(Please excuse my awful attempts to write in French)
I've written of my celebrity-crush on Beatrice Martin before, and now that I've actually seen her play live (sadly we didn't meet) I'll admit, I've fallen even harder. Securing a front-row-centre spot, I eagerly awaited the playing of the beautiful piano notes that accompany the young lady's graceful singing voice. With slight concern I noted during the sound-check that Beatrice seemed a bit frazzled with the way things were going, but after a few private words with Vish, and his introduction of Coeur de Pirate, she was all smiles...
Dressed in skinny blue jeans and a blue'n'black striped shirt (with short sleeves to display her tattoos) Beatrice wowed the crowd with her well-crafted songs, sung entirely in French. Asking our preference for banter language she spoke in both national languages, showing the Quebec songstress' proficiency as she coyly took soft jibes at her own obscurity in this province. Handling the delicate keys and delightful vocals herself, a couple musicians accompanied her and added a variety of sounds including acoustic and electric guitar, violin, and ukulele. This allowed for an upbeat version of Ensemble, though the rendition of Printemps cut the keys and opted for a clap-along instead. After introducing and beginning a "really sad" song she restarted it with charm, explaining that a bug had flown into her face. Once past the somber piano opening the violin swept in followed by acoustic strumming to fill out the sound. Before the other musicians left the stage they assisted on a note-perfect rendition of Comme des Enfants, the song Beatrice attributed to making her famous in La Belle Province.
Once alone on the stage she played her original Francis, before a Malajube cover (still in French of course). As she's been known to do, the 'Heart of a Pirate' took Rihanna's Umbrella and made it her own by slowing it down and laying it out over the piano. Sensational.
Very few people responded when the chanteuse asked the crowd who'd heard of her before the set, but I'm sure by the end of this show her name had become inextricably entangled in lovely chansons en francais, just as my heart-strings had become tangled up in knots.
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