This time, no fiery piano or featuring with the Republican Guard. The closing ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games offered a more conventional but equally explosive show in the closed setting of the Stade de France. After the choreography of the Golden Voyageur, the Phoenix quartet appeared on the stage of the Dionysian setting to perform one of its flagship pieces: “Lisztomania”.
As the athletes were invited to leave the stage and go to their reserved seats, the electro pop group played in the middle of 400 athletes. “It was really very surprising, we expected something very smooth and it started off wildly and we love it,” rejoiced Thomas Mars, the group's singer on the France Inter morning show.
A nice moment certainly but not planned in the program and which worried the organizers. “We were afraid for them, we were told Above all, don't go on the screens, and there, there were 400 people on it, explained the singer from Versailles, ambassador of this musical “French Touch”. But there was more fear than harm. We had been warned that they were very happy, the pressure having dropped and that in general, during the closing ceremony, they let loose. But it was perfect!
“It was great, fabulous”
Carried by the euphoria of the moment as the delegations had just left the central platform, the Phoenix singer then rushed into the crowd where he belted out the song “1901”. This kind of overflow, “usually, it happens in small rooms where there are 800 people and we didn't expect to experience this moment, in this place, on this day”, recalled Thomas Mars this Monday morning on France Inter. It was great, fabulous”.
The evening's central theme, the Versailles pop rock group also accompanied Belgian artist Angèle and Seine-Saint-Denis native DJ Kavinsky on the track “Nightcall”. “We were looking for the voice for this track, and Angèle immediately said yes,” confided the Phoenix singer. The Brussels native had already set Paris La Défense Arena alight during one of her tours, but not yet the Stade de France. It's now a done deal.
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