It was beautiful, authentic, priceless, devoted. It was Her. We had the chance to be at the unique show of Her in Rennes, their hometown. Here is a concert review of Her Band at the Opera of Rennes in 2018.
The inimitable voice of Victor striking the room put all the audience in such an intense atmosphere. Dancing to the sound of their own beats, the band knows how to entertain a crowd and make them feel in ease. Their first self-titled album is a veritable hymn to life. It is a tribute to Simon Carpentier, co-member band who died at the age of 27 due to a cancer. Victor is keeping their music alive in such a beautiful way by going even further. Fancy venues, Olympia Paris, some dates all over Europe and even in the USA… We had the opportunity to witness their unique show at the Opera de Rennes.
Her (the band) : Concert Review
Her first started with the union of two complementary souls : Victor Solf & Simon Carpentier, who met when they were fourteen. Musically and humanely in the same mindset, they made their first productions with The Popopops in 2007. Eight years later, a band mixing modern soul and electro rock made its first appearance in the music industry. An unprecedented elegance, lyrics celebrating feminism and women, a timeless and innovative sound. Her was born, and their album is already in the top 15 best albums of 2018 !
Music Influence : Soul Singer Vibe
The year they spent in the USA highly influenced their music. You can feel the soul singer vibe in all their songs. A certain positivity and hopeful vibe also emerges from their state of mind. Before singing « Swim », Victor told us about how they left the USA just after Trump’s election and wanted to make a song about it for quite a long time. Instead of doing a negative song about it, they had to do a positive one about how we should unite and fight for our rights, “Swim against, swim against, against the tide, walk against, walk against, against the flow”.
The audience went crazy when Victor and the musicians played the first notes of the famous “Five Minutes”. The repetitive lyrics imbibed the audience’s minds with a sophisticated and unconventional universe. This “show must go on” mindset continued with soul pop singles, symbolic of elegance and sensuality, such as « Quite Like », « Blossom Roses » or « We Choose ».
Tribute to Life
It surely wasn’t the most trivial thing for Victor to come back to Rennes, where it all started, and the emotion was palpable in his voice, but in a way that was giving him some strength. His gestures and presence on stage also added some charming emotion to the gig. His fist was often raised to the sky, to honor his friend and transmit powerful vibes about hope, freedom and life. The tireless audience was applauding, dancing, living, and basically keeping that music alive.
Not wanting to let the night end, Victor, coupled with his unstoppable kindness, had a nice chat with everybody and signed plenty of vinyls, CDs and gig tickets. It wasn’t just a concert, it looked more like a whole musical experience on its own for both the audience and artist who were on cloud nine. Don’t miss them on tour !
