Mes femmes en majuscules!

Patricia Kaas in concert in Zürich. Contrary to other locations she played at a smaller venue, I'm not good at guessing, but I don't believe that it seated much more than thousand. I'd already had the pleasure to see her once at a concert, also in Zurich, but back then in the Hallenstadion, which is just a big, unpersonal venue. This Kongresshalle suited me way better and in the end even G was convinced that the intimite setting served the show. Oh - and I'd once seen her at a screening for Taratata where she was the special guest, I'd known her music and hence her incredible voice before but it was only then that I realised that she's such a small and somehow fragile looking woman.

Lights went out, only a light spot here and there; musicians appeared on stage, then some movements like those from an acrobat and somebody starting introducing the instruments and their musicians, the dancer and what we should expect from the show.
The show was a homage to cabaret (it's titled Kabaret) and the women of the thirties.

But as we were in Zurich, people don't stop talking just because something is happening on stage, only when the music gets loud enough or the artist appears on stage, they'll stop talking. Cause otherwise I can't explain how the couple next to us got the idea, that the dancer (Stephanie Pignon, for those who are interested in such detail) on stage was Patricia Kaas?! Patricia was making the introductions and hers a voice I'd recognize everywhere, drunk, asleep, whatever - her speaking voice is husky, quite low and very erotic.
When she finally came onto stage, I was relieved to see that the promo shots for the show were only for the shots and not her new style.


I don't know how to describe her outfit so decide for yourself ;-)

 
Check out the entire set of pictures here

A German magazine wrote that she wore a breeze of nothing, sadly enough though that I haven't found any enough pictures until now *g
But it's true that later she shed the necklace top-thing and wore something like pajama-bottoms, only more stylish. Oh - and at one point she changed into a very elegant black dress.

All of the songs were accompanied by short movies playing on the screen at the back of the stage, some of the songs were rearranged to fit the thirties-style but remained recognizable.

Am I digressing? On stage she repeated the introduction in German and I was relieved once again, that she hadn't lost as much of her cute accent as I'd feared. She managed to say "zeitgenössische Kultur" (according to herself the most difficult word of the evening) without breaking her tongue ;)

I can't remember all the songs she performed, and "perform" is the proper term in this context cause she didn't not simply stand there and sing (with which I'd already been happy enough), no she performed - danced, played, tried to loosen up the crowd...
....back to the songs, sometimes she started with German lyrics which always sounds kind of strange, these are - after all - songs that fit the chanson/blues/jazz-genre. The second song was about clowns, and third was "Les hommes qui passent...", which is one of my favorite song. And wasn't it in this song that she started flirting with the dancer? Who, btw. was present most of the time, even with some solos, and was like just an additional instrument on stage, I do wonder though if here bones were made out of rubber?
Patricia and the dancer did the most erotic moves together, some synchronized, some slightly off (G insists that Patricia couldn't keep up) and some mirrored. It wasn't the blatant humping you might now from Madonna concerts, no it was the tiny gestures, delicate moves which got my attention.
Dialogue between G and M
G: did you recognize Josephine Baker?
M: where?
G: in the background video?
M: video?
G: the movie? playing in the background?
M: uhm, no. I was completely busy watching Patricia doing whatever with the dancer

Well at least G wasn't mad me, she smirked at me *g

I liked that there was no intermission, that costume changes were filled with sections by the dancer. E.g. instead of introducing each instrument and musician once again and doing weird moves in front of them while they played their solo, Patricia was nowhere to be seen, the dancer was on stage and danced a duet with the instrument. That part with the bass was particularly beautiful.

I guess this should be the time where I add "I hate ballet, I hate dancers, this is nothing for me". I'm surprised at myself! I loved it! Repeat: I l o v e d it! I can't wait until this show will be available on DVD - I checked, it isn't - yet.

There were so many other songs, the first encore gave us "Mademoiselle Chante Le Blues" and simply by writing this I'm getting goosebumps :)
Wow! That song should have lasted hours, it felt like 10 minutes and those were incredible. It's one of the first songs of her career but it's totally ageless. Well, not entirely true, the older she gets the better sounds "elle a du gospel dans la voix et elle y croit".
Guess I'm still high from that. All in all she gave three encores, she had to, she had to bring us down at least a bit after this performance :)

Back home I checked her tour dates and found out that she'll be playing in Strasbourg, April 11th and apparently in Saint-Louis (my Saint-Louis? Are there more than one in France?) on July 24th. Who's going? *g

Some dancing:

(some might be interested in the last 20 seconds, though it's not exactly to what we were treated)

Homepage: http://www.kabaretkaas.com/kabaret/
Myspace: http://www.kabaretkaas.com/myspace/