FEQ: Patrick Watson works his magic

With a few notes, after a solid performance by the Spoons, Patrick Watson, like a magician, teleported the audience into a completely different universe, totally aerial and hovering.

FEQ: Patrick Watson works his magic

With a few notes, after a solid performance by the Spoons, Patrick Watson, like a magician, teleported the audience into a completely different universe, totally aerial and hovering. The likeable character gave another great performance full of magic.

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The sympathetic singer-keyboardist always manages to press the right buttons to provoke emotion and celestial moments.

In the smoke and accompanied by bassist Mishka Stein, drummer-percussionist Andrew Barr, backing vocalist Ariel Engle (La Force) and a string quartet, he launched his performance with the single Lost With You at the Parc de la Francophonie.

"Hello everyone. How are you tonight? I'm so happy to be here. This is my favorite place to play outside,” he said before Big Bird in a Small Cage with bird noises, courtesy of the Barr Brothers drummer.

The Wave, A Mermaid in Lisbon, Man Like You, written for his son, a grandiose version of Little Moments and Look at You, with its small piano notes, were of great beauty. The sound was impeccable and enveloping. Everyone was in a kind of bubble and above all in tune.

“Thank you for a magical evening, Quebec,” he said as he left the boards, after Here Comes the River.

It didn't take long for him to return to the stage and offer, with Fernie, who had performed at the start of the evening, a vibrant interpretation of Broken. Fernie lifted the audience with her almighty voice.

He continued with a superb Lighthouse, in a special atmosphere, after having asked the technicians to turn off the lights on the site. A beautiful moment. He concluded his performance with the grandiose To Build a Home by the British band The Cinematic Orchestra.

With all the services offered at this place, we can say, without being mistaken, that Patrick Watson totally masters this scenic environment. It always offers great evenings of music. Which he did again.

Full of guitars

We will say what we want. There's nothing that can beat a good rock show with sharp guitars. This is what the Texan formation Spoon offered us, yesterday, at the Parc de la Francophonie.

It's nice to pretend that rock is dead and buried deep, but there are still a lot of good bands that thrive in this niche. This is what the Spoons have been doing for more than 20 years now and this is what they did during their very first visit to Quebec.

In front of a good crowd, at the Parc de la Francophonie, the quintet from Austin (Texas), led by singer Britt Daniel, has certainly made new followers.

It must be said that the takeoff was done to break everything with Held of the Smog formation. Britt Daniel and Alex Fischel's six strings were powerful and sharp. We followed in the same atmosphere with The Devil and Mister Jones and Don't You Evah.

“Quebec City, good to see you. This is our first time here. I wonder why”, launched the singer-guitarist, who seemed surprised to see an admirer, in front of him, with a sweater of the formation.

Stating that the group often came to Montreal, he must have asked many questions when he heard the boos of some spectators.

The musical cohesion among the Spoons was total. We really like the obvious passion, as well as their contribution, which is present in keyboardist-guitarist Gerardo Larios and in the square playing of drummer Jim Eno.

The group ended their performance with a caustic version of Rent I Pay, from the album They Want My Soul. We want to see them again in Quebec.

Interesting discoveries

At the start of the evening, at dinner time, the audience was treated to some great discoveries, especially with Fernie, who, with her two musicians and her superb voice, offered beautiful musical colors. It sounded very good.

Karen Pinette Fontaine, who followed, did much the same with her Kanen project. The young woman from the Innu community of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam, on the North Shore, experienced a beautiful baptism of fire at the Summer Festival. It was haunting and promising. People listened to her. Which is not easy with a performance at 6:25 p.m. Which is definitely a good sign.

“Thank you for listening to Indigenous artists,” she said towards the end of her performance.

Accompanied by a string quartet, Basia Bulat offered a great moment, at the very end of her show, with a long version of Love is at the End of the World, from her latest album The Garden. It was a first for the Montrealer of Polish origins at the FEQ and we felt that she had a lot of fun.

A week after performing in England, Toronto's JP Saxe provided good times with his introspective love songs. He managed to get the words Fuck 'em All chanted during the 3 Minutes play.

“If you came to see me, it is because you have already been injured. You are able to do that, ”launched the 29-year-old redhead, who was performing for the very first time in the Old Capital.

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