Cœur de pirate Live at the El Rey Theatre
I am a rather spoilt little Blogger. It may have only have been five months ago that I last saw Béatrice - Cœur de pirate - Martin live here in LA - when along with her full touring band, she slayed the Troubadour - but when probably the greatest auteure-compositrice-interprète of her generation rolls up in town, with her full-touring band once again in-tow and is playing the venue with arguably the best acoustics - you just have to cancel all other plans for your Saturday night...
Opening the evening's proceedings were the LA-based duo Smoke Season. Comprising Gabrielle Wortman (TEMP3ST) and ex-Honor Society guitarist / keyboardist Jason Rosen, the pair have been performing together for a couple of years (file under: too much good music for one little Blog) and their Soundcloud page describes the band as "...psychedelic indie rock band creating a hazy spin on Americana..." Have to say that to these ears the combination of Jason's distinctively resonant guitar, dreamy electro-pop beats and loops alongside Gabrielle's whiskey-hued, bluesy-vocals (trust me - she can sing - in a 'crawl over broken glass to listen to' kind of way) created the most unique and addictive of sounds - one that went down a storm with the enthusiastic crowd who had gotten their early (I suspect that the discerning gig-goer does his or her homework before attending a show). They certainly left an impression on me - I managed to grab a few quick words with Gabrielle after their criminally all-to-short set - and with new music in the works, I'll be definitely writing a short piece on the pair in the (hopefully) not to distant future...
By a quirk of fate, the Highland Park duo of Bridgette Moody and John Seasons - the driving force behind Haunted Summer opened for Béatrice's first ever LA show. The pair are the most gifted purveyors of soothing and dreamy guitar-tinged electro and synth-pop and their stripped-down set helped create the most intimate and atmospheric of sets as the mesmerising beauty of Bridgette's ethereal vocals were perfectly married to the languid rhythms the pair created on the night.
To be honest, I'm not sure that I can add anything to the superlatives that have been deservedly heaped on the ridiculously talented young singer-songwriter from Montréal, except to say that the show exceeded my already high expectations.
As I'd mentioned, I've already seen Béatrice perform with her touring band and that night's set was for the most part similar to tonight's. But - even though the capacity of the El Rey is twice that of the Troubadour's - the show felt more intimate (helped by the sympathetic lighting; rose petals swirling in the air alongside white doves projected on the simple black backdrop). Béatrice seemed really at ease, the fact that "Roses" has been universally well received and probably helps and as I've hinted, the El Rey's sound and acoustics really do an artist justice. But - and let's be honest - LA aime Cœur de pirate...
The set was an inspired selection from all of her self-penned solo albums (no songs from the bande-originale "Trauma" album this time), and while "Roses" featured heavily, both her cent-pour-cent francophone albums "Blonde" and her eponymous debut album were well represented. Indeed, francophiles - not to mention expat native French speakers - would have been pleasantly pleased that more than half the set consisted of French-language compositions.
There are too many highlights here to mention (just skip to the setlist at the end or check out the video of "Adieu" to see what you missed), as she once again opened her set with the majestic and moody "Ocean's brawl." Both "Golden baby" and "Pour un infidèle" are given upbeat and uptempo treatments these songs deserve, while the band layer texture and gravitas to "C'était salement romantique" - holding the audience spellbound - before Béatrice's haunting piano bought the song to a close.
We're even treated to a cover ("...it's a Canadian artist I admire a lot - we're close friends - in my own imaginary world..." jokes Béatrice by way of an introduction before adding "... it's not a Justin Bieber song as I'm not wasted!...") of Toronto rapper Drake's "Hold on, we're going home." Half-apologising that although it's a Club song, her version is more a sad song, she then launches into the most haunting of piano ballads - to be honest it's the first time I've ever really listened to this song's lyrics - as Béatrice turns the song on its head. You may have your eyes on her, but the truth is that in her version you're only going home together in your dreams. Mr Graham, your song just got owned...
