“It speaks to the youngest as well as the oldest”, a group of friends brings the songs of Daniel Balavoine back to life

On November 9, 2024, the Futuroscope Arena hosts a tribute concert to Daniel Balavoine, given by the group of the same name. The artists, all from Vienna, want to revive, during their two-hour show, the melodies and ideas of the leading artist of the 80s.

Tribute to Daniel Balavoine, it’s five musicians, two backing singers and a singer: Julien Tavernier. Since 2016, he has followed in the footsteps of the artist, who died in 1986 in a helicopter accident on the Paris-Dakar.

Nearly forty years later, Julien Tavernier claims his choice not to copy and paste the star singer of the 80s on stage. “I’m not sure, knowing the gentleman, that he would have appreciated the imitation side, it was more the sincerity that inhabited him”he smiles. “So I tried to look for that in fact, to recover the emotions that there could be on the different pieces, necessarily make them my own and try to retranslate them as much as possible for the public.”

The group gave itself a week to rehearse 24 pieces and refine the staging. Their show is already well established: the group has already given ten performances this year alone!

On stage, their understanding is obvious, and for good reason, Hommage à Daniel Balavoine is a real group of friends.

“We are all from Vienne, the furthest south is Steph which is near Lusignan, and then otherwise it is Poitiers, Châtellerault, Buxerolles, Montamisé…”says Marjorie Malite, chorister. “Most of us have been playing together for over ten years, it’s starting to feel like too long!”she laughs.

For two hours, the artists must cover the hits of Daniel Balavoine, his greatest classics like The Aziza or the SOS to an earthling in distressbut also pieces that they rearranged themselves.

Jacques Giraud, the producer of the show, already knows that it will not fill the room, but for him, the objective is elsewhere: “The main goal was to have fun at the Arena to perhaps do others, but above all to make yourself known very well, to take advantage of this date to make a very good teaser”he says. “Other production companies have contacted us to produce summer events.”

Between festivals, village festivals and this concert at the Arena, Daniel Balavoine always has his audience. For Julien Tavernier, this is explained by the way in which the melodies “resonate in the hearts of everyone and all generations. We noticed it while doing concerts, it really speaks to both the youngest and the oldest.” As he lends his voice to Balavoine’s legacy, he sees another reason for the longevity of his words: “The dramatic themes that he addressed are still relevant today, social inequalities, differences, the place of women in society, these are things that are still relevant today, even more than ever, so I think it speaks still to people, a lot.”