It was five years ago that Véronique Sanson last came to the Halle Tony
Garnier, and then it was my first occasion to see her in concert. You know how
there's a unique mixture of mystery and excitement just before you see your
favourite artist for the first time: Those first sentiments came flooding back
last night - this vast hall has a certain magic about it, even if it's not
really an ideal venue for getting a good view of the stage.

It was a few minutes before 21h when the hall lights went out, and coloured
beams projected onto the white curtain which temporarily masked our heros behind...
but not the opening notes of "On m'attend là bas" - the show was moving!
After a few bars of music, down came the curtain, Véro centre stage, with
her guitar and wearing shades... and on wonderful form!

The scenery was impressive in the setting, and it was so versatile considering
its simplicity. The enormous globe high above the centre stage transformed
through all the colours of the rainbow during the evening, and it was very effective
in front of the back-drop curtain containing small lights simulating stars. To each
side there were two enormous white tubes, which sort of reminds me of the
booster rockets on the space shuttle! Columns of remote controlled spot
lights at the rear were hardly staying still... and it all made for a
spectacular light show!

Véro welcomed the audience to her show, and invited us to share with her some
moments reflecting on happiness and sadness; and there's no better way to do
that! A notable early inclusion in the set list was "L'Etoile Rouge",
and it sort of woke me up to this song - it makes such a positive
difference when you see it performed on stage. Later on came the popular
"Marie", and this is where guitarist Dawayne Bailey really hit gold!! Was
his solo fast? - It was unbelievable!! I've never heard anything like that
before - a real experience which deservedly earned its own round of applause.
Véro slowed it down a bit then, and a little later we all had our favourite
sing along to Bahia. The first part of the show ended with an impeccable
performance of "Seras-tu là" - which defies the hammering Véro's vocal cords have
been taking in recent weeks! It demonstrated just how well she can adapt her singing
when necessary.

Back for the second half, and by this time people had left their seats and were
gathering in front of the stage. OK, so the view wasn't so good, but the
atmosphere in the Halle certainly stepped up into top gear! Part two opened with their
wonderful new version of "Besoin de Personne" - not that different, but if Véro
ever releases another live single, this has to be it! This was followed up by
"Dieu", aka Allah (which it was most of the time!). After "C'est long c'est court",
Véro took a pause to introduce the band.
She was relatively brisk about it too - I think someone must have told her to hurry
up, and we didn't hear any jokes about Lee Sklar's beard!

The music got going again with Lee Thornburg's Edith Piaf trumpet solo (now a regular
feature of the show!), and into "Bernard's Song". Material from the new album was
introduced with Indestructible - a song which I find goes down even better live
than it sounds on the CD. A few songs later, "Un Etre Ideal" came across brilliantly
as a live number: The first verse was deliberately toned down in order to give the
chorus more impact - a trick that worked very effectively. That completed the "pre-encore"show before Véro waved and went backstage. But, she wasn't leaving us that easily!!

The audience cheered and clapped at 100 decibels for several minutes - and then
Véro returned with a big smile, to perform one of her best tracks on the new
album: "Un amour qui m'irait bien". I'd felt we'd earned that one, but we
still had to "invite" her back on stage again for her final two numbers. It
gave my throat a good workout! As expected back she came, and treated us to
her final two songs of the evening, "Ma Reverance", and from her new album "Je
me suis tellement manquée" - a song that not every audience has been privileged to
hear. What a beautiful way to end another night to remember!

Track list: Lyon 20th April 1998

On m'attend là bas
Paranoïa
L'Etoile Rouge
Vancouver
Dis lui de revenir
Toi et moi
Marie
Le Maudit
Les choses qu'on dit aux vieux amis
Bahia
Seras-tu là
(Pause)
Besoin de Personne
Dieu
Mon Voisin
Panne de Coeur
Feminin
C'est long c'est court
Bernard's Song
Indestructible
Hôtel Biron - chambre 22
Rien que de l'eau
Un être ideal
(1st encore)
Un amour qui m'irait bien
(2nd encore)
Ma reverance
Je me suis tellement manquée