Montpellier meeting - Karaoke!
After everyone arrived in Montpellier and had dinner, we set out for Le Restophone, a bar in the south of Montpellier. Karaoke is not so popular in Montpellier that there are reliably good places to go - in my previous trips, places which have had it before have stopped their karaoke nights, and consequently, I felt compelled to do some "karaoke research". I headed to Le Restophone the Friday prior and the atmosphere was good - people from other tables were cheering on strangers as they sang, so it seemed to be an appropriate venue for "the most fun karaoke place in France", the claim Le Restophone proudly announces on their website.
And fun was had indeed! The seven of us were joined by Spiritualized's wife and two daughters, who joined in the fun and seem destined to give First Aid Kit a run for their money with their great harmonies! Music brought all of us together through AM, and we would pay back the favour by singing to our hearts' content!
The first performance by an AMer blew the roof of the place, as Nassim launched into a spirited version of "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys. We were all amazed by Nassim's gusto, so much that we felt the performance could only be done justice with a triple camera angle video capture assembled by Honorio's daughter from the three AM cameramen.
Marvel at the glory here:
Inspired by the energy of Nassim's performance, I decided to have a go at promoting my favorite genre, synth funk, with a performance of "Early in the Morning" by The Gap Band. My dancing threatened to split the stage consisting of two small tables in half, but I managed to not fall into the void.
Enjoy the nasty synth bass here:
Next up was Nicolas, whose voice we have enjoyed before with his collaborations with Honorio as the vocalist of Nic & Hon, so we knew we were in for a treat. And what a treat it was, as Nic's voice soared through a version of "Quand on arrive en ville" by Daniel Balavoine, a song you will hear more about soon!
Lose yourself in awe at Nic's voice here:
The peak of the night occurred when the seven of us decided to form a supergroup for a performance. A number of songs were considered, but we eventually settled on a souped-up version of a previous AM karaoke collaboration. And so, we combined forces to become the one and only AM League, performing "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League. I've always loved karaoke, but performing together with 6 friends I have met through AM made this particularly special moment, one I will never forget. Let no one ever malign 1981 as a weak year for music again!
Witness this moment in AM history here:
Finally, I couldn't let the night finish without paying tribute to my favorite French artist in Mylène Farmer, performing my favorite song of hers in "Sans logique". I was unexpectedly joined on stage by a (drunk?) girl in the crowd who wanted to sing with me after my performance of "Early in the Morning". I don't think she knew the song, and she may have felt that she got more than she bargained for when I started with the repeated, threatening utterances of "this is a blank formatted diskette", but we soon kicked into a fun, amateur groove.
See where this falls on the scale of awkward to fun here:
I can't sufficiently emphasise how grateful I am that this night happened. The entire weekend was a dream come true for me, and to celebrate in this way was amazing.
well that is just peachy.
