Coeur de Pirate at Massey Hall

Mark Sullivan writes:

Massey Hall, Canada’s most prestigious music venue (in Toronto), which dates from 1894, hosted Coeur de Pirate on 31 May 2014. A 28-minute film of highlights of her concert has now been released on-line.

Any one who doubts that Béatrice Martin is the supreme writer and performer of popular music in her generation should look at this. Shot in black-and-white from several angles, and with perfect acoustic recording, this film takes us far beyond the thousands of amateur recordings of CdP that crowd Youtube. As amateur filming was not permitted, this is a unique record of a completely professional performance, with elegant bilingual introductions. It is so good that one can only hope that the full concert, which must have included as many songs again, will be issued on DVD.

There is a voice-over by Béatrice at the start, and the audience is seen entering over the sound of the first track. The songs shown are

Le Long de large
Francis
Ensemble
Golden Baby
Adieu
Place de la République
Comme les Enfants
Berceuse is played over the closing credits.

It is notable that (as the credits show) Coeur de Pirate has kept all four of her band for the whole six years of her career so far – Renaud Bastien, rhythm guitar (her lead musician), Emmanuel Éthier, lead guitar, Alexandre Gauthier, bass, and Julien Blais, drums. No wonder the quality is so high.

Written by guuzbourg

French girls, singing. No, sighing. Making me sigh. Ah.

This article has 2 comments

  1. marksl

    Coeur de Pirate’s Massey Hall concert was well-reviewed in the on-line Toronto Aesthetic Magazine on 1 June 2014. See
    http://aestheticmagazinetoronto.com/2014/06/01/concert-review-photos-coeur-de-pirate-bry-webb-massey-hall/

    It turns out that Béatrice sang some of her as-yet unreleased English-language songs which are awaited on her third album. To quote from the Toronto Aesthetic Magazine’s review:
    “The audience was mostly in complete awe of the far-reaching depths of her sound when she shared her newest Anglophone material. The sweet, chilling and serene ballads showcased yet another facet to Martin’s extensive repertoire of talents.”
    At the Massey Hall concert, and at a private concert in Montreal just before Christmas 2014, the only other occasion when she has revealed any of them, filming and recording by the audience was not allowed. And they have been carefully not included in the ‘Live at Massey Hall’ film. The world awaits these songs with expectation!