In the name of transparency, I am not going to attempt to sugarcoat this following statement in any way: when discovering that Marieville, QC indie-rocker Thierry Larose was part of the 2025 Francos de Montréal line-up, his name was circled on our calendar as THE show not to be missed. And with a 90-minute mid-card set on the Friday evening that we were in town, Thierry and his band more than lived up to the hype, delivering an outstanding performance that was worth the price of admission to the entire festival alone. Yeah, ok, it was a free event – but you know exactly what I mean…
Thierry’s music first came to our attention back in early 2023 with the release of his (November 2022) single “Baleine et moi (take 10)” – which represented the first of many subsequent features here at GDW from this talented emerging artist to date. With the brief formation of Le Roy, la Rose et le Lou[p] in late 2023 (with Ariane Roy and Lou-Adriane Cassidy), we had to witness this collaboration firsthand (November 2023 in Joliette, QC – and again in both Montréal and Drummondville the following summer) – and did this trio ever hit a sweet spot!!! Of course, regular readers will easily recall just how many times these artists have graced our pages, and how a mile-wide smile breaks out on my face if I bring them up in conversation.
Just 24 hours prior to the show, Thierry sent out a request via his social media pages for fans to be attired in bucket hats. Arriving early at the Loto-Québec stage, many of those congregating around us took things to another level, sporting Québecois flags of all sizes in their hands, and some adding images of the flag as temporary tattoos and face paint – and wearing bucket hats, of course. Rewind back to late 2023, it was Thierry that prompted this populist provincial love among fans with his spirited “Vive la musique québécois” proclamation following the debut Le Roy, la Rose et le Lou[p] concert at Club Soda – and with an outpouring of love and the attention it garnered, quickly turned it into a recurring moment at subsequent shows.
Must I confess (not that I need to – it’s blatantly obvious to those who know me) that deep down, before even arriving in the city, I was craving a ‘surprise’ reunion of Le Roy, la Rose et le Lou[p]? It’s not as if I’ve made references to this in past musings, right? Ha! When Lou-Adriane Cassidy headlined the main festival stage just a few days before our arrival, and had Thierry in her band, plus a brief duet with Ariane Roy, my heart sank at the prospect of having missed seeing that very ‘temporary’ collaboration. But, here on this glorious Friday evening, as Larose was given a strong ovation from a rapidly growing audience when welcomed to the stage, seeing Cassidy joining him on stage as part of his band at least provided us a two-thirds compromise. Hey, if we are to be technical here, all four musicians accompanying Thierry on this night happened to be from the larger project, meaning that we indeed had 50% of the entire Le Roy, la Rose et le Lou[p] crew for our entertainment. The needle revved high on my happiness meter – this was going to be great!
Joined by Lou-Adriane Cassidy (keyboards/tambourine/guitar/vocals), Alexandre Martel (guitars/vocals), Sam Beaulé (bass/vocals), and Charles-Antoine Olivier (drums), Thierry (vocals/guitars) came out swinging (and donning a bucket hat of his own) – his recognizable cries of “un,” “deux”, “un, deux,” “un, deux, trois, quatre,” whipping the crowd into a frenzy when launching immediately into the lively hit tune “Plein prix.” Progressing into “Si tu comprends pas maintenant (tu comprendras peut-être jamais),” Thierry’s “Sprint!” album would be well represented – the band playing pretty much every album track, sans “Coeur de lion” and the “Baleine et moi (take 3)” reprise.
Lest we forget Thierry’s equally impressive 2021 “Cantalou” album, this was also well represented, with the band sharing the title track and popular cuts such as “Club vidéo,” “Les éléphants,” and “L’île à vingt-cinq sous” – the latter presenting an opportunity to relive one of those previous encounters where Larose and Martel share a center-stage guitar dueling solo down the stretch. Amazing as always – as was the performance of “La vie ne vaut d’être vêtue,” one of Thierry’s 2019 double-a side single releases that we had never experienced before.
The energy displayed by the crowd did not relent all evening and was notable as fans chanted along to “Cantalou,” becoming additional percussion pieces with the collective “bam, bam, bam” as the familiar rings to open and close “Frisbee & marmelade” rang out. Thierry added a nice moment during this very song, splitting the crowd down the middle for a call and response moment, encouraging each half to add differing harmonies, before combining to close the song out with a choir of epic proportions. Some teenagers standing alongside us up on the rail knew, and sang, every word of every song!!! Being washed away in the hundreds of voices did not fail to bring out an assault of the goosebumps on my arms, ditto during “Demain, demain.” And if you want off-the-charts energy levels, the audience response during “Portrait d’une Marianne” was palpable – merciless and beautiful, both.
With these mid-card festival shows, you rarely experience an encore – but following the departure of the five musicians following “Portrait d’une Marianne,” Thierry returned alone to the stage with his 12-string electric guitar and a harmonica in hand (having never seen Thierry with a harmonica before – we were intrigued), whipping up a frenzy once more with news of a new album coming soon (my smile in response could easily be interpreted as ‘Yes, finally!!!!’). With this solo-segment, Thierry performed an unreleased tune – likely to be titled “J’en sais rien” – before inviting his bandmates back to close with his anthemic hit “Les amants de Pompéi.”
With all five musicians locking arms at center-stage to take their bows, Thierry’s proclamation was met with a sea of provincial flags out in the crowd, two of the largest variety making their way to the stage as the artists held and waved this representation of love for their culture, their lives, and their musical heritage. Twas a beautiful spectacle to behold, and as stated on previous occasions, is encouraging to see this next generation of Francophone talent acknowledge, honor, and continue to represent those cultural roots.
Sadly, no matter how hard we push the Francophone music agenda here at GDW, we know that our words do not reach everyone – many will never find out just how good these artists are if unwilling to take a chance on music performed in a language other than that of their own. Larose is at the forefront of a solid new generation of vibrant, exciting Québécois talent and truly deserves success beyond the QC boundaries and French media markets. This was a solid ninety-minute show and a gratifying reminder of just WHY Thierry Larose earned the GDW Album of the Year honors consecutively in 2023 and 2024. With news of another album coming soon, could there be a hat-trick in Thierry’s future?
Set List:
- Plein prix
- Si tu comprends pas maintenant (tu comprendras peut-être jamais)
- Comme dans mes souvenirs
- Club vidéo
- Des noeuds dans les doigts
- Baleine et moi (take 10)
- Parfaitement intacte
- Cantalou
- L’île à vingt-cinq sous
- Frisbee & marmelade
- Chanson pour Bérénice Einberg
- La vie ne vaut d’être vètue
- De la perspective d’un vieil homme
- Les éléphants
- Demain, demain
- Portrait d’une Marianne
Encore:
- J’en sais rien (sic) (**Unreleased**)
- Les amants de Pompéi
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
