Yann Tiersen at 9:30 Club

Merrijoy May 29, 2012 events, News, Reviews No Comments

Yann Tiersen and his band finished up their US Tour in DC at the lovely 9:30 Club. The venue was packed full of an eclectic mix of Yann Tiersen fans, many of which have listened to him seven albums and three soundtracks ago. With the various array of instruments set up on the stage, you could already tell that this was going to be a show you needed to take in as a whole.

Piano Chat, from France, opened up the night. He was lively and the crowd was really into it. Playing all of his own instruments in a tUnE-yArDs-eque manner. He was making an incredible amount of amusing noises that that would repeat as a part of his songs, occasionally breaking into his drumkit or guitar solos. For his last song of the set, he played the entire song in the middle of crowd at the 9:30 Club, leaving everyone riled up and ready for Yann Tiersen.

Yann Tiersen and company opened up with Till the End from the instrumentally-layered Dust Lane. The set continued with a large contribution of tracks from the album like Palestine, Amy, and Fuck Me. It was only until after they brought beautiful old school songs like Monochrome and Rue des cascades that they got to playing tracks off Tiersen’s latest record Skyline, with opening track Another Shore and The Gutter, that provided an incredible breakdown of instruments and a visual light show. Each track off of Skyline provided a different image that resembled the Skyline album cover, like Vanishing Point’s image of a road and a plane. The visual aspect of the show didn’t stop there for when they played Chapter 19 off of Dust Lane, the lyrics filled up the entire backdrop, bold for everyone at the 9:30 to read.

What was truly amazing was the audience reaction to Yann Tiersen and his violin. Through the middle of the set, Yann was the spotlight on the stage as he played the oldie, Sur Le Fil. As the song starts to pick up with the sound of just the violin creeping through the entire venue, the crowd begins to lose it as Yann shreds the violin through the breakdown of the song. It would continue on with the next song in the set, Le Train, which resulted in a string being broken and the band having to kill some time before they could continue with the set. Yann would refer to this as “Comedy Hour,” which really ended up being an impromptu performance of Lady In Red by guitarist Robin Allendar. The crowd loved it!

Yann Tiersen and crew played a four-song encore for the crowd, I’m Gonna Live Anyhow, Forgive Me, Le Quartier, and ending the night with The Trial from Skyline. They thanked us all for coming out as it was their last stop on their US Tour, leaving Yann Tiersen to jump in the front row to have his picture taken with the crowd at the 9:30 Club. You could tell how humbled they were to have everyone out there. And with the performance that they had put on, the crowed was absolutely humbled to have been in the presence of a genius.

Check out our photos from the show down below!