THE DISH STILL BEING SERVED PLENTIFUL (Eat It While You Still Can !!)
The gig of the Parisians started out in a cosy and nonchalant way like some sort of musical variety show with a humorous touch - French could call it 'vaudeville' - which fitted well the surroundings. Gradually the pace and intensity went upwards and swinging rock came replacing the musette and acoustic 'chansons' until after the first encore LNV switched back again elegantly to a splendid listening moment.
Already they had played far more than an hour then. As from 'Hey Maria' the performance had come at full steam, 'L'Homme Des Marais' was enchanting and 'La Danse Des Négresses Vertes' created a little bit of madness. Drum and bass - and shortly even harmonica - went firmly into rockabilly modus on 'Père Magloire' and 'Marcelle Ratafia' and the electric guitar in 'Les Yeux De Ton Père' really 'clashed'. Guitarist Mellino teased the Bruges audience to oversound Brussels in chanting on 'Les Rablablas', an uptempo booster with two acoustic guitars and ingenious word play, as often. More acoustic guitars during the rousing 'Zobi' with trombone player Sirinix at vocals. Mellino regularly tried to get the public into the music with hand-clapping, the expressive Sirinix wanted them to sing along on 'Hey Maria' or 'Zobi' ("Où sont les filles?") and Paulus searched for Marcel(le) among the crowd.
Clenched fist
Enthusiasm and joy - with lots of instrument changes - still are main ingredients of this legendary band but it's the trumpet and the trombone that keep the party going. The accordionist who plays the organ as well as the keytar.
"It's the trumpet and the trombone that keep the party going"
The mysterious sound colour of raï music as in 'Orane' and 'Face A La Mer', the rumba flamenco fingerpicking and rythms of Stefane Mellino, the ska moment and even the elektro-mix in the finishing 'Bodega'. It's all part of this versatile band, once even double as big in number. But even back then it was already more "du bordel organisé" than one might've guessed, the lead guitarist said in a recent interview on a Brussels radio.
At the end an impressive punk solo version of '200 Ans De Hypocrisie' threw some great electric charge in the air but also the clenched fist. Overall there were lots of people present friday evening, young and old, and as diverse as the band(s). Maybe a little too casual to go into ecstasy. But for a free city festival on a lovely summer evening they had the ideal act in front of them! Almost two hours long...
At the end an impressive punk solo version of '200 Ans De Hypocrisie' threw some great electric charge in the air but also the clenched fist. Overall there were lots of people present friday evening, young and old, and as diverse as the band(s). Maybe a little too casual to go into ecstasy. But for a free city festival on a lovely summer evening they had the ideal act in front of them! Almost two hours long...
Setlist: La Valse/ C'est Pas La Mer À Boire/ Voilà l'Été/ La
Faim Des Haricots/ Orane/ Hey Maria/ L'Homme Des Marais/La Danse Des Négresses
Vertes/ Il/ Le Père Magloire/ Marcelle Ratafia/ Les Yeux De Ton Père/ Les
Rablablas, Les Roubliblis/ Zobi La Mouche
Encore 1: Face À La Mer /Hasta Llegar/ Famille Nombreuse/ Les Mégots/ 200 Ans De Hypocrisie
LNV Box
Early 2018, at the start of the Mlah-Tour, Les Négresses Vertes carefully fixed some forty dates as the band had been out of performing together since 2002. But the renewed band's already on the road now for their second consecutive festival summer and will in 2020 reach, at least, hundred and twenty gigs since the recent restart. So one can say the Mlah tour is a genuine succes while the demand still keeps coming from all around.
