ATS
Nearly six years after his last concert, the French singer Renaud proved Tuesday evening in Avignon that the scene was still “in his strings”. It was the first date of a tour that will include around forty until July, including several in Paris.
For an hour and a half, the 70-year-old popular singer performed some of his greatest classics, from “Morgane de toi” to “Dès que le vent will soufflera” via the essential “Mistral winner” or even “knocked up”.
“You always prefer the old ones,” he says, a shy little smile on his lips, after singing “When are we going where?” in front of the 600 spectators who face him in this old historic cinema in the city center of Avignon, rehabilitated since July in a theater.
Accompanied on the piano by his friend Alain Lanty, an accordionist and an ensemble of string instruments, Renaud delighted his fans by plunging back into a repertoire rarely performed live in recent years, like ” Adieu Minette”, a song from her second album “Laisse Béton” (1977) or even “Son bleu”, which dates from 1994.
Benevolent public
“I am moved. I saw him twenty years ago in Grenoble. He was singing just in key, rhythm, lyrics. Today, he is a little broken, but he still speaks just and he still has a hard-on, ”commented Christian Jacques, 64, who made the trip from Uzès, in the Gard.
“It’s a more intimate show, really different from what we’ve seen before,” said Manon Prigent, 32, who came specially from Brest.
In an elegant and sober scenography giving pride of place to the play of light, the singer delivered a show all in nostalgia, carried by a benevolent public, from which regularly burst out “Renaud, we love you” or “this n ‘is not serious’, when he seemed to apologize in a tone of voice sometimes unsteady
ATS