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So, ladies of the Pont-Pelletier-Bridge… you say that a Brunothon requires at least four days, eh? You know, I think you may just have to change the rules a little bit – I spent less than 24 hours in Canada, but dammit, I think I won a gold medal! Okay…. So now that I’ve come home after having sat in the car for almost nine hours, I think I’ve calmed down at least enough to write a coherent report. Now, the matter of how to put all of this into words…. Let me start at the beginning. Well, I got out of classes at six on Friday – needless to say, I was out the door before anyone else had put their shoes on. My dad was there, waiting, so we ate a quick dinner, stopped by Barnes & Noble (Misty knows my reasons), and left the city. We drove for about five hours, till about 12:30 AM, and got a hotel room in Plattsburgh, NY, just south of the Canadian border. On this part of the drive, I discovered many things: (a) I can’t look at the moon without wanting to sing about it, (b) there is exactly ONE building between Albany and Plattsburgh, (c) it was too dark to read, (d) I couldn’t concentrate long enough to read anyway, (e) driving through the mountains at night, when you can’t see a damn thing, is very boring, (f) my father has a wonderful music tolerance level, and (g) it is very, very dangerous indeed to attempt to play Bruno CDs the day before seeing him. (I had to stop ‘Miserere’ halfway through, because it was driving me insane – on the other hand, if it had been ‘D’autres rives,’ I may not have been conscious for the concert.) Saturday’s drive was a little more fun – we crossed the border – see, I mention this because the lady checking our passports made conversation with us… asked us where we were going… I gleefully told her… she nodded very understandingly… and we held up the customs line talking about NDdP. (“Did you see it?” “Yep, the American cast, in Vegas!” “Anybody cool in it there?” “Well yeah, three of my friends….”) Only a little less than an hour to go before we hit Montréal – since we were going that way anyway, we stopped there and repeated last summer’s ritual of changing money at the Station-Centrale and then running across the street to the used CD store (the one where I bought ‘D’autres rives’…) Had fun at both places… you see, my dad and I stopped in the little store in the Station-Centrale to get a map of Drummondville, and of course, the first thing I see are the French magazines. Well, one in particular: “Le Lundi” with a huge picture of Bruno on the cover! I was just glad there were no small children between me and that magazine. My dad had a good laugh over my shock, and the woman behind the counter was like, “I think she’s in love.” (Dad: “What gave it away?”) And at the CD store, I got stuff by Sylvain Cossette (‘Comme l’océan’), Marie-Denise Pelletier (‘Plaisir d’amour’), and Mario Pelchat (‘C’est la vie!’). And then, an hour and a half later – Drummondville. Cute little city! We checked into the hotel, and I promptly dragged my dad over to the Centre Culturel so we could pick up the tickets. (Saw poster, nearly passed out.) Then, off to find more CD stores! I only needed one more though, because after nearly buying them out, I had run out of money. But I found a great little new-and-used place, where I got stuff by Marie Carmen (‘L’une’ and ‘Miel et venin’), Isabelle Boulay (‘Fallait pas’), Sylvain Cossette (‘Blanc’ and ‘Humain’), and France D’Amour (‘Nomade’). Ohhh, and one more…. I saw, in one of the bargain bins, a CD of selections from a show called “Vu d’en haut”: “Hmm,” thinks Lindsay, “didn’t Bruno do a show with that title?” Lo and behold, yes he did. In other words, I acquired two new Bruno songs for a mere $4. Four CANADIAN dollars. The guy at the register was pleasantly surprised to see an American girl babbling on and on about French music… so, um, when he noticed that I was drooling over the ‘Sur scène’ window display (!!!), he said that he had more posters in the back, and then proceeded to give me one. I was quite giddy. After that, back to the hotel, so my dad could get some sleep before the show… yadda yadda… We were the first ones there. Only by a few minutes, but still! And it was a very cute little place! About the size of a decent Broadway theatre. I’ll spare you the angsty details of waiting-and-waiting-and-waiting for the show to start… but finally, it did. He walked out onto the stage, and I promptly burst into tears. (Inner monologue: “He’s real. He’s here. I am only eight rows away from Bruno Pelletier.”) I was almost glad that he didn’t sing right away, because I don’t know if I would have been able to handle it. I managed to focus a little during the opening drum sequence, which was AWESOME, by the way! But when he started singing “Reste et restera,” I just started shaking. I swear, his voice is fifty times more powerful in person… I mean, he’s a rather small person, but the combination of his voice, his presence, and that huge smile just fills up the room! (Inner monologue: “I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”) Well, after that was “J’oublie ma folie,” which… wow… and then “Se rêver.” After the two big openers, with him jumping around and lights flashing and stuff (do I need to mention how amazing the lighting design was?), this song was wonderful. He did it so simply, just him, sitting on the little stool, putting his whole heart into the song, like he always does. I was nothing less than mesmerized. “Où que tu sois” was next… he doesn’t do the audience repetition thing in the beginning anymore – instead, he played a “Can you mimic my dance steps?” game with Kim and the