Live Review: Redcar - Royal Festival Hall
REDCAR
ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
SOUTHBANK CENTRE
LONDON
22/11/2022
Words by Philip Giouras
Photography by Gaëlle Beri
★★★★★
Christine + The Queens is a pop pioneer, a renowned and critically acclaimed live performer, choreographer and musician. All of those things remain true, yet tonight that is not who we are witnessing, we are in the world of Redcar. A name born after the French musician repeatedly spotted red cars following the sudden death of his mother back in 2019. Earlier in the year, Letissier announced to the world that he is a man and has been using he/him pronouns for the past year.
Whilst not the central theme of tonight's performance, Redcar’s exploration of the freedoms placed by society upon masculinity (He has been incredibly outspoken over the last few months on Instagram's archaic viewpoint on restricting their more feminine-styled portraits) is unsurprisingly woven throughout the evening.
A besuited Redcar descends onto the stage, cane in hand and flanked by his masked accomplices. One, seemingly the main ‘henchman’ is covered by a larger-than-life menacing skull as if the figure of Death is closely following Redcar. “It’s like the Rocky Horror Picture show,” a couple remarks behind me as Redcar introduces tonight's ‘ritual’ that we will be bearing witness to. It immediately sets the scene and tone for the evening as an abiding crowd put their phones in their pocket and allow themselves to be whisked away into Redcar’s world.
To completely own the stage, transfixing the audience in an unfamiliar, and at times challenging piece of poetic art is no mean feat. Redcar apart from the occasional assistance of a masked stagehand is all alone over the course of tonight's seventy-minute performance. Like all great theatre, throughout there are multiple narratives unfolding before your eyes.
Tonight begins with Redcar wrapped in a huge flowing dress, throughout the opening number ‘Ma bien aimée bye bye’ ('My beloved bye bye') he wrestles with it, unfurling and trying to escape. Like witnessing a snake desperately attempting to writhe out of its old skin. Eventually, it drapes to the floor, somehow still clinging to his foot, before one final triumphant shake it is loose and thrown away. The symbolism is clear and over the course of the night, Redcar will slowly transform into a more hyper-masculine form.
Photography by Gaëlle Beri
Redcar makes clear however that his main mission tonight is to ascend to heaven, which is demonstrated through multiple thought-provoking monologues. To ascend we are told is possible through utilising his most recent album ‘Redcar les adorables étoiles (Redcar the adorable stars)’ which is constructed as a guide. Admittedly I’ve both enjoyed and struggled with Redcar’s recent work. It has frequently left me perplexed by its unconventional song structures, operatic tendencies and confusing narrative. When placed into this live production it is obviously clear what was intended, Redcar les adorables étoiles’’ suddenly feels less like an album that can be consumed individually and evidently as now clearly intended as a soundtrack/accompaniment to this evening's performance.
Tracks come alive when viewed through the prism of this visual performance. The aforementioned ‘Ma bien aimée bye bye’ has so much deeper meaning when Redcar is visually shredding their previous being, the lyric ‘my wife till I die’ possibly referring to their former feminine self. Then there is the sheer emotional power of ‘Tu sais ce qu'il me faut’ (‘You know what I need’) which is overwhelming and wrapped in grief. Redcar’s vocals this evening are incomparable and there’s an undeniable beauty in the way they musically and physically contort throughout the track.
Redcar is not simply one emotion, and despite a lot of tonight's performance being based on complex feelings and theories of the afterlife, that doesn’t mean he can’t have fun. There are strikingly camp undertones in a playful and sensual ode to a fountain that holds an elixir of eternal life and all variations of bodily fluids on à la clairefontaine (which shares its name with a historic French track, perhaps this is Redcar’s play on innocence and youth).
Photography by Gaëlle Beri
Meanwhile during the nine-minute epic ‘Combien de temps’ Redcar takes to the crowd. Self-described throughout as a magician, it is here in the midst of the audience he proves it. Disappearing and reappearing into the arms of various strangers, he recaptures that childlike wonder you felt at a pantomime. Where you would be caught in the thrill of wondering if the performer would choose you. Redcar prowls the front row, and my beaming grin is caught by his gaze, he stands in front of me, close enough to touch, singing into my eyes. After what to me feels an eternity, he moves along exclaiming ‘I LOVE THIS OUTFIT’ to a woman wearing the most gorgeous of red flowing ballgowns as if attending a royal gala, it certainly gets the seal of approval from a doting Redcar who strokes the fabric lovingly.
Fascinatingly Redcar throughout the evening is an unreliable narrator. By this, I mean the story he presents to the audience is clearly his perspective and there are multiple instances in which his performance challenges us as a crowd to question the intent and honesty of his actions. Take for instance a synth pad which Redcar uses to communicate with the higher deity offering ascension. At a point when Redcar doesn’t like what is being proclaimed to him, he slams his finger on the synth pad “I love you” it responds, reassured by the response he was craving, he repeatedly slams it again with the words of affirmation filling the air.
It’s not the only instance of Redcar twisting events to suit their needs. After performing a grand display whilst donning beautiful striking technicolour wings, he is told by his heavenly adjudicator that to finally ascend all he must do is play the flute. Apparently disgusted by such a trivial command and after already going to such flamboyant effort, Redcar refutes. It’s bewildering, and after he has gone to such performative and extreme extents why back down now? At such a simple final command. That’s when tonight clicked, Redcar is an incredibly multi-faceted individual. Although he never says it, he’s seemingly reluctant to complete his journey.
As he tells his crowd, this is the third attempt at his ritual (following two nights in Paris) and unlike us ‘who may have plans later’, he states he has ‘all the time in the world’ to achieve his ascendance. I love the inner conflict that plays out in the character, where Redcar portrays their hesitation/fear to finally ascend as a form of patience. At times though Redcar is seemingly desperate to achieve it, towards the conclusion Redcar approaches the flute quipping “I’m still not going to do it” like a scolded child, but the audience knows him by now, he cannot resist and for just an instance a tune bursts through his lips across the instrument.
Hilariously the sound that it emits is ghastly out of tune and he never once references the fact he’s relented and used it. Once again I’m left questioning intent; was it intentionally offkey, as if he’s allowing himself to follow the higher powers' orders but in a way as to not appease
Towards the conclusion of the performance the theme of identity once again rises, in a triumphant performance of lead single ‘Je te vois enfin’, Redcar stands tall bathed in multicolour strobes bearing both a gladiator chest piece and a strapon, it’s both simultaneously the most layered and masculine he has appeared all evening. It’s visually striking and once again asks more questions of the audience than answers them
Ultimately, Redcar does not ascend. Perhaps you’d say not through a lack of trying but that feels like the crux of the performance. There’s a hesitancy, “I’ve got all the time in a world” is a dual statement, as much as it means there is plenty of time to complete his task, there’s no forgetting it is the trademark catchphrase of the procrastinator. But one thing is for certain, we’d be destitute if Redcar was to leave these earthly planes.
Photography by Gaëlle Beri
Setlist:
Ma bien aimée bye bye
Tu sais ce qu'il me faut
La chanson du chevalier
Rien dire
La clairefontaine
Les étoiles
Mémoire des ailes
Looking for Love
My Birdman
Combien de temps
Je te vois enfin
Angelus
Les âmes amantes
Photography by Gaëlle Beri