Yesterday, July 23, still in France, LP joined Bryan Ferry at the Theater Jean-Deschamps for The Festival of Carcassonne. It’s not the first time LP shared the stage with Bryan Ferry, they’ve both toured USA & Canada last year in the Summer. They have played together 11 concerts across the country which all ended with huge success and LP got to widen her US audience afterwards. I remember reading reviews by people who went to the concert for Bryan Ferry, but after witnessing LP’s live, they’ve become fans of her as well.
 |
| photo posted with kind permission from photographer Manon Roux @marketzik via Instagram |
As for yesterday’s concert it took place in a truly stunning scenery. Theater Jean-Deschamps is located in The Cité de Carcassonnen – a medieval citadel located on a hill on the right bank of the River Aude. It was founded during the Gallo-Roman period. The town has about 2,500 years of history and has seen the Romans, Visigoths, Saracens and Crusaders. At one point construction continued into the reign of King Philip IV in the early 14th century. The citadel was restored at the end of the 19th century and in 1997 it was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.
Before I will move to expressions of the concert shared by Fragments d’Agnès, I would like to show you a video which is just one of many reminders of how kind and thoughtful LP is. Just look here and I don’t think I have to explain anything else. Another great moment captured on video with caption is here: “@jessica_bldn: Okay, I don’t want to sound groupie but… Shit, she touched my hand and made me a huge smile ??”. Jessica added “I have no words to describe this woman. She’s so little and so huge at the same time. What a voice, what a talent, she is really close to people. She shares so much and it leaves me speechless. Thank you LP ❤ “.
And now my blog takes over Fragments d’Agnès who wrote about her emotions after meeting LP & Lauren in person and the concert at Carcassone. She writes: “Have you ever met angels ? I have… Sunday afternoon in Carcassonne City. The memory of their gentleness, their kindness, their immense generosity, their radiant smile when I told them I created a gift for their engagement, their warm arms when they hugged me, their sweet love, their serene voices that made me feel so special and unique. And be brought to tears remembering me in this unexpected meeting, realise the magic of this moment”.
“For the first time, I was consenting to see me as a fan, a groupie, who wanted nothing more but approaching LP and Lauren, talking to them, hugging them. Yep, I didn’t dare to call me like that until then … overly accustomed to listen to my fave artist in my own corner, singing them in the shower or in my car. But never outside, no way! didn’t want to expose myself to the other people’s gaze… And the other people, they’re crazy … I’m not crazy, no way. Too scared of that eccentricity … And finally… it only took me three gigs since April to embrace this obviousness, my first three gigs actually… Hey world, look at me, I’m an LP and Lauren’s fan, I accept it wholeheartedly! They overwhelm me, they shake my heart up, they delight me, they thrill me so deeply. Yes, I’m crazy too! LP and Lauren have that grace, that magic in the eyes, which allows you to take a good look at yourself in the mirror, and to get to grips with yourself, with strenght and a large smile”.
“Yesterday, I got the impression that they paid no heed to all the fences I strove hard to erect between people and I for a long time. Yesterday, I experienced the clear and precise feeling that they merely got in touch with my soul… face to face and without any frills, as if they knew each other since the beginning. My soul I endeavored to cloister away in the depths of me for so many years, for so long that I couldn’t even get back to her. Yesterday I finally dropped my guard, I let my soul make her way through me… The most beautiful victory over myself… thanks to LP and Lauren. Such an odd sensation to feel being carried by something much more powerfull than yourself, and become aware of simply being part of it. A highly emotional moment. I’m so grateful for this…”.
“I arrived in Carcassonne around 2 p.m. At first, I wanted to take the advantage of the opportunity to visit the city. But I eventually saw and accepted that I only wished to wait with the other fans already there. Too bad for the city, but I came out on top! We were scrutinising all around us since the middle of the afternoon to try to catch sight of LP and Lauren. Will they pop up? And then, they put the gates in place to go into the amphitheater Jean-Deschamp. Almost everybody rushed behind them. Less stress for me, I had bought a numbered ticket. No need to queue up to try to obtain the best seat. I already owned that best seat for month… just in front of the stage, in the middle. Couldn’t be closer, unless climbing onto the stage with LP”.
“So I stayed outside the gates, nearby, in the passage that leads to the ramparts. There wasn’t many people there. I was with Gaëlle when I saw them coming closer, both, LP and Lauren… Wow… I just can’t believe it. My heart beats wildly. Those two elfin women are so beautiful, so much there… so much in front of me … Early in the afternoon, I had given Darren two bottles of beer and wine I brought for them, cause I couldn’t have entered with them. But I kept the gift I made for their engagement, a dreamcatcher, that I wished to hand them in person more than everything… I wanted something unusual, unique, something that resembles her, and that resembles me too. It was really important to me”.
