My wife Andrée and I had the pleasure of seeing Daniel Bélanger on stage at a local college’s theatre this Thursday. After last seeing him on stage about 5 years ago, Bélanger is back on the road to support the release of a new album, L’échec du matériel.

With his laid back appearance (long beard, untamed hair, jeans and a sweater), his presence on stage was very strong and gave us an insight on his personality. The stage itself was also very interesting, with antennas and chimneys to make it look as if the band was playing on the rooftops.

More than half the set list was made up from songs from his latest album, but he still gave some room to his classics with some new musical arrangements. He also did about five songs where he was playing the guitar alone on stage to accompany his lyrics.

All in all, it was a very good show. It was also the first time that we were leaving Gabrielle was babysat at home. At least we felt that they were in good care since it was my sister taking care of them. The only other time when she had not been with us was for two nights at her grand-mother’s in December.