Standing at the front of the stage, dressed all in black, Julien Clerc (real name Paul-Alain Leclerc) honored the memory of his “little brother” who had “attended (his) concerts for 50 years”.
“He would have hated that I didn’t sing (…) I sing to tell my brother that I love him,” he added, in his paper-written speech, in front of an audience of 1,450. A concert organized at the Parc des Triedes as part of the Triestivals festival.
When he took the stage, the singer was given a standing ovation by the crowd, who gave him a standing ovation in an amphitheater surrounded by greenery.
Gérard Leclerc, a Cnews journalist and former anchor of France 2, died on Tuesday when the passenger plane he was piloting crashed in Lavau-sur-Loire (Loire-Atlantique). He was due to attend a Julian Clarke concert scheduled for Thursday evening.
“My brother gave me an appointment here tonight, fate decided otherwise,” the singer said in a tight voice.
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“Beyond Death”
In the audience, Pascal Pratt, the star anchor of Cnews, where Gérard Leclerc was one of the columnists, greeted AFP with a “rare kind” memory of a “wonderful companion” and “eternal youth”.
“In the debate it organized, it was essential. It allowed me to be a bit caricature at times, because he was precisely always in the nuance, moderate”, added the journalist.
Seated some distance away in the stands, 65-year-old Emmanuelle Herveau, who had come from Guérande to attend the concert, was moved to see her “favorite” artist maintain the evening “despite the drama”.
“He’s an artist to the end. And it’s a beautiful message of hope: He continues to communicate beyond death,” she said, sitting next to her husband, in a sailor suit and jeans.
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Frédéric Renadine, Julien Clerk’s former pianist, hailed the concert as “not simple” by an artist of “great modesty” and “with deep respect for his audience” who gathered arms under the trees.
On stage, to applause, Julian Clark opened his concert entitled “Comment to Vas”. Loud and with microphone in hand he sings his chorus: “Because I, you see, I’m thinkin’ about you”.
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