I (I suspect 'we' would be more accurate) also get a stellar rendition of my favourite Cœur de pirate song, the haunting and majestic "Place de la République." It's such a moving song and one that really needs no further explanation, but the harmonies with Béatrice and her keyboard player add a heightened poignancy... There's also a bizarre moment (for me at least) as Béatrice relays the back-story behind a song - cutting to the chase - her beau rolls up in the bar at 3 am with someone else, Béatrice gets hammered, falls asleep in a snowdrift (that's the bit she has to explain to the crowd) before being rescued by her dad. With Béatrice announcing that her rescuer is here tonight - my guess is in the VIPs - we all cheer. Cue opening bars of - yes - "Saint-Laurent' and yours truly roars appreciation (it's one of my favourite songs - I'm drawn to the darkness that underpins "Blonde") and I'm immediately tapped on the shoulder; "Are you and your wife her parents?" Now I've been asked at gigs whether I'm there chaperoning my daughter and seriously, I'm honoured. I'm certainly old enough - although worryingly I'd be a grandfather. Now I could have winged it, but Estuary-English accent would have been a giveaway, so I admit to just being a long-time fan... "Saint-Laurent" though, Quelle chanson...
Her set closes as it opened, with a track from "Roses" - the majestic "Crier tout bas" - not only my favourite song from that album but the one which arguably contains that album's most uplifting chorus. But as usual, her encore gives me goose-bumps. There's something just magical about hearing an LA crowd (although I suspect a large number of them hail originally from Québec) join in the chorus of "Comme des enfants" - "...Et il m'aime encore, et moi je t'aime un peu plus fort, Mais il m'aime encore, et moi je t'aime un peu plus fort..." However, all good things must come to an end as the show closes with "Roses'" biggest hit, "Carry on." Not before Béatrice thanks us for being here, recounting her first solo appearance at this very venue back in 2013, "I only expected 20 people to show up..." As it turned out, those twenty were joined by assorted Francophile bloggers alongside half the expat French population of LA...
It was a magnificent performance by Béatrice and her band and one that confirmed her prodigious talent and ability, as she once again had an LA crowd eating out of her hands. With her third successful show here she confirmed that there's an appreciative audience in this part of the world who'll turn up in numbers to support Francophone artists.
Hopefully more will venture here in future...
Opening the evening's proceedings were the LA-based duo Smoke Season. Comprising Gabrielle Wortman (TEMP3ST) and ex-Honor Society guitarist / keyboardist Jason Rosen, the pair have been performing together for a couple of years (file under: too much good music for one little Blog) and their Soundcloud page describes the band as "...psychedelic indie rock band creating a hazy spin on Americana..." Have to say that to these ears the combination of Jason's distinctively resonant guitar, dreamy electro-pop beats and loops alongside Gabrielle's whiskey-hued, bluesy-vocals (trust me - she can sing - in a 'crawl over broken glass to listen to' kind of way) created the most unique and addictive of sounds - one that went down a storm with the enthusiastic crowd who had gotten their early (I suspect that the discerning gig-goer does his or her homework before attending a show). They certainly left an impression on me - I managed to grab a few quick words with Gabrielle after their criminally all-to-short set - and with new music in the works, I'll be definitely writing a short piece on the pair in the (hopefully) not to distant future...
By a quirk of fate, the Highland Park duo of Bridgette Moody and John Seasons - the driving force behind Haunted Summer opened for Béatrice's first ever LA show. The pair are the most gifted purveyors of soothing and dreamy guitar-tinged electro and synth-pop and their stripped-down set helped create the most intimate and atmospheric of sets as the mesmerising beauty of Bridgette's ethereal vocals were perfectly married to the languid rhythms the pair created on the night.
As I'd mentioned, I've already seen Béatrice perform with her touring band and that night's set was for the most part similar to tonight's. But - even though the capacity of the El Rey is twice that of the Troubadour's - the show felt more intimate (helped by the sympathetic lighting; rose petals swirling in the air alongside white doves projected on the simple black backdrop). Béatrice seemed really at ease, the fact that "Roses" has been universally well received and probably helps and as I've hinted, the El Rey's sound and acoustics really do an artist justice. But - and let's be honest - LA aime Cœur de pirate...
The set was an inspired selection from all of her self-penned solo albums (no songs from the bande-originale "Trauma" album this time), and while "Roses" featured heavily, both her cent-pour-cent francophone albums "Blonde" and her eponymous debut album were well represented. Indeed, francophiles - not to mention expat native French speakers - would have been pleasantly pleased that more than half the set consisted of French-language compositions.