guitarist, which was hilarious. I swear, the man’s expressions are just hysterical! I do love him…. Well, he started to introduce “La Manic,” but even before he’d said Georges Dor’s name, people were cheering – he just rolled his eyes at the audience and said, “Well, you put out a live album, and then everyone knows exactly what you’re going to do… you know, I’m going to change the whole show around so you won’t know what to expect anymore, okay?” Everyone laughs, and then he continues as planned, with La Manic… only instead of doing the first part sans a microphone… he did the first part sans a microphone and had us sing along. And we were damn good, too. Although around the middle of the first verse, most of the voices lost track of the words and faded away. (Inner monologue: “Geez, you people are all French and you don’t know this song? Ya know….”) But you’re right, Lisa – at the end, he does look like an angel…. “In Your Eyes.” It was… I… he… they… English… the hell… singing… MELT! Mooooving on. Next was “Vivre sa vie,” which brought the house down, and he ended with “S’en aller/Kashmir,” which rocked the place more than I ever could have imagined! (“Kudos to the band for the spiffy sunglasses!”) My gosh… that was the first act. Oh, and somewhere in there, when he was introducing one of the songs, a woman from the other side of the house went “Eep!” It was so funny – the whole house cracked up, and Bruno just turned his head very slowly in that direction, in a mock-suspicious sort of way. Then he proceeded to mimic the “Eep!” complete with a spasm-esque jump that had us all absolutely rolling on the floor! Heehee – a lot more funny stuff happened in the first act, but I can’t sort my thoughts out enough to think of everything! Intermission was… long. Very very long. (I looked for you, Jo-Anne – were you there?!) He opened the second act with “Le bon gars et le salaud” – I was sort of hoping that there would be live bagpipes, but hey, you can’t have everything. “Ailleurs c’est comme ici” was next, complete with audience repetition! That was soooooo cool. But then… “Loin de chez moi.” The first song besides NDdP that I’d ever heard Bruno sing. This is a song that means more to me than I can ever say… and when that guitar melody started, I burst into tears again. That was the most magical part of the concert for me, hearing him sing my song – for those few moments, I really felt like there was nobody else in the room but him, the musicians, and me… I’ve been trying to think of a suitable adjective to describe it, but I don’t think any exist…. Aaaaanyway, “Diego” was next, and that was simply beautiful – he told the story behind it, which I was glad of, since I’d been wondering for a while… but then came the Gino Vanelli bit. He tried to explain “crooner” (to a crowd who already knew this routine, by the way), and then ran offstage while Kim began the backup stuff. I swear, when he came out in that sequined jacket, the roar in the crowd was absolutely deafening! It was SO funny! And all those little “Hey, I’m Elvis” moves that he does… oh my God, even my dad was cracking up! But I was soooo jealous of whoever it was in the front row who got that scarf…. Anyway, “Brother to Brother” just rocked – have I mentioned how fabulous his band is?! Every single one of those people is just amazing! Especially… Pierre Grimard… eesh, he’s CUTE too! Then came “J’ai essayé,” a much-needed sobering number between the Vanelli songs and what came next: “Aime.” Oh, but not just “Aime” – he sang it from the balcony. He ran upstairs (God, right past my seat!) during the intro, and sang the song from the balcony, while crossing over right in front of the front row! Dancing with people… hugging people… shaking hands… it was so fun to watch! And that was it. HAH! Nooo, it wasn’t! We stood and screamed and clapped in rhythm till he came back – he calmed us down with this rather wry look on his face, then proceeded to tell just how much he hates encore. Roughly translated, it was something like, “So the singer’s out in the hallway, mopping his face, thankful that it’s over, and the crowd is going ‘Yay, yay, more, more, more!’ So—” (he plasters an overly-happy grin on his face) “– the singer runs back out, does another number, finishes, then leaves again…” and then he repeats the whole thing. Complete with cartoonish exaggerated gestures, which were so unbelievably funny…. And at the end he just pauses, shrugs, and says, “I hate that.” (Inner monologue: “Eh what? You better do an encore, honey…”) “So,” he says, “I’m only coming back this once.” (Crowd groans.) “But it’s going to be another half an hour. Hope you don’t mind.” So while we’re cheering, he just gives us one of those killer grins and starts calling the band back out. Then he introduces the medley, first by saying that he’s done five shows, but people only know three of them. (Inner monologue: “Four!”) So he says he’s going to do songs from La légende de Jimmy, Starmania, and Notre Dame. Mind you, I thought everyone was going to scream when he mentioned NDdP. But it was only after I let out a loud “Woo!” that I realized I was the only one. Crowd cracked up again, I shrank down in my seat, and Bruno wiggled his eyebrows and pointed in my direction. (Inner monologue: “Teehee.”) Let me just say that even though he did not do “Moon,” hearing him sing “Lune” live is absolute magic. Not to mention “Cathédrales”… and all the others. We gave him a standing ovation after that –and he assured us that the show wasn’t over yet, and said “Restez put!” I don’t know if anyone else caught that, but I thought it was hysterical! “I Wish” was next – can I just say that Bruno is the best