A nostalgic reunion with Martine St-Clair

MISE À DAY

Martine St-Clair had arranged to meet her many fans at the Casino de Montréal on Friday for the Montreal premiere of her “Retrouvailles” tour, a show that allows her to revisit her greatest hits from the last decades. 

The energetic “Papillon”, a song born of her collaboration with Xavier Caféine, opened this reunion, before it continues with the classic “On going to love each other”, which the public was able to take up in chorus with her.

“Finally, we meet again, she exclaimed when she was warmly applauded. We have. still spent four decades together, it's not just Madonna who can celebrate 40 years of career.”

For this show, Martine St-Clair went to dig through eras and styles, going from “A very long way” to “Dance with me”.

Surrounded by four musicians and a singer, the singer, in a black suit with a sequined jacket, perfectly masters her environment. His voice is still as clear and limpid, with a sensitivity and maturity that give it even more depth. The texts of her songs take on more meaning and depth.

She even has fun making the audience sing to “I don't know what my name is anymore”, a song from her 1990 album “Caribou”.

Even though she has sung it hundreds of times, her interpretation of “Monopolis”, taken from “Starmania”, remains one of the most beautiful and the most moving that exist. The audience even gave him a well-deserved standing ovation.

Paintings by the singer dress the back of the stage, an abstract blue painting to begin with, before the painting “Tot'Aime” occupies the space, a work which gave birth to a song of the same title, written by Lucien Francoeur on music by Gilbert Montagné.

While listening to her nine albums of original songs to prepare for this show, the 60-year-old singer had the idea of ​​putting together a number of her very rhythmic songs (“Oublie-moi”, “Laisse chute”, “Désir equal danger »…) in a frenzied medley. Titles that were often heard on the radio at the time and which caused a bit of nostalgia in the public.

After a long introduction, “In the heart of the desert” retains all its freshness and her relevance with her voice that has not aged a bit.

As a tribute to Barbra Streisand, who strongly influenced her when she was very young, she then performed the magnificent “The Way We Were

Love songs seem essential to Martine St-Clair's repertoire. “I was singing about love, but when I came home, I was all alone”, she explained before singing “All the jukeboxes”, “When I fall in love”, before closing this segment with its inescapable success, “Tonight love is in your eyes”, followed by “There is love in the air”, causing greatly deserved repeated standing ovations!

The singer, who is on tour across Quebec until the fall, will be in extra on October 15, at the fifth room of Place des Arts.