Parisian audiences didn't have to wait long before catch up with IamX, Chris Corner having performed just over a year and a half ago at this very same Trabendo. The artist is not particularly rare and also put on a solo show at Petit Bain in 2022... As usual, we went along without really knowing what to expect, as Corner's live performances are not exactly predictable. The feedback we've had about this tour has been very positive (we told you about the Oberhausen date a few days ago), so we were hoping not only to see something, but perhaps (let's be crazy!) to recognise the songs that the mischievous artist is so fond of twisting live to suit his mood! In any case, things got off to a great start with Ductape opening this evening organised by Persona Grata.
DUCTAPE
Emerged around five years ago, the Turkish darkwave duo are enjoying a meteoric rise in our little hearts. Since the release of their album Echo Drama last year, Çağla Güleray and Furkan Güleray have been everywhere. They're releasing new music at a steady pace, and they're popping up at a number of events dedicated to dark music, whether it's in festivals, alongside other rising black stars like Aux Animaux or well-established artists like She Past Away and, of course, IamX.
When you've already been swept away by the synthetic melancholy of their music, you're having some expectations: you' could imagine these two with a minimalist show, waddling limply across a black and white stage, the whole weight of existence crushing their shoulders as the genre demands. We were getting ready to slowly shake our carcasses, staring sadly at the ground, telling ourselves that this is what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives, while hoping that those lives wouldn't last too long either... well, actually, nay! Niet! Nada! Ductape live is, well, alive and full of conviction!
The performance owes much to the involvement of Çağla Güleray, dynamic and charismatic. She twirls, interacts with her audience and roams the stage with energy. Tracks like King, Fire, Anafor and Veil of Lies lend themselves well to more assertive waddling, while Blue Black and Ölüm Günüm plunge the Trabendo into a hypnotic and addictive spectral melancholy. Furkan Güleray's guitar adds bite to the synths, and the sound oscillates between nostalgic tributes and more contemporary textures: Ductape has assimilated the rules of the genre and knows how to recite them with personality and relevance. They've got it down pat and they're getting the applause they deserve. We'll be seeing them again very soon, it's as much a hope as a certainty!
IAMX
Since last time, IamX has expanded. There's an extra screen on stage and the line-up is now made up of four people: the omnipresent Jon Siren on drums, the indispensable Janine Gezang and her crazy energy on bass and Sarah Pray on keyboards accompany the master of ceremonies... who has changed his mask and opted for strange rabbit ears, giving him a more facetious look and the air of a Carrollian nightmare. To fully immerse yourself, you have to dive in, and IamX take the time to drown their audience in their universe with the introspective The Ocean, a rather slow but judicious poetic opener which already hints at the power of Corner's voice, in fine form this evening. The melancholy takes on epic, cathartic tones on the chorus, and the tension mounts: this is going to be good.
While IamX always work on their music live, playing with their audience and giving their tracks new dimensions, it's not hard to recognise them tonight either. Disciple, for example, benefits from it, causing the first tremors in the room. The audience is eager to get moving, as tracks from the two recent Fault Lines albums kick things off with a mix of atmospheric restraint and emotional outbursts. While IamX haven't particularly surprised us in the studio in recent years, their music really comes into its own live, recapturing that playful pleasure, that spark of genial, delightful madness.
And then, all of a sudden, it was time to travel in time: Corner went back to their earliest tracks, with Sailor and After Every Party I Die. The setlist for the evening covers the band's discography in a balanced way, with a mix of classics (Spit it Out, The Alternative, Aphrodisiac) and surprises (Break the Chain and, above all, The Great Shipwreck of Life). On stage, the crowd winced, laughed, played and had a great time. It's rare enough to be worth mentioning that you can see, and quite well, as the Trabendo is covered in bright, varied colours. Corner kept telling us how beautiful we were, proving that even in the bright lights he couldn't see a thing through his mask!
In this whirlwind of extravagance, however, we can see the outlines of certain rules. For example, when you're part of IamX, if you want to wear trousers, you can't wear a T-shirt. And vice versa. Unless, while some bands have their gear stolen, they've had their clothes stolen from the launderette. The show lends itself to a fun moment, friendly and rock'n'roll. The room explodes with I Come With Knives in a very unbridled and cathartic industrial rock rendition. The fun continues right up until the (double) encore: Bernadette, in a more noise/industrial version, loses its cabaret edge but a new kind of menace is added to its heady nostalgia... until Janine Gezang comes bellowing into the microphone, shattering the bittersweet mood imposed by the music up to that point and demolish our eardrums with humour. There's one last track, Mercy, a dark, tortured finale: IamX have entertained us with their spring-loaded, rabbit-eared singer, but leave us with a few ghosts to end the evening with.
If you've ever had mixed feelings about IamX, whether it was their recent studio albums (nothing to be ashamed of, but a little predictable) or their live shows (a little too... unpredictable?), this was the evening to reconcile you with Chris Corner's project. It was a show that was at times touching, at times delirious, liberating and crazy, where the exchange with the audience was central. By reinventing his classics, the musician continues to breathe life into creations that are never stuck in the past and can give them a second win over the years. This approach, which is as exciting as it is satisfying, is combined with a refreshing generosity (if you count the breaks between encores, you're approaching two hours of concert time) and a clear desire to continue sharing and bringing this repertoire to life. See you in two years' time for the next one!