There are too many highlights here to mention (just skip to the setlist at the end or check out the video of "Adieu" to see what you missed), as she once again opened her set with the majestic and moody "Ocean's brawl." Both "Golden baby" and "Pour un infidèle" are given upbeat and uptempo treatments these songs deserve, while the band layer texture and gravitas to "C'était salement romantique" - holding the audience spellbound - before Béatrice's haunting piano bought the song to a close.
We're even treated to a cover ("...it's a Canadian artist I admire a lot - we're close friends - in my own imaginary world..." jokes Béatrice by way of an introduction before adding "... it's not a Justin Bieber song as I'm not wasted!...") of Toronto rapper Drake's "Hold on, we're going home." Half-apologising that although it's a Club song, her version is more a sad song, she then launches into the most haunting of piano ballads - to be honest it's the first time I've ever really listened to this song's lyrics - as Béatrice turns the song on its head. You may have your eyes on her, but the truth is that in her version you're only going home together in your dreams. Mr Graham, your song just got owned...
I (I suspect 'we' would be more accurate) also get a stellar rendition of my favourite Cœur de pirate song, the haunting and majestic "Place de la République." It's such a moving song and one that really needs no further explanation, but the harmonies with Béatrice and her keyboard player add a heightened poignancy... There's also a bizarre moment (for me at least) as Béatrice relays the back-story behind a song - cutting to the chase - her beau rolls up in the bar at 3 am with someone else, Béatrice gets hammered, falls asleep in a snowdrift (that's the bit she has to explain to the crowd) before being rescued by her dad. With Béatrice announcing that her rescuer is here tonight - my guess is in the VIPs - we all cheer. Cue opening bars of - yes - "Saint-Laurent' and yours truly roars appreciation (it's one of my favourite songs - I'm drawn to the darkness that underpins "Blonde") and I'm immediately tapped on the shoulder; "Are you and your wife her parents?" Now I've been asked at gigs whether I'm there chaperoning my daughter and seriously, I'm honoured. I'm certainly old enough - although worryingly I'd be a grandfather. Now I could have winged it, but Estuary-English accent would have been a giveaway, so I admit to just being a long-time fan... "Saint-Laurent" though, Quelle chanson...
Her set closes as it opened, with a track from "Roses" - the majestic "Crier tout bas" - not only my favourite song from that album but the one which arguably contains that album's most uplifting chorus. But as usual, her encore gives me goose-bumps. There's something just magical about hearing an LA crowd (although I suspect a large number of them hail originally from Québec) join in the chorus of "Comme des enfants" - "...Et il m'aime encore, et moi je t'aime un peu plus fort, Mais il m'aime encore, et moi je t'aime un peu plus fort..." However, all good things must come to an end as the show closes with "Roses'" biggest hit, "Carry on." Not before Béatrice thanks us for being here, recounting her first solo appearance at this very venue back in 2013, "I only expected 20 people to show up..." As it turned out, those twenty were joined by assorted Francophile bloggers alongside half the expat French population of LA...
It was a magnificent performance by Béatrice and her band and one that confirmed her prodigious talent and ability, as she once again had an LA crowd eating out of her hands. With her third successful show here she confirmed that there's an appreciative audience in this part of the world who'll turn up in numbers to support Francophone artists.
Hopefully more will venture here in future...
Setlist
- Oceans brawl
- Undone
- Golden baby
- Pour un infidèle
- C'était salement romantique
- Cast away
- Our love
- Drapeau blanc
- The climb
- Francis
- Hold on, we're going home (Drake cover)
- Place de la République
- Tu oublieras mon nom
- I don't want to break Your heart
- Saint-Laurent
- The way back home
- Ensemble
- Adieu
- Crier tout bas
- Undone
- Golden baby
- Pour un infidèle
- C'était salement romantique
- Cast away
- Our love
- Drapeau blanc
- The climb
- Francis
- Hold on, we're going home (Drake cover)
- Place de la République
- Tu oublieras mon nom
- I don't want to break Your heart
- Saint-Laurent
- The way back home
- Ensemble
- Adieu
- Crier tout bas
Encore
- Comme des enfants
- Carry on
- Carry on
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