates: Click Here (her FB Concert tour link) [https://www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial?sk=app_123966167614127]
------------------------------------------------------
Although the ‘just announced’ was really more than a month ago (as indicated on her own URL site), it is good to see a public FB acknowledgement! There were a few more stories in the French press about these upcoming fall concerts in Europe (e.g., mfmradio.fr/musique/people/8248/lara-fabian-de-retour-sur-scne), and perhaps the weight of all this information becoming so public became too heavy to bear in silence. Or perhaps no one had been ‘minding the store’. And despite its English posting, the response on her site and others was just what she probably wanted to avoid, fans asking why France and Belgium weren’t on the list (especially for the locales whose concerts were said to have been ‘postponed’, not cancelled). So far, no reply - but she could at least mention that the concert halls had been booked in advance. In any event, the succinct admission is the final indicator that Lara feels healthy enough to publicize these upcoming events, including the New Wave festival in Latvia in late July. (Ironically, after being the only upcoming event shown during the last month, her Barclay Center appearance in Brooklyn, N.Y. next January has now dropped off the tour schedule; again, one doesn’t know whether this was intentional or not).
Another indication of her health: according to the MZ FB site, Lara has been away in Rome, as well as other places, and there’s a photo purportedly from Rome to prove it, at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203205156561170&set=gm.787891461254968&type=1&theater
According to Alexandra Chartier on that same site, Lara has been to: Paris, St. Malo, Sicily, Belgium, Paris, Belgium and Rome (where she may still be). Presumably at least part of this is vacation. If true her hearing must already be back to normal, for if not, all that flying would certainly be deleterious. So, further good news (if true)!
With this 'return to health' in mind, the station TF1 is having an homage to Grégory Lemarchal on June 11th at the Zenith in Paris, and there’s been speculation about whether Lara is going to be there. Her participation has not been announced, and one thought is that since her ‘postponed’ concerts extended through June 15, she would want to stay out of sight at least through that period. Whether that calculation even entered her mind, her presence would seem highly unlikely in any event; in addition to her not having sung live in five months, you may remember Lara did not appear on the big TV homage to him shortly after his death, preferring, as she said, to mourn his loss in private.
Still operating in their 'retrospective' mode, a number of the fan sites have posted some beautiful pictures of Lara. In particular, if you haven’t seen it, check out from the Lara Fabian-PHQ site, the three available at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=473382332808445&set=pcb.473382449475100&type=1&theater
and also at:
i3.cn.cz/1401282585_LARAFABIAN%283%29.jpg
And continuing our review of other fan sites, another one for Lara is ‘Entre nous et Lara’, at:
www.facebook.com/pages/Entre-nous-et-Lara/681140921936421
It says (in French) it is dedicated “to sharing photos, video, games and discussion between fans.” It is certainly kept up to date, and appears to have a lot of energy behind it.
Now for the next three ‘best of’ videos:
Llora: app.box.com/s/rfif7g1qdbo8x0meh4sl
Lou: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_-mWTQMeRY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6PKexalw-E
Love by Grace: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HR3YYUhq1A
app.box.com/s/drhqsar0n29msm8vnpvk
Much has been said about how Lara failed to capitalize on the Mme. Zhivago movie, essentially throwing away a wonderful acting performance that could have changed her relationship with the French media and public. But not as much publicity has gone to how she also, basically, threw away the Mme. Zhivago CD and the wonderful songs therein. Yes she did release a somewhat abbreviated version of it in France, but even then her only focus was on the additional song, ‘Je t’aime encore’. Somehow she got caught up in the concept that Igor Krutoi’s music was too ‘old-fashioned’ for France and Belgium, and so the wonderful, powerful ballads included on the CD were never exploited. ‘Llora’ falls in this category, one of the best, most moving songs Lara has ever done, with a theme that she could have gotten behind. Powerful ballads never get ‘old’ (see the career of Josh Groban, among many others), but it is so far off Lara’s radar screen that one would be shocked to hear her perform it in concert. Thus we have very few live performances – the version chosen is the lip-synced one from the Moscow MZ TV concert. There are a number of others of similar quality, though perhaps not in as grandiose a setting. As to whether she could really sing this song live, we have an example, a bit incomplete, from Chelyabinsk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36xkNmuicjE) that indicates she could have. ‘Llora’ should rank up with the best of Lara’s songs; instead, it will probably not be remembered.