“I looked for it for a while, since their engagement actually. But no inspiration, no idea that turned me upside down, no firm favorite… And then, on Saturday, the brainwave. I remembered the Lauren’s instastory she made after LP’s show at the Déferlantes. She was filming her love in front of a vineyard, with the sea in the background … « my love, a forrest, a vineyard, a city, a sea. South of France, you’re great ! ». I had found my idea. And I was going to offer them this little gift from my home, South of France, built with a vine shoot, as a memory of their visit on July the 9th, in Argelès sur mer… 7 colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and white, and a heart hung in the middle by 7 white rays… 7-7 of course … Nothing could be better to celebrate their love”.
“I imagined this scene hundreds of times, bump into them. All my scenarios were oscillating between true companionship, straight away comfortable with them, a so good prose which could rival the best American talker, a well honed speech prepared beforehand, spending hours and hours exchanging sensations and moments of life together with a good beer, inviting me to see their town or to follow them on tour (yeah … I went really far in my scenarios … I have an exceptionally fertile imagination…), and, on the other side, having the worst knot in my stomach, being scared that they could go without seeing me, thousands slips of my tongue, feeling lost in the crowd of their fans, as invisible and boring as I can be, not being at the right place at the right moment, becoming finally sad and envious of the other fans, who did manage to approach them (I have an exceptionally fertile imagination in that way too… unfortunately). I didn’t stop switching from an ironclad enthusiasm to the deepths of despair and fatalism”.
“And here they are, walking serenely towards us, towards me. I didn’t have time to choose in my list of scenarios, didn’t want to, I guess. Actually, it didn’t even cross my mind, I was just in another world… For once, I let my heart act, I trusted it, for my biggest happiness. I was all smiles, enjoying the present time at each second. Here and now. I handed her my gift. I congratulated them for their engagement and told her that I had a present for them. My words were coming out so easily, by magic, without any filters or prejudices. They hugged me so tenderly, one after another… They seemed so touched, thanking me warmly again and again. Their gratefulness and their simplicity blew me away. I’ve been impressed by a so much calm and powerful energy, coming out of so tiny bodies I just wanted to hold close to mine. I received a real tidal wave right in the heart. Then I asked her for a selfie. They agreed to do it with pleasure, still with this humility that characterise them so much. They may stay with me barely about 30 seconds, but it seemed the time had stopped. I was having a hunch that I was floating on the clouds indefinitely”.
“So what about the gig, you may say? Well, after this, the gig’s just been fabulous! Have you ever seen an artist so close to her audience to the point of going down the stage for a walk, quiet, in the middle of an excited crowd, and singing her songs from the bleachers, holding the outstretched hands, smiling for the pics and videos ? If you haven’t, so go and buy a ticket for LP’s gig right away! You won’t be able to get over it! You’ll be in love and charmed”.
“8:30 pm. The theater is almost full, a thousand people came to see LP. And Bryan Ferry too, most likely, the second part of the evening, the headline top of the bill actually. Yes he is, but who has shaken all the people? LP did. Tonight, she won the award of the atmosphere! Same opening, always, with Muddy Waters. People expect it, know it, however it’s still an explosion of joy and applause that greets the artist on stage. The musicians are already there. They came a few seconds before, a glass of red wine in the hand. Of course they did! They are bon vivant above all. We can only encourage them to enjoy the good stuffs on their journey”.
“And here are the songs which already come one after another. Other people, Levitator… LP, her guitar in the hand, wears a large smile. But we don’t wait too long, once her ukulele is put down, before she approaches the edge of the stage. “Up high in the middle of nowhere, don’t know but you know when you get there, walk slow and low on a tightrope”… and there she is to claim the red ribbon a fan is waving. The audience doesn’t need more to start to stand up and come closer. Holding hands to her, giving some presents to her, smiling to her, recording her on a phone, LP is in her world, she catches the best of her fans, she feeds herself on it, she asks for more, she draws her energy from them”.
“When you’re up against me”, and Lauren begins to sway her hips delightfully in the backstages. I greet her with large gestures and I felt like she tried to thank me for the gift, drawing a circle with her hands and raising her thumbs. I don’t know if it was for me, maybe not, but I felt so happy at this time… I just took it for me. How beautiful she is, with her orange top tied quite above her waist and her released hair on her luminous face. She’s not the only one to follow the rythme of LP’s songs, hidden by the curtains. Laetitia, Monica, and many other are there too, living each moment to the full”.
