Thiéfaine came, we saw him and we liked him.

The tour kicked off on April 11, 2015, in Reims. It ended on November 19, 2016, at Le Zénith in Paris. It was a marathon for French singer Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine, who is as keen as ever to perform in the provinces, and who appears (almost) as often in the media as ever, which is to say almost never. The singer-songwriter from Dole, in the French Jura, played a total of one hundred and nine dates as part of his «VIXI Tour XVII».

So many opportunities for his fans to see him again after his last and no less titanic «Homo plebis ultimae Tour», which ran from 2011 to 2013. These are also opportunities for Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine to defend his latest album, Strategy of hopelessness, an opus of the highest quality, which we wrote about in our thirteenth edition last February. No fewer than eight tracks from this 2014 work have been included in the tour repertoire, alongside older and often cult songs such as 113th cigarette without sleeping, Alligators 427 and of course The joint cutter's daughter.

His time in Morges

As fate would have it, Thiéfaine came to Switzerland to perform the penultimate date of his singing tour, in Morges. The Théâtre de Beausobre, with its friendly staff, celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2016, adding a touch of emotion to the November 17 concert. On that day, Thiéfaine clearly won over the audience. It was mainly made up of 60-somethings, once of the 60s. It has to be said that Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine's audience is a loyal one, having followed the artist since his debut in the seventies, or having joined him along the way and never missing a beat. Added to this are newcomers who, like me, are curious about an original, well-constructed musical project, and appreciate above all the Thiéfaine of recent albums, with their mature sound and assumed darkness.

On that Thursday, we were able to enjoy the benefits of an end-of-tour experience: there was no hesitation in the vocals, every aspect of the concert had been fine-tuned, and the musicians were so at ease that they ventured into daring improvisations. The evening begins with the song Up the river, a very lucid reflection on life and death. The only problem was the sound, which was somewhat saturated. The technicians completely remedied this after a few songs. The color is given from the outset: the concert will be very rock. Hubert-Félix's son, Lucas, plays electric guitar on stage. His father has already given him the opportunity to produce the arrangements for the 2014 album. The highly electric atmosphere is nevertheless balanced by more acoustic moments, such as the love ballad I leave you to the wind, where Thiéfaine is alone on guitar, as on the sublime Early morning 4.10 summer time and the finale A farewell.

Symbolist poetry

In addition to his musical tone, Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine is also known for his words. His Baudelaire's songs have a very special atmosphere, a gift for making us feel the essence of mystery, for taking us into suburban spleen, into the most lucid despair, into sex and artificial paradises. Charles Baudelaire can be felt in all his songs, but we can also mention Edgar Allan Poe, another of his literary masters, to whom he owes the figure of the raven. This symbol is also present in Rimbaud's work, a major figure in Symbolism, a poetic movement that emerged at the end of the 19th century.^th In the 19th century, he established correspondences between image and idea, playing with the blending of sensations and the expression of mystery.

There's no doubt that Thiéfaine could be described as a neo-symbolist rocker, since his verses are full of synesthesia and tend towards a certain hermeticism. In fact, it's often said that each time you listen to one of his songs, you discover words you've never heard before. The former Latin-Greek student and lover of antiquity and literature uses terms such as «doryphores», «petroglyphs», «rostres» and «lycanthrope». And these are not thrown into a bohemian singer's mishmash to impress. On the contrary, they are carefully integrated into a poetry that is thoughtful, humble, shuns the «me» and, like all intelligent work, is imbued with a relentless nostalgia, a sense of the tragic that rejects both the blissful optimism of the «hits de l'été» and the protest of committed singers.

Read also | Strategy of hopelessness, a sublime lucidity

At sixty-eight years of age, Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine retains an uncommon vitality, a total ease on stage, an intact inspiration and a healthy and safe voice, even more interesting than at the beginning of his career. This man, whose penultimate album, Lie supplements, His latest album won the 2015 Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles-Cros in the «Chanson» category. This man, who received the Grand Prix de la Chanson Française from SACEM in 2011 and the Victoire for Best Male Performer in 2012, is sure to have many more surprises in store for us in the years to come.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com