drummer ever? And Kim! My God! That woman absolutely brought down the house! I want to be her when I grow up! The last number was “Miserere” – I swear to God, it was the best I’ve ever heard him do that song. Better than the first CD, better than the live album, better than the Festival d’été video that I have… every note just sparkled. But my God, it was over too quickly…. I could barely stand up as he said goodbye and just walked off the stage. But after a few minutes of people shoving me out of the way, I gathered my wits about me enough to stand up and walk out the door. Immediately, I found one of the people who worked there, and asked if he was going to do an autograph session – the reply was, “In twenty minutes.” I nearly fainted… but I joined the line as it started to form. Well, I met a few guesteuses, who made the wait a little shorter than the eternity that it seemed to be! That was fun – I remember, Danielle heard me say something to me dad, stopped me, and said, “Is your name Lindsay?” A little surprised, I said yes, and she said, “I figured if anyone was speaking English tonight, it would be you….” That was fun. But anyway… finally, it was my turn. I was a little nervous that I would be pushed away, because his people were making the line go very fast. Anyway, by the time I was next in line, my mouth was entirely dry, and my legs felt like Jell-O. I swear to God, after years of meeting Broadway people at stage doors, I never ever thought that that would happen again! Well, I was wrong. And I was next. He looked up at me with a smile that could have melted all the ice in Canada, and I took a deep breath, went up to the table, and said, “Hello… do you speak English?” You should have seen the expression on his face – for a split second, he looked positively frightened!!! But he said, “Yes, a little,” in that ACCENT… I felt my heart doing a somersault. (Inner monologue: “Bruno Pelletier is talking to ME. In English – with that ACCENT!”) My goal had already been accomplished (I’d promised myself that I would get him to speak English to me)… but that was by no means the end. I gave him the things I wanted signed: the ‘Miserere’ CD booklet for me, and a glossy picture for Misty. Well, I said, “my friend Misty in Oklahoma.” “Oklahoma?” he said, with this shocked look on his face. I nodded, and added that I had driven up from the States to see him. He asked me where I was from, and I said New York City, and he got this funny look on his face, like “Hmmm…” then asked me my name. I told him, and then came the killer line: “Oh, so YOU’RE Lindsay!!!” This, complete with huge grin and sparkling eyes, nearly made me faint. I swear, I could not speak. I simply could not force words to come out of my mouth. Well, he laughs, and tells me that he reads me on the guestbook. I think my jaw hit the floor, but I managed to squeak out, “You DO?” So he smiled patiently and says, “Of course – that’s how I know who you are.” At this point, I knelt down beside the table where he was sitting, partially because I didn’t think I could stand up any longer, and partially because… well, dammit, I felt like it. So he picks up the pen, but then puts it back down and just looks at me. (Inner monologue: “Gffffffthhhh.”) He lowered his voice a little and said that it is amazing to him when he reads the guestbook and sees people in the United States who know his music. I said, “I’m just surprised that there aren’t more – you have the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard in my life.” He smiled at that, and said very matter-of-factly, “Well, I don’t usually sing in English!” I’m pretty sure I giggled at that. Then he says, “How is it… why… how?…” He trails off, rolling his eyes at himself for getting the words mixed up, then settles on “Why do you know me?” Managing not to crack up from the combination of giddiness and Bruno’s English, I explained how a friend of mine, Doug Storm, played Quasimodo in the Las Vegas cast of NDdP, so I flew out to see the show, and fell in love with the show, and bought the video of the French cast. I clearly remember saying, “And I fell in love with your voice.” For a moment, he looked rather at a loss for words, but he just said “Wow!” with another killer smile. He finished signing my things, and I thought I would have to leave then, but instead of giving them back to me, he asked me if I was only here for the weekend. I said yes, that we’d come up today and were going back tomorrow. (Inner monologue: “But if you want me to stay longer, I can just stay at your place!”) So he nods and says, “Well, I hope you have a safe… go-back? Come back?” He pauses, shaking his head, and laughs. “What’s the word?” I nearly lost it at this point, but managed to suggest, “Trip home?” He laughed again and said, “Yes! That’s it… have a safe trip home.” So I figure that’s my cue to leave, and I stand up – but for some reason, that’s when I start gushing about the concert and how absolutely wonderful it was. I don’t know if he understood everything I said, but he grinned and said, “I’m glad you liked it… and I’m glad I finally got to meet you!” (Inner monologue: “HE’S glad? My God, HE’S glad?”) I know I said something in return, but I honestly can’t remember what. Something to the effect of “You too,” I think. But then my dad caught out attention, and motioned to his camera, and Bruno motioned for me to kneel down again and lean closer to him, and we got a picture. Then he took my hand and just… just gave it a little squeeze. One last smile was exchanged, and then it was over. I was shaking as I walked out to the car. I still haven’t stopped. Yes, Denise, I left my heart in La Belle Province…. |
