You had to pass through the doors of the MTELUS to see it and believe it: the duo Sofi Tukker truly transformed the space into a club, lasers included, on Tuesday evening.
Their stage name is made up of their two first names: Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern. What this name does not indicate, therefore, is that the duo Sofi Tukker comes to us from the United States, and not from Northern Europe. Their influences are more likely to be found in South America: Sophie, born to Canadian parents as she pointed out on stage at the MTelus last night, lived in Brazil and sometimes sings in Portuguese, some of their songs are adapted from Brazilian poems, and overall, their music is strongly influenced by the rhythms of this country and in particular bossa nova.
In the first part, DJ Carola had the difficult missions of replacing Confident Man (another duo, brother and sister this time) initially announced, and of preparing the audience to dance for the next few hours.
Then at 9 p.m., a toast “ST” jumps out of the toaster onto the screen in the background, in reference to their latest album and tour both titled Breadhere we go !
Sophie arrives with a fuchsia dress and a guitar with a glittery strap, Tucker in a look that the inhabitants of Mile-End would not deny, and surprise, they also have four dancers with them, in very colorful matching costumes. Not surprising in the end, when we remember where their music comes from: we are not here to nod our heads nicely, but rather to sway and jump, like the dancers therefore, but also the singer-musicians who also learned most of the choreography.
The parallel with the club is pushed to the stage decor, where mini podiums in the shape of squares of grass, which recall their previous album Wet Tennisare installed so that all the artists can dance or sing as close as possible to the public, who, in return, spared no energy or enthusiasm.
The duo clearly not playing distant stars, three spectators were invited to dance on stage, and Tucker even treated us to a breathtaking view of his posterior, certainly to illustrate their song Throw Some Ass…
Everything about their set yesterday was fun and good-natured. In addition to their music with irresistible energy, the decor included arches of all kinds, some with a 70’s aesthetic, another more Greco-Roman, but all participated in the ultra-colorful light effects, and one even included percussion and bars that allowed Sofi Tukker to play with and climb on them. The screen behind, with its projections, was an integral part of this retro-kitsch ensemble, and probably the sense of staging is not lacking in the American duo and their collaborators.
Active since 2016 with already two Grammy nominations in the dance/electro category, millions of views on their Youtube videos and as many streams, there is no doubt that two consecutive dates at MTelus was the bare minimum to contain their growing success and their overflowing vitality . Shall we go back this evening?
Bulk photos
