It’s an international year for Francis Cabrel’s Trobador Tour, which arrives in North America (the dates are at the end of this article) after appearing on stages in various European countries during the winter and spring. The singer from Tarn-et-Garonne is eagerly awaited on this side of the Atlantic because he has not performed there since 2016; his 2020 tour had to be canceled due to the pandemic. It will also be an opportunity for younger generations to discover one of the most prolific writers of beautiful French songs.
Influenced in his youth by Bob Dylan, it was 45 years ago, in 1979, that Francis Cabrel became famous with his first hit, “I love him to death”. A bit of a hippie style (long hair, moustache), a lot of peace and love, Cabrel followed up the following year with a record of La Dame de Haute-Savoie and L’Encre de tes yeux, which sold around a million copies. Successes will mark his career: Lille Marie, It is written., I loved you, I love you, I will love you, Sarbacane, La corrida, Fiskerhytten…
And Cabrel unfolds his successes at his own pace, without forcing himself when he wants to release a record, always in his unique, sometimes nostalgic style. Sardou, Goldman and Johnny have drawn the curtain, French singing has changed a lot: not Cabrel. And it pleases. Like Dylan, he picks up his guitar and he does what he loves, he does what he wants.
A troubadour with a guitar on the roads of America in 2024… everyone will think of Dylan again. In 2012, Francis Cabrel also released the album “Vise le Ciel”, which contained only French reinterpretations of Bobby’s songs.
His last studio album was in 2020, At Dawn Returning, and it was the fourteenth.
Cabrel, considered a very good guitarist (and composer), surprised a few days ago by offering a series of tutorials on Youtube to learn how to play his songs: huge success because there are many amateur guitarists who enjoy playing Cabrel !
Note also that on April 6, thirty years after his album “A Saturday Night on the Earth” (the best-selling French record, with 3.5 million copies), Francis Cabrel finally gave a video clip for his song La Corrida. In 1994, the then record company did not want to push too hard on this controversial subject, but the song still made history, also thanks to this Cabrélian maxim that entered popular language: “is – how serious is this world?
Francis Cabrel is also the founder of Les Rencontres d’Astaffort festival.
Trobador Tour in North America:
(All concerts are at 8pm)
– June 4: Los Angeles (theatre at Ace Hotel)
– June 6: Oakland (Fox Theater)
– June 8: Miami (Knight Concert Hall)
– June 12: New York (City Hall)
– June 14: Montreal (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier)
– June 15: Trois-Rivières (L’Amphithéâtre)
– June 16: Quebec (Agora).
