The “feather brothers” Gaël Faye, Ben Mazué and Grand Corps Malade electrify the Salle Pleyel

eyes moved by Gael Faye do not deceive when the first notes soar. “A tune hummed in his room or under a bus shelter, the words that invite themselves and invent themselves, no need for much more”. Joy to find the scene. But three this time. “To need nothing, except my rhymes and my feather brothers”, continues the song, while at his side, Grand Corps Malade And Ben Mazue take over, bewitching the room with their famous three-way title, Need nothing.

The complicity of these multi-award-winning artists will electrify two hours the Pleyel roomwhere they defended for the first time, this Friday evening, their EP Short-lived, fruit of an unprecedented collaboration. The public, family, braved the strike – young people, retirees and toddlers from all over France, even from Belgium. The crowded room will hum in chorus all evening. Everyone has their favorite, but the chemistry works.

“The Federer of love music”

A clip opens the evening to narrate the adventure. The project, as simple as it is singular, was born from a one-night text message. Guys, launches Fabien Marsaud a.k.a Big sick body, wouldn’t we cut ourselves somewhere, far from the noise, to mingle our feathers and our voices? No sooner said than done. A step aside, eight days in the idyllic setting of a Provençal studio, La Fabrique. The film reveals a corner of the genesis of the texts, words caught on the fly, a joke, a line, a hummed tune. The seven-track EP, released in September, has already sold 70,000 copies.

A year later, here are the three thieves on stage, more accomplices than ever. The cleats fuse. Ben is a prime target – as if to make him pay for a particularly acquired audience tonight. Gaël pretends to be inspired by his hips on stage. “You, Ben, in 90% of your songs, you talk about mourning and divorce”tance Grand Corps Malade, acknowledging however that his friend remains the “Love Music Federer”. The room laughs, the complicity is installed.

In a perfect crossover, the three slammers alternate common titles with those of their own repertoire. “There was a time, I would have dreamed of just you listening to my song. And there, you just sing it!launches, sincere, Ben to Fabien who has just performed his famous I will have liked you so much. After having done “sway” the public, Gaël gets down to the keyboard to accompany Grand Corps Malade. Later, the third arpeggio on the guitar melody of Sunday night.

Gaël the ambiancer, Ben the dark, Fabien the wise

Gaël obviously has a blast. He leads the dance and hoists on the stage about twenty fans in seventh heaven – it must be said, all female. It moves on the electro sound of Boomer. But where did the Franco-Rwandan go? He melted into the pit, in the middle of the public. Happy.

“Ben the dark, Fabien the wise, Gaël the ambianceur”, summarizes a spectator. The emotion returns during a suspended moment: under my eyelids, childhood memories in piano-voice they recite back to back. What do we find under their closed eyes? Provence for Ben Mazué, Saint-Denis for Grand Corps Malade, Paris after exile for Gaël Faye. Behind, the eight musicians of the orchestra sound their brass and their guitars. We also recognize the two composers of InstantGuillaume Poncelet at the piano and Quentin Mosimann keyboard. when sounds behind the fogthe latter, also author of ladies of Grand Corps Malade, grabs the microphone and hums the chorus.

It reigns here as a family atmosphere. At the end of the concert, one of the authors of the clip of Who kidnapped Benjamin Biolay smokes a cigarette on the sidewalk. In this crazy fiction title, the three singers pretend to settle accounts with the winner of the Victoires de la musique 2021… Pierre Nouvel brought Charlotte Mo’s drawings to life, and the animated clip accompanied the singers’ voices this evening. How was the project with the three? “A pure kiff, of course“says Pierre Nouvel, who was in high school with Ben Mazué.

No doubt, the symbiosis of Gaël’s African vibe, Fabien’s phrasing and Ben’s melodies conquered. “Each in their place, each differently”comments a fan at the exit. “They don’t overplay, it’s simple and it’s true, adds a quarantine. We do not have the feeling of attending their twentieth Zenith“. Say goodbye to routine and disenchantment for an enchanted bubble. As precious as“short-lived”.

The concert filmed live at the Salle Pleyel will be broadcast on Thursday March 16 in more than 200 theaters in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg.