Review by Michelle da Silva (@michdas)
Photos by David Thai (@david_thai)
Vancouverites wanting to give their dancing shoes some use on Friday, May 13, had to go en français for the night. French electro-poppers Yelle were at the Commodore Ballroom for a stop on their North American tour in support of their latest album, Safari Disco Club, and here to open was Milwaukee natives French Horn Rebellion.
Brothers Robert and David Perlick-Molinari were hunched over their respective synths at around 9:30pm, a cloud of green-tinged smoke engrossing them. Playing from their self-titled debut, French Horn Rebellion performed a largely disjointed set. Their sound was a mix of electronic, disco and funk-inspired dance music, tinged with occasional scatting by Robert on the French Horn. Also between and during every song, like “This Moment” and “Up All Night”, both of them took turns showing off their dance skills (which weren’t all that great, for the record), dancing around the stage, on top of speakers, and even in the audience. This, combined with uncomfortable brotherly stage banter about how they were from Milwaukee, equaled out to be a whole lot of awkwardness for about 45 minutes. Perhaps the funniest line of the night came from Robert, who at one point blurted out, “You know what’s better than a real French horn? A synth French horn!” No, Robert, I’d have to argue you’re wrong about that.
While the venue was only just over half full when Yelle took the stage at 10:45pm, it didn’t matter because the people who were there made up for it in excitement. Bandmates Grand Marnier (Jean-François Perrier) and Tepr (Tanguy Destable) first took their places, donning khaki colored safari outfits and tinted visors covering their faces. As the beat started up, the band’s namesake lead singer, Yelle (Julie Budet), walked on stage, covered in what looked to be a hairy yeti-like costume, and they launched into “S’etient Le Soliel.” As Yelle energetically announced “Good evening Vancouver” in her delightful French-tinged English, she removed her hairy robe to reveal a très chic giraffe-print mini-dress with black leggings to sing “Qui Est Cette Fille?”
The audience was totally feeling it and everyone was dancing as the band continued to pull out dance-friendly numbers “Unillusion” and poppy hit “Ce Jeu” from their 2007 debut Pop Up. This time, “Ce Jeu” didn’t have its usual chipmunk bounce, but more of a slowed-down booty shakin’ beat to it, which was a welcome surprise. Next up was “La Musique,” which featured Yelle’s bright, pitch-perfect vocals over intense, heavy drums. After this number, Grand Marnier took the mic and said, “Vancouver, we wanna see you shake it,” as Yelle ran off stage for a costume change.
Moments later, the willowy pixie-haired brunette arrived back on stage in a red leopard-print bodysuit, complete with shoulder pads and hood. She rocked it, looking more fierce than goofy in her animalistic getup and sang “J’ai Bu” and “Comme Un Enfant.” Before long, the crowd was singing along to the explicit lyrics in “Je Veux Te Voir,” another hit off the band’s debut. Again, they put a spin on it, and the song took a decidedly tribal/jungle kind of feel.
After “C’est Pas Une Vie” and the band’s newest single “Que Veux Tu,” they ended their set with Safari Disco Club’s namesake record before running off stage. Of course, this wasn’t for long, and they were back on to keep the audience moving with their reggae-infuse colabo with Crookers “Cooler Couleur.” Then, they sang “A Cause des Garçons” before going full out and launching into the Tepr remix, where Yelle broke out her mad dancing skills and made sort of awesome-sounding high-pitched animal noises.
Overall, this Yelle show was a testament of what a difference a few years can make. When Yelle first stepped out onto the Commodore Ballroom’s stage around three years ago, she was more of a solo act and definitely came off as a lot more timid. Her English wasn’t nearly as strong, so she barely spoke up, and she just sort of went through the songs off Pop Up in a rehearsed, routine-like way. This time around, she burst out of on stage way more sure of herself and her amazing stage presence and performance skills, and it really looked like that she, Grand Marnier and Tepr were having a lot of fun up there. The audience, of course, could feel their infectious no-holds-back energy, and reacted accordingly.
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