We Should Have Known

In so many ways. As we look back, we saw that the evidence was abundant and obvious. But somehow we had convinced ourselves that it would be otherwise.

Don't let our smiles mislead you. No, that's too harsh. We did smile, and frequently. But mostly in disbelief... and a little embarrassment. What you can't see here is that the average age of the other attendees at this concert, not including their parents, was approximately 12.

That, plus the fact that the concert began at 7:30pm, and had no opening acts. Well, that and that when we went to the library to check out cds of her music, they were only found in the children's section. And then, there was the fact that not one of our friends--and we do have friends here who *know* the music scene--knew her name. At all.

Somehow we kept writing it off. Like, she's French! So maybe our circle isn't really informed about her work... maybe we're experimenting beyond the zone of what is traditionally comfortable for us (she's also a pop singer) .... and that's why we got blank looks when we mentioned our plans for this concert?

But then, as we walked through the Bell Centre parking lot, amidst the throngs of tween girls with their moms and a few slightly sketchily excited dads, and thought to ourselves "maybe there's another event going on here tonight?" Really... then, we knew we should have known.

So this video is from the last time Marie Mai played the Bell Centre. The crowd loved her. And she loved the crowd. I bet she hardly noticed these two anglophone blonds squinting against the stroke-inducing lights and wishing they had remembered their earplugs.

Truly, we enjoyed several of her songs, although E and I differ on which ones. And how many. During the times we could get past her black lace body stocking, corset, and booty shorts crooning to the pink and purple sparkly 12-year-olds.

I know it's that dissonance that bothered E most. We're not too proud to be found in a crowd of people much younger than we are, struggling to understand the lyrics, reconciling our expectations with the experience of the thing. No. We're not too proud to admit when we're wrong. But to be one of the less than 2% males over 30 in the audience, and pretend like he didn't see the juxtaposition of hypersexed pop music and our innocent row-mates. That is what really made us cringe.

But there we have it. Another night out in Montreal, another surprise. We're wondering still what the event can tell us about Quebecois music and culture.... maybe that will be the subject of another post.