A handful of people braved the rain and showed up on the Plains of Abraham to attend the big national holiday concert. Shortly before 9 p.m., the scheduled start time of the show, only a very small part of the front of the stage was occupied by people waving their Fleurdelysé flag.
Right in front, at the foot of the huge stage, were Antoine Brasseur, Olivier Bertrand, Charles Boucher, Félix-Alexandre Colin and Pascal Migabo. “We wanted to be in front, that’s why we arrived early,” said Pascal Migabo, who was on duty a little before 8 p.m. and who was making noise with his gang.
“If it ends at midnight, we’ll leave at midnight, if it ends at two in the morning, we’ll leave at two in the morning,” he added. “Long live Quebec! “, his friends shouted in unison to show their motivation.
A little further away, Simon Bruneau, his partner Joanie Laflamme as well as their sons Olivier and Thomas were walking around dressed in raincoats. They had come from Trois-Rivières and did not think of changing their plan, even if the weather risked turning into a flood.
“We sleep at the hotel, it’s an occasion, an end-of-year gift,” explained Simon Bruneau. The boys didn’t know that the trip to Quebec included the National Day show. ” Surprise ! “, exclaimed Joanie Laflamme, smiling, to underline the absurdity of the situation. The couple put on a brave face against bad luck: they knew that the family was going to sleep warm and had even turned up the heating to dry the clothes when it was time to sleep…
Pascal Migabo’s gang wasn’t going to have to stay up until the wee hours. Due to the difficult weather conditions, the organizers had decided before the first note was played that the show would be shortened by 30 minutes. So it was going to last 90 minutes rather than the two hours originally planned.
The rain was falling generously when Mara Tremblay, who acted as host and anchor, launched the 100% feminine opening number in which Marie-Annick Lépine, the trad group Galant, tu perds ton temps appeared and Inuk singer Beatrice Deer. It concluded with the arrival of Laurence Nerbonne, who had taken out her violin to play with Mara and Marie-Annick.
It took a little while for the show to get going. After Tout nue avec toi by Mara Tremblay, Patrice Michaud, Aiza and Les Louanges took turns at the microphone. However, the energy went up a notch when Mara welcomed Ariane Roy. Together, they rocked Tu voulait parler, a song by Ariane Roy, a young artist with undeniable charisma. Mitsou, who came a little later, offered the other highlight of the first part of the show by performing Dis-moi, dis-moi. A substantial number, delivered under remarkable lighting effects, as they were throughout the evening.
Benoit McGinnis, spokesperson for the national holiday this year, delivered a speech where he spoke of the resistance of the Quebec nation, as well as the values of welcome and fairness. His text was also full of references to songs by Jean-Pierre Ferland, who died in April, to whom all the invited artists paid tribute by taking turns at the microphone to sing extracts from many of his songs.
Benoit McGinnis himself began this beautiful segment of the show by singing Avant de m’assagir. Excerpts from Fleur de macadam, Sent to home, I’m coming back to our place, The sun takes to the sun and a few others. For each new song, a group of two or three performers were added, until they all found themselves on stage when it was time to conclude with The Little King.
Zébulon, whose performance planned for the start of the evening was canceled due to bad weather, was then entitled to a lap of the track. Marc Déry and his family sang Marie-Louise.
The rain had almost stopped when a giant portrait of Karl Tremblay appeared. Marie-Annick Lépine walked on stage at the same time, recalling that the last time she found herself in the same place was last July 17. With Les Cowboys Fringants.
That evening, Karl Tremblay, then very ill with cancer, had to sit down for a moment to regain his strength. He sang On My Shoulder. Song that the huge crowd sang with him. The images of this moment which circulated widely on the internet had moved Quebec.
Marie-Annick Lépine emphasized that the wave of love that occurred after the death of her lover made her understand that the big family of Cowboys Fringants was all the people of Quebec. She made her touching song White Hair, where she addresses her daughters. After another appearance by Patrice Michaud, Marie-Annick returned to the microphone with Mara Tremblay to sing LesStars Filantes. It was with this sad song of hope, like a tribute to Karl Tremblay, that the show ended.
For the only time in the show, the artists on stage were not the only ones singing. The crowd, although wet and undoubtedly freezing due to a fairly sudden drop in temperature, warmed their hearts by singing too.