French-themed evening the Friday night before last: MS had French-themed drinks in honour of Bastille Day, and I made a cameo appearance at the beginning, liberating some balloons (bleu, blanc, rouge) on my way out; then met up with Meribah; after risking life and limb to hang the balloons from an overhead signpost thingy on King Street (we'd spent a few minutes before in Officeworks looking for suitable materials for a tricouleur, not wanting the balloons to be mistaken for Bulldogs colours or the red, white and blue of the US flag, before tossing in the towel and trusting to the perceptiveness of passers-by), we went to Bergerac for dinner (French-speaking waiters, yo) and I even remembered to order a French wine. Intention had also been to check out the French activities which were taking place at the Arts Centre before the show, but we arrived too late; anyway, met up with Bec P, Jane T and Jarrod there and took our seats.
Emilie Simon was on first, turning out to have more idiosyncratic oddly piano ditties in strange keys and fewer glammy electro-stomps than I'd anticipated...well, I suppose a whole set full of "Fleur de Saison"s was always going to be too much to hope for! I wasn't entirely sold on her - the eccentricity wasn't really grounded in anything underlying, the pop elements not strong enough, the whole not quiet seeming to gel - but it had its moments, and the show was enjoyable overall.
After a short intermission, then, Nouvelle Vague. As a touring concern, they're a five piece, with vocals shared between two girls, a vaguely gamine one with a pleasant voice, and a throatier, messier rock 'n roll Karen O type, and plenty of fun. Highlights for mine were the synchronised and syncopated "Ever Fallen In Love" (complete with shambolically synchronised dance moves) and of course the untouchable "Love Will Tear Us Apart", though I for one could've done without the extended fade-out and encore-ing that happened at the end (not to mention the handful of members of the obnoxious hipster set sprinkled throughout the Arts Centre crowd). Like Mlle Simon's, not a show to shake my world, but pretty entertaining.