‘Lou’, also from the MZ album, could have suffered the same fate except for its celebration of her daughter, and of giving birth. So in this case we have a number of live performances; the ones chosen here are, first from one of the Moscow shows, and it features Igor Krutoi actually playing the piano rather than pretending to; and then from the Paris showcase, for its close-up naturalness. Excellent videos also exist from Donetsk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Gxk-HD6gI), and Kiev (https://app.box.com/s/w3a61zu6j6txkp1q8nty), among others.
‘Love by Grace’ was as big a hit as ‘I Will Love Again’ in Brazil and some other countries, but it has inexplicably fallen out of Lara’s repertoire. The first version chosen here, for its video and vocal quality, is from the live PBS show, while the second is from one of her resounding performances of it in Brazil, during Lara’s only sojourn there.
[BTW, it’s come to my attention that one of the chosen videos from a past Update is no longer available on youtube; if you haven’t already seen it, here’s a substitute version for ‘L’homme qui n’avait pas des maison’ from ‘Un regard neuf’:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgEPe16RSA0].
Usually as summer approaches, one can expect less and less news, with Lara and her people on vacation. But if she truly has healed, that tendency might be counteracted by her feeling freed from her recuperation, and being more willing to publicly engage. We’ll see in the coming weeks…
David
-----------------------------------------------------
Just Announced: Lara Fabian @ Kuppelsaal in Hannover, Germany [https://apps.facebook.com/concertsbybit/facebook/events/8233162/rsvp?artist=Lara+Fabian&came_from=123]
Friday, October 10, 2014 at 8:00PM
More Tour Dates: Click Here (her FB Concert tour link) [https://www.facebook.com/larafabianofficial?sk=app_123966167614127]
------------------------------------------------------
Although the ‘just announced’ was really more than a month ago (as indicated on her own URL site), it is good to see a public FB acknowledgement! There were a few more stories in the French press about these upcoming fall concerts in Europe (e.g., mfmradio.fr/musique/people/8248/lara-fabian-de-retour-sur-scne), and perhaps the weight of all this information becoming so public became too heavy to bear in silence. Or perhaps no one had been ‘minding the store’. And despite its English posting, the response on her site and others was just what she probably wanted to avoid, fans asking why France and Belgium weren’t on the list (especially for the locales whose concerts were said to have been ‘postponed’, not cancelled). So far, no reply - but she could at least mention that the concert halls had been booked in advance. In any event, the succinct admission is the final indicator that Lara feels healthy enough to publicize these upcoming events, including the New Wave festival in Latvia in late July. (Ironically, after being the only upcoming event shown during the last month, her Barclay Center appearance in Brooklyn, N.Y. next January has now dropped off the tour schedule; again, one doesn’t know whether this was intentional or not).
Another indication of her health: according to the MZ FB site, Lara has been away in Rome, as well as other places, and there’s a photo purportedly from Rome to prove it, at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203205156561170&set=gm.787891461254968&type=1&theater
According to Alexandra Chartier on that same site, Lara has been to: Paris, St. Malo, Sicily, Belgium, Paris, Belgium and Rome (where she may still be). Presumably at least part of this is vacation. If true her hearing must already be back to normal, for if not, all that flying would certainly be deleterious. So, further good news (if true)!
