For the first time since its creation in 1991, The Show you Refuge was presented without Dan Bigras as host. “I quit because I was just no longer capable,” the singer told Journal on this event which he carried at arm’s length and which is now managed by Louis-Jean Cormier.
In 2022, Dan Bigras announced that he was leaving The Show you Refuge. The 32e edition that he hosted that fall had been his last. After a year’s hiatus, the popular event returned on December 5 with a new spokesperson in Cormier.
“Louis-Jean is the best they could find,” says Dan Bigras. Not only is he an extraordinary musician, but he is a unifier. It doesn’t take anything else. Plus, he’s an articulate guy when he talks. He’s a brilliant guy. I’m really, really happy.”
«The big machine»
From a small benefit event that he set up to help the Youth Refuge in 1991, The Refuge Show has grown in size over the years.
“The machine has grown,” notes Dan Bigras. The rest of us paid ourselves with the door. When I saw that the room was too full, we went elsewhere. […] When you make the machine bigger, it brings a lot more money to the Refuge, but it means a lot more people to manage and a lot more responsibility.”
Very involved in all aspects of the organization, the singer had difficulty delegating, he admits. “When you have a house of cards, you are afraid Estonia to draw a card. It’s not pride. I found this show a bit magical, without really knowing why.
“Every year there was magic and I didn’t want to touch anything. Except I got exhausted. I burned out long before I quit. If I had been wiser, I would have stopped years ago.”
Tribute to Gerry
The Refuge Show now behind him, Dan Bigras focuses on his new project: the show This voice: Dan and Gerry, our story. “Gerry Boulet changed my life,” he says in all seriousness.
From January, Dan Bigras will embark on this tribute tour which will mix pieces by Gerry with those from his own repertoire. He took on the challenge of bringing the legendary singer back on stage with him and his musicians.
Poster for the Dan Bigras show in tribute to Gerry Boulet
Photo provided by Rugicomm
“There is a screen behind us that is almost the size of the stage,” says Dan Bigras. When Gerry sings, we see him, we hear him. The rest of us play with him. In the studio, I arranged to synchronize the music that we are going to make with him.
Dan Bigras has a vivid memory of a night in a brasserie in Longueuil, where Gerry Boulet came to see him play, unexpectedly. The two had performed together on stage until five in the morning. “I have the impression that without realizing it, I perhaps wanted to recreate this show that we had done together, but with a real stagereal lighting, real big sound.”
The show This voice: Dan and Gerry, our story will be presented in Montreal (Espace St-Denis, January 10 and 11, 2025) and Quebec (Salle Albert-Rousseau, January 18). For all dates: danbigras.com
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