In the wake of the excellent reception given to his latest album,
Grand Prix
, released last June, Benjamin Biolay told us he was ready to hit the road again.
He had even already assembled the group that would accompany him, combining for the first time the talents of his two favorite guitarists, Philippe Almosnino and Pierre Jaconelli.
The successive decisions of the government, and the absence of a clear cultural policy in these troubled times have got the better of the tour which, it is hoped, will take place as soon as possible.
Rather than chomping at the bit, Biolay decided to put on a private concert, filmed at Ferber studios.
It is in this temple of music, in the twentieth arrondissement of Paris, studio A, that the singer and his acolytes delivered a set consistent with what we should have heard in the theaters.
Pop love
In the production, François Goetghebeur, used to live recordings, is at the service of the music, far from close-ups like “Taratata”.
Concentrated, Biolay keeps a close eye on the musicians' interventions, even if his face opens up during the performance.
Oddly enough, the bass player-less setup forces Almosnino - one of the best guitarists in this country - to hold the bass on many tracks.
Would Benjamin Biolay have lost the number of the superb Nicolas Fizsman, who held this role for a long time with him?
On keyboards, Johan Dalgaard takes up the sounds of
Grand Prix
and Philippe Entressangle lends his dry strike to the more rock inflections of the songs on this disc.
It is this repertoire that Benjamin Biolay defends as a priority, mixing his new songs with standards from his repertoire (
Les cerfs-volants, Ton heritage, La superbe
).
The theme of Formula 1 is present through the outfits of the musicians, dressed in mechanics' overalls, while the album cover sits behind them.
Dressed in civilian clothes, Biolay, a great lover of women, invites three of them to share the microphone with him: Adélaïde, from Therapy Taxi, which we could have largely done without, and especially Jeanne Cherhal on
Brandt-Rhapsodie
, and Chiara Mastroianni the time of
Pale face
.
The whole, very fluid, makes you regret even more to be deprived of this type of concert for an indefinite period: the
Grand Prix
titles
are indeed perfectly suited for the stage.
And Biolay is more vocal than ever on this repertoire which suits him like a glove.
Never since
La superbe
, which made it known to the general public in 2009, has an album corresponded so much to the soul of its author, who has drawn on the side of his love of pop and rock the inflections which show that it has long outpaced the competition in this area.
In one hour, he delivers a precise and inspired moment, which the absence of an audience unfortunately makes a little too cold in places.
Note that this electrifying concert is followed by a documentary (“Court-circuit”) on the singer's passion for motorsport.