Roch Voisine – “Hélène 35”: to fall in love with Hélène again

With his new show, Helene 35 years oldwhich unfolds under the sign of nostalgia, Roch Voisine takes us straight back to the 1990s, right in the heart of “Rochmania”.

Entered the stage like a true rockstar, to the screams and applause of the audience from the first notes of There in the shadowsthe singer-songwriter revisited the pieces that allowed him to reach dazzling heights – but also enormous popularity, here as in Europe.

Mainly paying homage to his album Helene (1989), sold more than 3 million copies, he obviously played the title track, Helenebut also Before leaving, The rain girl et Yet.

He also allowed himself to resume And I still love you, by Céline Dion, a song that he would have liked to write and which went perfectly with his register, but also to play the piece in concert for the first time Before youtaken from his album Every fire (1999). A song which, according to him, took on its full meaning over time and whose message was worth sharing with his audience, who are still loyal, even after 35 years.

The latter, gathered at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier on Thursday evening, was a good sport with the singer, talking to him between songs, chanting “We love you, Roch!” in moments of silence or calling for songs, including Helene – planned only at the end of the program. He also jumped out of his seat to dance to Jean Johnny Jean.

Halfway through the show, Roch Voisine offered an acoustic and very intimate version of the piece “Let her dream» (Headbutt1994) – which enjoyed great success in Lebanon in the mid-1990s and which has taken on a different character for the singer since he became the father of a little girl. He also performed the plays The Promise et Too bad acoustically, accompanied by his musicians on acoustic guitar, accordion and piano.

He saved himself for the final number training her Darlin’, Pretty Face et I’ll Always Be There.

Roch Voisine wrote nearly 250 songs during his career. After two albums in English with mixed success, he finally achieved popularity with Helenehis first album in French.

He will be back at Place des Arts Friday evening. It will then stop in Quebec, at the Grand Théâtre, on December 7.

Additional dates for this tour will be added in April. Tickets will go on sale Friday morning, 10 a.m., on the artist’s website.