In what has become a yearly tradition for the Pop Montréal festival, an artist is given the opportunity to perform a show at Cinéma L’Amour, Montréal’s most renowned (only?) porn theater.
This year: GAMIC/ADISQ-nominated Lydia Képinski. Labeled “Sadenight”, this one-night-only show promised to be epic just by looking at the awesome artwork by Valaska Illustration produced to promote the show.
The event was officially sold-out and, for some reason, doors didn’t open at the announced time. So you had this 450+ people line-up outside Cinéma L’Amour. You should have seen the confused faces of people passing by wondering what kind of porn movie would attract such a crowd!
The show started with a mini-movie filmed for the event where you follow Lydia’s taxi ride to the theater. Arriving from behind the crowd, Képinski began singing the song Les Balançoires from her most recent LP, the fantastic Premier Juin. The stage was awfully small for the number of musicians and you could sense Képinski was like a lion in a cage wanting to rock out more than she could with the limited space.
The show was full of surprises, from dancers and mascots in the crowds to Lydia showing up at the balcony to end in full power Pie-IX, her heaviest track. By the time she played Maïa and its infectious groove, the crowd erupted and began dancing like mad. Sadenight’s epic climax came during the hypnotic Belmont, during another viewing of a custom video projected on the giant screen that pictured Képinski covered in blood, in full Elizabeth Báthory mode. Did I say EPIC? Wow!
And….just when you thought she wasted the heaviness of the song Pie-IX too soon in the set, the encore included a repeat of the second half of Pie-IX, heavier than ever, with the front row headbanging like crazy and Lydia crowd surfing. Credits roll. You had to be there! One of the most memorable shows I have ever seen.
For tour dates & merch click here. You can follow Lydia Képinski on Facebook & Instagram.
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Francophone and Francophile, trying to bring Québec’s two solitudes together through cultural exchanges. Improv Actor for 15 years. Music lover, from New Age to Death Metal and everything in between.