It was Lana Del Rey’s night on Saturday, at the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ). The one that many people were waiting for. The Californian was fantastic.
About twenty minutes late (so that the audience was at the right level of anticipation), Lana Del Rey came on stage on a vaporous introduction that led to a shortened version of the superb A
Young and Beautiful followed, the songs (and cries) of the festival-goers accompanying the sweet voice of the American.
Dressed in a majestic white dress adorned with pearls and flowers, true to her aesthetic, the singer made sure that her huge train became a scenic element, floating behind her to the back of the stage. The whole staging of the show was fantastic, evolving. For Bartender, she sat in front of a vanity, while her dancers undid her bun to let her hair fall over her shoulders.
Throughout the performance, by means of props and with the help of her four dancers, she maintained a theatricality that breathed new and captivating life into her soulful songs.
Then came Cherry, Pretty When You Cry (which she sang lying down on stage), then Ride. Del Rey drew on all of his repertoire for this show, which took us back to the days of Born To Die, his self-titled album, and Lust for Life, but also brought his most recent tracks to the stage.
By presenting shortened versions of certain songs (like Born To Die, right after), the singer-songwriter put on a generous show where a lot of ground was covered. Super fans, right in front of us, completely ecstatic every time a song started, perfectly showed the feeling in the crowd. At the time of Arcadia, when tens of thousands of “stars” lit up on the Plains (thanks to cellphones from festival-goers), the singer seemed moved and then thanked her audience for the magical moment.
Just before White Mustang, she took to the floor to talk to her fans, hug them, take selfies and collect some goodies for a long time. But before reaching the crowd… she fell to the ground. “It wouldn’t be a show if I didn’t fall,” she quipped, self-deprecating, her knee stained with mud and blood from her fall.
The evening ended well after 11 p.m., with Venice Bitch, Diet Mountain Dew, the ever-popular Summertime Sadness, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard and, finally, the ultra-popular Video Games.
“This is probably the biggest show we’ve played in a year,” Lana Del Rey told the many tens of thousands of people in front of her, touched and impressed, at the very end of her concert, before going upstairs. on a swing for the last song of the evening, Video Games. “Thank you for having me home during the days. »
It was a hovering and beautiful moment. Thanks to Lana Del Rey.
The Canadian Allan Rayman, from 7 p.m., was impeccable. This fanatic with an energy as mysterious as it is captivating took advantage of the three quarters of an hour allotted to him to string together his songs with a catchy groove, sometimes explosive rhythms, often dark and languorous.
“I’m not the most eloquent, I’m the best singer,” the introverted singer told the crowd chanting his name, clearly charmed by his pretty raspy voice, charisma, and quirky yet endearing presence. .
If he did not speak much to his audience, Allan Rayman gave everything on stage (without being very demonstrative, he clearly expresses his pleasure to share this moment). A first part of high caliber.
The War on Drugs didn’t fall short either.
It only took one song (Oceans of Darkness) to remind us why this band never disappoints us. Surrounded by his acolytes, a purple tie-dye t-shirt on his back, sunglasses on his nose, point guard Adam Granduciel kept alive the hovering atmosphere that Allan Rayman had installed (and that Lana Del Rey made continue afterwards).
On tour since the release of its album I Don’t Live Here Anymore in 2021, the American formation stopped in Montreal on Friday and immediately went to Quebec then for the evening of Saturday.
Solid on the instrumental side, the experienced group gave the kind of performance that testifies to a well-stocked repertoire and an ease on stage that only years can give. A simple production kept all the attention on his alternative music which sometimes flirts gently with pop.
The FEQ, this year, has to deal with various postponements and cancellations, for all sorts of reasons. Fortunately, none of the artists of the Saturday evening had to withdraw. Unfortunately, this will be the case on Sunday, since Patrice Michaud had to cancel his presence for health reasons.
