They already know the Music… While the curious gather at the foot of the steps, where extras and technicians – some perched on the roof of the Palais for a zip line descent – rehearse their scales, just two days before the 26th NRJ Music Awards, they slowly leave the building via a more discreet exit.
We debrief, we hum the hit Don't be shywe grab the smartphone for a final souvenir photo.
Them? The hundreds of lucky people who were able to attend, yesterday afternoon, the rehearsals of Gims, nominated in the categories “French-speaking male artist” and “French-speaking collab'/duo”, with the Belgian Dystinct.
“It took a while to get going but it was really nice.”
Drawn the previous days, they disembarked at 2 p.m. “We didn’t know what to expect, or who we were going to see” smile Arthur (12 years old) and his dad Gianni (40 years old), whom they met three hours later at the exit.
So, verdict? “It took a while to get going, but it was really nice, a good atmosphere, the public was able to interact with Gims and the dancers. A great experience.”
If the former leader of the Sexion d'Assaut, by “his charisma” for Christine and “her incredible voice” for Julia and Lilou (19 years old), there is unanimous agreement, there are also many of them, like Gianni and Arthur, who wondered a little at the start…
Gims “started the fire, we forgot the wait”
“There was a lot of dancing to startconfirm Lætitia (35 years old) and Mickaël (36 years old). These are rehearsals so, at the slightest problem or misstep, we redo the entire sequence. Everything has to be square, that’s normal.”
Then Gims arrived on stage, “he set the fire, we forgot the waitAni (36 years old) and Mickaël (34 years old) laugh. It’s the first time we attended rehearsals, it was so cool.”
If they enjoyed the moment, Lætitia and Mickaël have a small downside: “It would have been great to be able to see more artists, especially when we can't attend the NRJ Music Awards evening. Last year, we were able to attend the evening rehearsals, there were more artists. “
330 Cannes residents invited for the big show
Will this be the case again this year? The other lucky ones drawn at random, who will be at the second rehearsal session open to the public this evening from 6 to 9 p.m., will tell us…
In the meantime, Julia and Lilou leave the Palace, “so happy to have seen Gims for the first time. We also tried the draw for Friday but we were not selected. Too bad…”
Indeed, 330 Cannes residents (in fact, 165 but who were able to benefit from two places each) are invited by the City to attend the big show scheduled for tomorrow evening, from 9:10 p.m., live on TF1. Tickets for the “Before NRJ Music Awards” (this evening at 8:30 p.m.) have also been distributed. Because the locals are also entitled to their quota of stars…
