Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler: C’est Magnifique, Man!!! ~ Adelaide Fringe 2023 Review

[MUSIC/World Music ~ SA] The Wheaty Tin Shed at The Wheatsheaf Hotel, Sat 4 Mar, 2023. If I’m expecting a tribute show covering all the greats of French music, then a roll call of the usual suspects, Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Jacques Brel et al, on a screen at the side of the stage to begin the show does nothing to change that. But when the band strikes up, the seven-pce Les Flâneurs Volants come out rocking. Singer Jean-Marc Spiler and keyboardist Steve Oppes lead a troupe of very fine musicians, guitarist John Denlay, double bass player Ian Davis, Lewis Todd on drums and a hot horn section. These guys are seriously good! The screen is now used to give us English translations of the song lyrics. Sometimes, amusingly, they do not translate well! Jean-Luc explains that streets of Paris were ablaze in the late ‘60s with student riots, but for him the real revolution came with the Beatles’ rooftop concert, and we are treated to a version of I’ve Got A Feeling. What was happening in French music at the time? A nod to Serge Gainsburg, even though he liked to hang out in London. A disturbingly sexy snippet of Je t’aime moi non plus and another of Comic Strip, with its ridiculous lyrics on screen for all to see. Then of course the ‘60s brought in the hippy era, and Jean-Marc dons a technicolour dreamcoat and Peace pendant to lead the band through Let The Sunshine In from the musical Hair. In the second half the accordion does come out, but it is to play some serious Zydeco popular in the jazz clubs of Montreal in the ‘60s. The band are rocking again. Then Jean-Luc and Steve flick the switch back to cabaret to explore what would have happened to the Great Australian Songbook if Australia had been settled by the French instead of the British. Cold Chisel, Men At Work, and The Angels in Francophile style? Very funny. A return to more traditional French songs to end the show. A lot of territory has been covered, trying to juggle the serious musicianship with the humour and cabaret for which Les Flâneurs Volants are known. We have been well entertained. 4 stars Adrian Miller #Clothesline_Mag #ADLfringe