“I sing to tell him that I love him”: two days after the death of journalist Gérard Leclerc, his half-brother Julien Clerc paid him a moving tribute on Thursday August 17 during a concert in La Baule (Loire-Atlantique ). Standing on the front of the stage, dressed all in black, Julien Clerc (Paul-Alain Leclerc of his real name) honored the memory of his “little brother”, who “attended (his) concerts for fifty years”.
Gérard Leclerc, CNews journalist and former France 2 presenter, died on Tuesday in the crash of the passenger plane he was piloting in Lavau-sur-Loire (Loire-Atlantique). He had to go to the Julien Clerc concert.
When he arrived on stage, the singer was given a long standing ovation by the crowd, who applauded him standing in an amphitheater surrounded by greenery. “My brother had arranged to meet me here tonight, fate decided otherwise,” the singer said, his voice tight. “He would have hated that I didn’t sing (…) I sing to tell my brother that I love him,” he added, one eye on his speech, written on a sheet of paper, in front of the 1,450 spectators attending the concert organized in the Parc des Dryades, as part of the Dryadestivales festival.
Present in the audience, Pascal Praud, flagship host of CNews, of which Gérard Leclerc was one of the columnists, greeted Agence France-Presse with the memory of a “wonderful comrade” and an “eternal young man”. of “rare kindness”. “In the debate as it is organized, it was essential. He allowed me to sometimes be a bit caricatural, because he was precisely always in the nuance, in moderation, “added the journalist.
Seated a little further in the stands, Emmanuelle Herveau, 65, had come from Guérande to attend the concert, moved to see her “favorite” artist maintain the evening “despite the drama”. “He’s an artist all the way. And it’s a beautiful message of hope: he continues to communicate beyond death, “she said, sitting next to her husband, in a sailor shirt and jeans.
Arms crossed, under the trees, Frédéric Renaudin, former pianist of Julien Clerc, hailed the “not simple” concert by an artist of “great modesty”, having “deep respect for his audience”.
On stage, to applause, Julien Clerc began his concert with the title Comment tu vas, intoning his chorus in a loud voice and microphone in hand – “For me, you see, I think of you”.