Michel Polnareff: which artists at “The evening event” on France 2?

MICHEL POLNAREFF. The singer Michel Polnareff is in the spotlight on France 2 this Tuesday, December 06 with a special evening called “The evening event.”

[Mis à jour le 06 décembre 2022 à 15h37] The return with great fanfare of Michel Polnareff: after the announcement of his new tour in 2023 and an album entitled Polnareff sings Polnareffthe singer is in the spotlight this Tuesday evening on France 2 with a program soberly (or not) called Michel Polnareff, the evening event. On the program for the evening, Michel Polnareff’s cover of some of his greatest titles with… himself, in a hologram version. A journey through time accompanied by thirteen musicians and artists who have come to pay homage to him.

His expected: Patrick Bruel, Mentissa, Amir, Nolwenn Leroy, Santa, Camille Lellouche, Vincent Delerm, Marc Lavoine, Catherine Ringer, Raphaël, Bilal Hassani, Pomme, Sofiane Pamart, Chimène Badi, Anne Sila, Aurélie Saada and Scylla. “It’s a mix. There are people that I’ve been referred to that I hadn’t thought of. I’ve regretted people that I really wanted, but weren’t available. Hoshi, Clara Luciani, Juliette Armanet … They had their own agenda”, however explains Michel Polnareff to Puremedia.

For this program, no presenter. But the voice of a well-known animator: “I asked Michel Denisot to do the voiceover. He does it very well. I like him a lot, comments Michel Polnareff to the specialized site. “I thought it was good. But there’s no entertainer. I’m not the entertainer, but I’m very animated. Hopefully my presence is enough.”

Polnareff sings Polnareffa new album

Another stone in the building of this return with fanfare: a new album. Or almost. Polnareff sings Polnareff brings together piano-voice versions of his greatest hits: from Letter to France at Goodbye MarylouPassing by The doll that says no, We’ll all go to heaven Where The Laze Ball. A “challenge” for the 78-year-old artist, who was “pushed in the direction of releasing a new record” by his manager, as he explains to Puremedia.

“He had felt there had been a demand from the fans for quite some time. They wanted to hear something a little more stripped down to what was on the original versions of my records. At first I didn’t was not hot. I found the approach a little weird, apart from the desire to please the fans. I had to believe in it. I was a little apprehensive. I had not sung for a long time. For the piano, it has been. It’s part of me. But the voice, I had to preserve it! It’s been five or six years since I’ve sung. I don’t do vocals.. I had a little trouble at the start,” explains Michel Polnareff, who claims to “love the result.”

“I have chosen [les chansons] which I think are unavoidable (…) It was a complicated exercise, but I’m happy because it’s true. We don’t have drums or guitar, very few effects, but we haven’t minimized the songs. It’s simple but rich”, he also confided to the Parisian.

A tour in 2023 for Michel Polnareff

Still in November 2022, the bespectacled singer announced, on RTL, a new salvo of concerts of around twenty dates, which will begin on May 24, 2023 at the Palais Nikaïa in Nice. According to the radio, the show will be divided into two parts: one with Michel Polnareff alone, in piano-voice, the other where he will be surrounded by musicians.

“I hope it’s not going too fast and that I’m not going to become a microwave,” says the 78-year-old artist to RTL. And to add: “it’s possible that this will be my last tour, but I think about it on every tour, since the first!” Michel Polnareff will perform in several zeniths and arenas in France, until the beginning of summer 2023. He will also perform in two festivals, the Nuits de Fourvière in Lyon and at the Festival de Nîmes. The ticket office for Michel Polnareff’s tour opened this Wednesday, November 16.

Tickets are available at all the usual points of sale, such as Fnac.

The dates of Michel Polnareff’s tour

For this new tour, in 2024, Michel Polnareff will set off again on the roads of France in spring and summer. He will notably pass through Nantes, Poitiers, Orléans, Saint-Etienne, but also Toulouse, Bordeaux, Strasbourg or Brussels. Michel Polnareff will play at the Accor Arena in Paris on July 2, 2023. Here are all the dates of his tour:

• May 24, 2023 – Nikaïa Palace – Nice
• May 30, 2023 – Zenith – Nantes
• May 31, 2023 – Arena Futuroscope – Poitiers
• June 1, 2023 – Arena – Orleans
• June 03, 2023 – Zenith – Saint Etienne
• 04 June 2023 – Arena – Geneva
• June 05, 2023 – Zenith – Dijon
• June 09, 2023 – Arena – Brest
• June 10, 2023 – Zenith – Rouen
• June 11, 2023 – Zenith – Amiens
• June 15, 2023 – Arena – Reims
• June 16, 2023 – Nights of Fourvière – Lyons
• June 17, 2023 – Galaxy – Amneville
• June 18, 2023 – Zenith – Strasbourg
• June 22, 2023 – Arkéa Arena – Bordeaux
• June 23, 2023 – Zenith – Toulouse
• June 24, 2023 – Zenith – Clermont Ferrand
• June 30, 2023 – Forest National – Brussels
• July 1, 2023 – Gayant Expo – duai
• July 08, 2023 – Festival of Nimes

Michel Polnareff and Polnarêves

Michel Polnareff in one of the capital’s most famous nightclubs: last summer, the singer returned with a show called Polnarêves, an immersive experience, which started on Thursday June 2, 2022, at the Palace, a must for Parisian nights since the 1970s. The show was originally supposed to start on May 5, 2022, but was postponed due to technical problems. “Following defects in the delivery of part of the broadcast equipment allowing you to live the most perfect experience possible, we are forced to postpone to June 2 Polnarêvesthe immersive experience of Michel Polnareff at the Palace”, wrote the artist with white glasses on Twitter.

It was not a show, nor a traditional exhibition and even less a retrospective of his career. Polnarêves, it’s more like a visit to Michel Polnareff’s head, with 360° projections on the walls of a huge bubble, which tell his dreams, his life, through his songs. The immersive experience lasts 40 minutes, for a dreamlike “musical journey” in seven acts and screened seven times a day.

“During this immersive show, the spectator is somewhat in a virtual reality helmet but without a helmet. We can move around and change our point of view. Spatialized, the sound accompanies the visitor regardless of his position. Michel Polnareff chose the songs and the illustrations. Everything was done remotely. He discovered the final result on a 3D simulator,” artistic director Marc Benaïche told AFP.

“The immersive experience is an extraordinary journey designed with Michel Polnareff. His mythical and iconic songs take the viewer on an experience towards the unexpected and the explosion of musical images”, could we read in a press release from the Palace.