To give us a foretaste of the Weekend des CURIOSITES to be held at Bikini on June 2, 3 and 4, 2023, a “Warm Up” party was organized by Bleu Citron in the Toulouse CONNEXION LIVE space.
The event took place in 2 parts : Concerts followed by a free after DJ set to prepare for the atmosphere at Bikini next weekend !
4 emerging artists from different musical universes took to the stage in front of a very receptive audience. In order of appearance: Arthur Ely, Gjon’s Tears, Renard Tortue and 2TH.
The show kicked off at 19:40 with “the guy who tries to be a good guy”, ARTHUR ELY. The Strasbourg-born songwriter and producer took to the stage with his 2 guitars, classic and electric, and his friend Gaëtan on drums. At once nonchalant and funny, the multi-influenced artist of pop, rock, electro and rap immediately engaged the audience in conversation and drew them into his unique musical universe. For a good 1/2 hour, Arthur Ely played a dozen songs from his previous projects and his new EP “Hello”, including ‘Carte Jeune’, ‘A nous’, ‘La plupart du temps’ and, of course, the famous ‘Hello’.
From 20:30 to 21:15, The Voice 2019, The Voice All Stars 2021 and Switzerland’s 3rd place Eurovision 2021 contestant GJON’S TEARS took to the Connexion Live stage armed with his synthesizer. A small group of fans greeted him with enthusiasm and even emotion ! The unusual voice of the Paris-based Swiss artist seduced the rest of the crowd in the room. Gjon’s Tears began his concert with his hit ‘Répondez-moi’, but a technical problem forced him to finish this acapella track, much to the delight of the audience ! The artist also got the audience to sing along with him on ‘Silhouette’. Other songs from his 1st album, “The Game”, released in April 2023, included ‘Un coeur qui cogne’, written in collaboration with singer Zazie, and ‘Cancer’, created in collaboration with Ibrahim Maalouf.
After the emotion and gentleness of the Gjon’s Tears show, the energy returned to the stage with the arrival of RENARD TORTUE. The young Parisians offer a musical style blending French songs and rap sounds, as well as electro influences in some tracks. The singer-rapper duo and their friend Wolby on electronic drums kicked off the concert at 21:30 with ‘Palebon’, a highlight from their EP “Pakomifo”. They followed this up with an exclusive, the track ‘Les oiseaux’, which will be part of the track list of their very 1st album due for release on June 23, 2023. The artists with infectious energy also played ‘Taleur’ from their double single “Tic-Tac” released 3 weeks ago, as well as crowd-pleasing older sounds such as ‘Pakomifo’, ‘Un peu d’oxygène’ and ‘L’invisible’.
To round off the concert part of the evening in style, rapper 2TH took to the stage accompanied by his backeur Odetto and Nelson, the sound engineer turned DJ for a night. For 1 hour, from 22:20 to 23:20, the 3 men set the Connexion stage alight. The artist, who embodies the new wave of multi-influenced rap, kicked off the show with his track ‘J’ai des’ and went straight on to set the mood with ‘RPG’, ‘123 soleil’, ‘Bye Bye’, ‘J’me sens bien’ and ‘Rien à perdre’. The hyper-enthusiastic audience will remember the moment when 2TH and Odetto threw water on them ! After this refreshing interlude, the Parisian rapper took the time to introduce his team, talk about his newly-released EP “Union” and share an exclusive from the project : ‘Bae’, much to the delight of the crowd. To keep the crowd dancing and singing along, 2TH continued the concert with ‘Aïe aïe aïe’, reminiscent of a certain hit from the early 2000s. The concert continued with a new exclusive, ‘Développe’, before 2TH lent the mic to Odetto for the track ‘Fais le mouv’. The 2 men got the audience involved with a simple but effective choreography, before the show got off to a pogo. The super-hot crowd was then happy to hear 2TH play the sounds of ‘Stone’ and then ‘7ème ciel’, a quiet, hard-to-sing track that was chosen by his followers on Insta. To raise the temperature, the artist continued the show with the Brazilian-sounding ‘Mélina’ and finished it off with the bangers ‘Ne fuis pas’ and ‘Tchin Tchin’.
At 23:30, the Connexion hall turned into a free club night, with DJ sets by Toulouse crew 50cl. Marinier, Cesous and the Austher b2b Naranja collective took turns at the turntables, drawing the audience into their Electro, Disco Dance, Italo Disco, Indie Dance and ethnic-influenced worlds.
The CURIOSITES 2023 “Warm Up” at Connexion Live gave the public a chance to discover new artists for a very affordable price (6€), and to immerse themselves in the cool, happy and good-natured atmosphere that will emanate from the Weekend des Curiosités at Bikini. The concerts and after-party were of the highest quality. This Warm Up was a success !
To take part in the Weekend of Curiosities at the BIKINI, you can still get your tickets HERE. Let’s go and enjoy !
Credit photo : @boz_picture
