You have to walk straight ahead, sings Karl Tremblay, and that’s what the Cowboys Fringants are doing this summer, despite the uncertainty, despite the growing concern, despite the canceled shows. They are not alone in standing up: thousands and thousands of people came to hear them – support them too – on Thursday at the International Balloon Festival of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
When younger, the Cowboys Fringants were happily drooling. They have not mellowed so much over the years, even if they have gained in nuance. The fact remains that you have to have the front to launch a concert with Ici-bas, a piece in which Karl Tremblay sings that despite the death which “sooner or later will mow us down”, he “clings to his feet here below”, while everyone knows how worrying his state of health is.
His lover, Marie-Annick Lépine, pointed this out on Facebook on Tuesday. Apologizing for the few concerts canceled to allow the singer to follow his cancer treatments, she said how difficult the situation was. “Hope is the only thing we have left,” she wrote. The hope that a treatment will work and can give time and a good quality of life to my lover. »
We understand that they all adapt from day to day. In the middle of the concert, the four of them sat on stage, in solidarity, so that he could rest “his old legs”.
“You came to hear us sing, not to see us dance”, justified Karl Tremblay, announcing that the group would take the opportunity to play old tunes. The Cowboys played Toune d’Automne – at the request of a fan, it seems. Then, Léopold, a song rarely played. We suspected it, but it was also at this time that the group sang On my shoulder, which the huge crowd sang with emotion. And when the singer shouted “together, we’re not afraid of anything”, he was applauded heartily.
The Cowboys Fringants repeat how grateful they are to perform in front of such crowds after 25 years of music. They are right: what they live is exceptional, because what they have built is exceptional. No group has marked the history of song in Quebec like the Repentigny band. We could line up tons of numbers to prove it. It would be convincing, but it would also miss the point.
The main thing is what we saw again on Thursday in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu: a group that knows how to talk to its people. Who knew how to find, album after album, a way both direct and poetic to evoke his happiness and his little miseries, his shortcomings and his ordinary greatness, his aspirations and his worries. In words chosen by Jean-François Pauzé, one of the rare songwriters who looks at what is happening around him and not only in him, then embodied by his companion from the first day, Karl Tremblay.
Songs where everyone recognizes themselves and recognizes their neighbors. Where humor sometimes seeks to defuse despair. Where hard facts are diluted in denial, because you still have to get up tomorrow and continue on your way. Where the gaze on the world is never complacent, but often full of empathy. A rare balance, a way to keep your head in your heart.
A few days after the metal giants passed through the Olympic Stadium, Karl Tremblay and the others sang part of the song Enter Sandman, once again accompanied by the crowd. The atmosphere was particularly festive during As long as there will be love where children – those of the members of the group, we guess – joined them on stage.
Yes, times are tough for the Cowboys Fringants. Yes, the audience was well aware of that on Thursday. Yes, a good part of Quebec is worried about the big guy who has made them sing, laugh and cry for 25 years. Karl Tremblay keeps his head up, smiles and continues to nurture hope. His and that of thousands of people.
The huge party with friends ended with The Shooting Stars, a song that reminds us, if need be, that the Cowboys are eternal.
