“On stage, musicians are rare,” headlined Le Monde in an article published on October 7. A sad observation confirmed five days later by Stuart Price, musical director of Madonna’s “Celebration” tour, with the BBC, announcing that the singer’s show would be held without musicians on stage. Except… “Taratata” (onomatopoeia meaning negation)! For the 30th anniversary of his musical show, Nagui, host and producer, is offering an XXL concert: a 1,000 square meter stage, 84 artists, 28 musicians, flesh-and-blood choirs, for nearly three and forty hours of music , captured on October 5 at Paris-La Défense Arena in front of 40,000 spectators. Whether or not you like the multi-award winning “favorite French presenter” (according to the OpinionWay rankings for TV Magazine), this concert will be a landmark.
And this from the introduction, which projects on the four giant screens a text in reverse thinking (“reverse thinking” mechanism): “It seems that music no longer has its place on television…” Read from top to bottom until “except that…”, where the reading is reversed from bottom to top: “Except that… music has its place on television. » It doesn’t take much to pump up the audience.
The surprise effect will be in full swing all evening. Spectators bought their tickets without knowing the name of a single artist, only on the promise of a concert and the assurance that the entire price of the tickets would be donated to the fight against cancer – 1.2 million euros collected, before the calls for donations currently being issued. Except that… A live performance on this scale is not without risk, technical or otherwise, even if it is provided, by definition, by “singers who know how to sing”. “That’s also what creates the emotion,” comments Nagui to Le Monde. This evening, there are 84 of them performing without any real fee (except the minimum required by insurance). According to a proven model, they cover international song standards as a duo, trio or quartet.
Trio of groups
We’re not reasonable at 30. Nagui, however, secured the first table, inviting Jean-Louis Aubert, Zazie, Raphael and Axel Bauer. From Another World (1984) to That’s Really You (1982), they take visible pleasure in meeting again. “That’s the point of “Taratata”: seeing friends we haven’t seen for a long time,” Bernard Lavilliers, who was the first guest on the original “Taratata” on January 10, 1993, said an hour later. – he also didn’t like the name of the show. Many, like him, are regulars: Grand Corps Malade, Vianney, Alain Chamfort, Véronique Sanson, Cali, Pascal Obispo, Hoshi, Eddy de Pretto, Michel Jonasz, Axelle Red, Sheila, Olivia Ruiz… And “Monsieur Bazilou”, at the guitar.
Among the highlights, Paul Personne, Axel Bauer, Thomas Dutronc and Eddy Mitchell, all in complicity, “on credit”, “in stereo”. And the unprecedented trio of groups, represented by the leaping Mathias Malzieu (Dionysos), Sharleen Spiteri (Texas) and Gaëtan Roussel (Louise Attaque), magnificent from start to finish, with a preference for their interpretation of Song for Jedi (2002) . The one-night gift is offered by Matthieu Chedid, author of the French version of Goodbye Stranger (Supertramp, 1979), for Emma Peters and Charlie Winston, before the intervention of Ibrahim Maalouf. There, a shudder runs through the room. However, “he didn’t rehearse and arrived at the last moment,” confides Nagui.
On stage, the presenter wants to pay tributes. First to Marie-France Brière, program director of France 2 when “Taratata” was created, and to the president of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte, who asked her to reform the show after eight years of stopping, in 2016. Then to the co-founders: director Gérard Pullicino and his “magic keyboard”; Marie Prycko, director of programming; Patrice Cramer, sound engineer “gone too soon”, died of cancer in 2016.
“The earth is scorched.”
The arrival of Ed Sheeran, alone with his guitar for three hits and an “improv”, is applauded wildly. Nagui is proud of the staging, the flame jets, the 800 projectors and the “sound lighting” in the stands using the wePix arena application (which generates a special light when the flashlight of the smartphone is on), the find of a Toulouse start-up. For our part, we had fun during Vincent Delerm’s gag show, and the image of the three drums lined up, playing simultaneously, remains engraved forever.
As for MC Solaar, did he expect such an ovation? Before the sensational arrival of guitarist Nile Rodgers, from the group Chic, for three tracks including Le Freak (1978). In the pit, it’s a nightclub atmosphere. On stage, he is joined by MC Solar, Sly Johnson, Féfé, Black M and Oli for a rap scene. No one imagines what happens next: Shaka Ponk! “Last, of course, after them, the earth is burned,” Nagui tells us.
We then think of those who are absent. Florent Pagny, “who must rest”, Clara Luciani, in the maternity ward, or Jean-Jacques Goldman, author of the credits and savior of “Taratata” (by ensuring the second broadcast at short notice, when no guest wanted to ‘risk it). Nagui of course asked him to come this evening. Without success. “His response hurt, but it made me laugh. He told me “30 years is not an anniversary, but 50, yes, it’s a blast!” » Chick.