“While she’s playing with her mic, a stone’s throw from my nose, LP electrifies once again the people, who start to clap their hands with ardor on frenzied music of Strange. A little bit of harmonica and she proceeds with another song. Darren, Mattew and Mike, the sound engineers, are good at work in the background. What an enjoyment to see such close and efficient team! And what can we say about the musicians! JD, Elias and Brian, in unison nearby LP, giving all they can give with their instruments, and always with a huge passion”.
“A few softer songs, Switchblade, Suspicion, in order to touch our hearts deeply, and she leaves again further away, straight to Tokyo. And always raising hands and always photos. Now well, it’s time for No Witness. Catching everybody off guard, (especially Darren and the security guard who rushed up to secure her), she dove into the crowd. Repeating « no one can save me, love me or hate me » again and again, she strides along the bleachers of the amphitheater”.
“Everyone in the audience stands up now, and no one can tell them to go back to their seats. Some of them even climb onto them (I do), others set to follow her steps, with a lot of respect. She walks around the amphitheater up to above. Sublime viewpoint, we are all captivated. She goes to all the nooks, not forgetting anyone on her path. The song is finished, but LP is still in the middle of her fans. We hear her thank them, almost one by one, we see her clasp hands, take the gifts the crowd offers her, a portrait drawn by Dominique or another red ribbon given by Valérie. Some « LP! Love you! » fly all over the place, to which her « thank you so much, so sweet » answer like an echo. Almost back onto the stage, but she suddenly returns to hug a fan on a wheelchair. Isn’t she a tremendouos artist?
“After a mouthful of red wine, she goes on with ‘When we’re high’, on stage this time. JD’s guitar mixes up joyfully with Brian’s bass and LP’s crystalline voice, to which Elias’ drums give rhythm with pleasure. Oh my goddess you blow our minds. In the wings, the place becomes a dancefloor, same thing in the theater. The temperature steadily climbs. She’s getting us high. And because she’s made of this, she comes once again on the edge of the stage, takes some selfies with her fans, congratulates Nathalie who wears the same jacket as her. She’s quite simply heavenly. We are thrilled by her. We only want more and more, always”.
“But Lost on you is already there. The crowd cover the chorus with her. Most of them don’t know the lyrics, but led by their neighbors’ enthusiasm, they learn quickly. Let’s raise a glass or two and they are hundreds of arms raised to accompany her with gusto. Again in the edge of the stage, she really takes pleasure in getting down on her knees to sign autographs and is playing again with people’s phones. « Thank you so much! Merci boucoup! Au revoir! We love you! » and she disapeared to the backstage after having warmly applaused us in her turn”.
“But they haven’t taken the fans’ fervor into account, who go on claiming her, clapping hands, banging on the stage, on the seats. « Encore! Encore! Encore! » we’re shouting at the top of our voice. Our urging is finally rewarded. LP comes back with JD and opens her second to last song with a tender whistle. Forever for now, beautiful song the crowd listens to religiously, hung onto her’s every word”.
“Brian and Elias come in in their turn. LP made the most of opportunity to introduce them again and to say she was bewitched by the beauty oh the place in which she was lucky to sing. « One, two, three, four ! » shout the people « somebody left the gate open ! ». What a memorable night! Bryan Ferry has to take over from LP, but she’s just set high standards. Good luck Bryan! A last « merci boucoup Carcassonne ! Thank you so much », some other autographs on the edge of the stage, and this time, it’s well and truly done. Elias, JD and Brian play the last notes while LP is already at the backstage”.
“Mike, Mattew and the technicians of the festival begin to put the equipment away and to install Bryan Ferry’one. A groupe of fans stay there, near the entrance of the green room, hoping for a last appearance of their black curled angel. But after a while, the secure guards ask us to go back to our seats. We decide to move and wait for her outside. Indeed, Gaëlle and Anne have a surprise for LP and Lauren, a video patchwork from the French fans edited by Claire, for their engagement. We wait until the end of the second gig, in vain … We gave it to Monica, who will pass it to them”.
“It’s 2:00 in the morning. We ate a little and now we reach our cars. I’m on my way back home with LP in the ears, again and always. I’ve got stars in the eyes, sparkles in the heart, a huge smile glued on my face, it’s overflowing. Not sure if I get to sleep when I’m home. Masterful LP, wonderful Lauren … Very gently and full of kindness. Thank you so much for what you brought to me, thank you for your generosity, yout humility, your patience and yout passion. I feel so grateful. Today, I took a huge shoot of « Paradise potion » straight in the heart … If you are looking for me, I’m on my cloud…”.
Gallery of pictures of yesterday’s concert can be found here. Short video from LP’s concert is here. Another video can be found here. For videos recorded by Fragments Agnes click here.