With this 'return to health' in mind, the station TF1 is having an homage to Grégory Lemarchal on June 11th at the Zenith in Paris, and there’s been speculation about whether Lara is going to be there. Her participation has not been announced, and one thought is that since her ‘postponed’ concerts extended through June 15, she would want to stay out of sight at least through that period. Whether that calculation even entered her mind, her presence would seem highly unlikely in any event; in addition to her not having sung live in five months, you may remember Lara did not appear on the big TV homage to him shortly after his death, preferring, as she said, to mourn his loss in private.
Still operating in their 'retrospective' mode, a number of the fan sites have posted some beautiful pictures of Lara. In particular, if you haven’t seen it, check out from the Lara Fabian-PHQ site, the three available at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=473382332808445&set=pcb.473382449475100&type=1&theater
and also at:
i3.cn.cz/1401282585_LARAFABIAN%283%29.jpg
And continuing our review of other fan sites, another one for Lara is ‘Entre nous et Lara’, at:
www.facebook.com/pages/Entre-nous-et-Lara/681140921936421
It says (in French) it is dedicated “to sharing photos, video, games and discussion between fans.” It is certainly kept up to date, and appears to have a lot of energy behind it.
Now for the next three ‘best of’ videos:
Llora: app.box.com/s/rfif7g1qdbo8x0meh4sl
Lou: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_-mWTQMeRY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6PKexalw-E
Love by Grace: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HR3YYUhq1A
app.box.com/s/drhqsar0n29msm8vnpvk
Much has been said about how Lara failed to capitalize on the Mme. Zhivago movie, essentially throwing away a wonderful acting performance that could have changed her relationship with the French media and public. But not as much publicity has gone to how she also, basically, threw away the Mme. Zhivago CD and the wonderful songs therein. Yes she did release a somewhat abbreviated version of it in France, but even then her only focus was on the additional song, ‘Je t’aime encore’. Somehow she got caught up in the concept that Igor Krutoi’s music was too ‘old-fashioned’ for France and Belgium, and so the wonderful, powerful ballads included on the CD were never exploited. ‘Llora’ falls in this category, one of the best, most moving songs Lara has ever done, with a theme that she could have gotten behind. Powerful ballads never get ‘old’ (see the career of Josh Groban, among many others), but it is so far off Lara’s radar screen that one would be shocked to hear her perform it in concert. Thus we have very few live performances – the version chosen is the lip-synced one from the Moscow MZ TV concert. There are a number of others of similar quality, though perhaps not in as grandiose a setting. As to whether she could really sing this song live, we have an example, a bit incomplete, from Chelyabinsk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36xkNmuicjE) that indicates she could have. ‘Llora’ should rank up with the best of Lara’s songs; instead, it will probably not be remembered.
‘Lou’, also from the MZ album, could have suffered the same fate except for its celebration of her daughter, and of giving birth. So in this case we have a number of live performances; the ones chosen here are, first from one of the Moscow shows, and it features Igor Krutoi actually playing the piano rather than pretending to; and then from the Paris showcase, for its close-up naturalness. Excellent videos also exist from Donetsk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Gxk-HD6gI), and Kiev (https://app.box.com/s/w3a61zu6j6txkp1q8nty), among others.
‘Love by Grace’ was as big a hit as ‘I Will Love Again’ in Brazil and some other countries, but it has inexplicably fallen out of Lara’s repertoire. The first version chosen here, for its video and vocal quality, is from the live PBS show, while the second is from one of her resounding performances of it in Brazil, during Lara’s only sojourn there.
[BTW, it’s come to my attention that one of the chosen videos from a past Update is no longer available on youtube; if you haven’t already seen it, here’s a substitute version for ‘L’homme qui n’avait pas des maison’ from ‘Un regard neuf’:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgEPe16RSA0].
Usually as summer approaches, one can expect less and less news, with Lara and her people on vacation. But if she truly has healed, that tendency might be counteracted by her feeling freed from her recuperation, and being more willing to publicly engage. We’ll see in the coming weeks…
David
