St Germain live, October Weekend 2001, Cork Opera House, Cork, Ireland

As part of the October Jazz Festival, St Germain played the Cork Opera House supporting his current ‘Tourist’ album.

Tourist, last years follow up to 1995’s classic ‘Boulevard’ album, saw St Germain move to the highly respected Blue Note label. This is a label with a huge past, playing host to all the jazz masters, and with a healthy line up of old and new artists – a fitting home. Much revered among the experienced jazz loving fraternity as much as the dance music fans, this was a performance which was always going to be a sell-out, much hyped & talked about highlight of the Bank Holiday Weekend (which is bigger than Christmas in these parts).

Having played a stormer in Dublin’s Olympia earlier this year, expectations were high, and yes the tickets were sold out soon after going on sale, nearly a whole month before this performance; the date was set for the jazz festival highlight, and the people waited.

All St Germain had to do was get here, but the night previous –Saturday- there was rampant talk of a repeat Courtney Pine performance, as St Germain was cancelled. All sorts rumours floated into Radio Friendly on Sunday morning as I was playing, but a quick call to the venue settled all the rumours (and tempers), they said “have no fear, St Germain is here” (really).

The doors opened at 8, and we got there at 9 the queues were long and the weather was eerily looking like winter, but before too long we were ushered into the Opera House, and up to the first bar. Some folk drifted in to see the support (Trouble Penetrator) which left space for some pre gig Guinness.

St Germain took the stage just before 11pm; the line up consisting of Ludvic Navarre (‘Ludo’), the reserved creative power behind the sound, along with six highly talented jazz musicians, the most of which wave been working & touring with Navarre since he first toured in 1995 with the Boulevard album.

And it was “forget it”, the closing Boulevard track which opened the show and gave us our first indication of what was to come. The jazzy house sound that Navarre so meticulously constructs in the quiet of his Parisian studio suddenly came to life in the full house. Hearing the instantly recognisable blues sample “I want you to get together” meant that Rose Rouge was next. Again the sound from the record (albeit a heavily played one by this disc spinner), was so effortlessly rising from the broad stage, and the people were a dancin’. On through the other numbers on “Tourist” – “Montego Bay Spleen”, “La goute d’or”, and “So Flute”, the crowd lapped up the every little variation and solo that the band were adding to the tracks.

So well laid out is the Opera House floor that you can see the stage no matter where you are, and the adoring audience had no problems with crowds, or hearing the sounds for that matter, so everyone could enjoy the performance. The band’s percussion section already consisted of two, but when all six band members took a percussion instrument each, the result was spectacular, and the audience responded as such. The last single “Sure Thing” sent up an even bigger roar as crowd and band alike give it their all. “My Mama Said” rocked the Opera House walls, as the crowd of mixed age groups seemed as happy with the old ones as with the new ones.

The encore followed and after a suitably lengthy appreciation from the festival goers, St Germain returned for one more. With an inspirational performance of “Soul Salsa Soul” Ludvic Navarre and company added that final touch to an already unforgettable night to render it a sure-fire classic.

Worth the wait, worth the queues, and certainly worth your time if they come around again.

Marc [marc@deephousenetwork.com]