This Thursday, May 23 at 4 p.m., they play in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in Yvelines. Alain Souchon and his sons Pierre and Ours (Charles) have just entered their dressing room. “There are mirrors, neon lights, bottles of water, bananas and three oranges,” explains the father, who will celebrate his 80th birthday on Monday, May 27. Including 50 to accompany our lives, to put unique words on our hopes, our defeats, on men who are what they can, swords in a bathtub. And these big names in the best places, perfect.
So, Monday?
Alain Souchon. I was born on May 27, 1944 in Casablanca, so that makes me at least 28 or 30 years old now, right? Time flies, you know. 80 years old is impressive. When I was growing up in the 1950s, 80-year-olds were bent over with a cane with their flies unzipped, so I’m lucky! Also lucky to have made songs that touched people, to have nice sons who take me on the road.
How was this three-person marathon tour with Pierre et Ours born?
Alan. After two and a half years of my “Here and There” tour, I felt a little sluggish and I went to see the doctor. He wrote about his prescription to take vitamin C and go on tour with my two sons. It’s true ! So I followed the prescriptions. And we’re good: the audience is adorable, the venues are nice, the venue managers are nice, we go to nice hotels… Mercure, can you imagine?
Bear. Six years ago we were offered a first family concert for the Étoiles du sport in La Plagne and we had a lot of fun. We’ve been doing it since then, occasionally, for associations like Mille et un Petit Prince, venues to which we wanted to give a helping hand… It was quite improvised. We also worked a lot on my father’s last album [« Âmes fifties », NDLR]then it was time.
Rock. There, we kept the bias of a stripped-down show, with Ours on guitar and me on piano most often. Our father wanted us to sing our own songs but it was obvious that we needed a concert from my father, whom we try to accompany without making any mistakes.
He is strict ?
Rock. A Father Fouettard, yes! One wrong note and we’re summoned to his room for a random B-flat… That’s not true: after seven dates, we haven’t yet thrown a microphone or tangerine peels at each other’s faces.
Alan. Being a musician, accompanying, is a difficult job. Especially with the sophisticated music of Laurent Voulzy where every time you say a word, you have to change the chord!
Pierre, Ours and Alain Souchon, 52, 46 and… 80 years old this Monday, May 27.
Lisa Roze
How do you choose from such a rich repertoire?
Bear. It’s both cozy because there are so many beads and delicate because of the embarrassment of choice. We tried to combine romantic and more societal songs, pieces that he hadn’t played for a long time like “The Beauty of Ava Gardner”, “Petit tas chute” or “J’tait pas là”. And then the hits, the essentials…
Alan Yes, like “Break your voice”!
Rock. In the impromptu concerts, before, it was a campfire atmosphere and we did a lot of zouaves. This show has more relief, we set a scene.
Alan. With a song from Bear and a song from Pierre all the same! And a tribute to Jane Birkin with whom I sang “Comedy” a long time ago. So, we sing it and it is there, a little with us.
Each of you, tell us about the other two…
Alan. I’ve been rambling about my songs for fifty years, but they had to learn it all by heart and that’s a lot. They are nice to me.
Bear. Pierre is a very good melodist and a very good pianist, without perhaps knowing it. My father has songs that are not the same as everyone else’s. A shift, a humor in his writing: he doesn’t see things the same. He looks at them with his own angle, from the most serious to the lightest.
Rock. The human condition touches him a lot and he manages to express the joys and sorrows of everyone. He is crazy in life but he has terrible strength on stage, sings impeccably with real rigor. He goes into singer mode and it’s quite impressive. Charles is very structured, involved in the arrangements but also the lights, the images, the order of the songs. I have tastes, too, but I have no ideas.
Alain and Bear. Pffff, anything!
Y.D.
Pierre and Alain Souchon, Izïa and Ours in 2017 in Bordeaux.
Do you like this touring life?
Alan. Everyone has their own rhythm. After the show, I head to the hotel to take a shower, drink some soup and go to bed. They, who are lucky enough to be younger than me, stay to chat with the technicians, laugh for a while while drinking (too much) gin or whiskey.
Y.D.
Ours, Alain and Pierre Souchon on the stage of the Villeneuve-sur-Lot theater on November 3, 2023.
What are your respective projects?
Rock. I have just made an album for Sandrine Kiberlain, with whom I worked a long time ago on her first two albums. This third will be released in 2025. I also recently composed for Eddy Mitchell. And I am still involved with the Alzheimer Foundation and the annual support concert.
Bear. My fourth album “Mitsouko” was released two years ago and it was great. I’m working…
Alan. I write a little and it’s scary. Because we are always worse off in the end. Even the greatest, Bob Dylan, Georges Brassens or Jacques Brel, it was better at the beginning. So I’m careful, I’ll see…
In concert on July 13 in La Rochelle (Francofolies, sold out), October 11 and 12 in Mérignac (Pin galant), February 13, 2025 in Biarritz (Gare du Midi).
