Venue: Ampithéâtre Pablo Picasso.
Town: Le Plessis-Robinson, near Paris.
Date: Saturday 27th March 1993.
A unique concert by Christian and Stella Vander with Isabelle Feuillebois.
The tiny theatre Pablo Picasso played host to one of this year's more unusual events in the Kobaïan calendar. Christian, Stella and Isabelle played, as a trio, a set comprising songs from 'Offering pts 1 & 2' their solo albums 'To Love' and 'D'épreuves d'Amour' as well as premiering five new pieces. Christian and Stella took to the stage, Christian on Piano where he stayed throughout the evening. Most of the time Stella stood to the right of a small keyboard, occasionally adding percussion and a few keyboard parts to the show. They kicked off with 'Love is' and were shortly joined by Isabelle who apart from adding a third part to the vocals played periodic percussion. 'Love is' was followed by an outstanding version of 'You glory the one', the vocals coming across with much more force than on vinyl. 'Hello' from 'D'épreuves d'Amour' also fared well, Stella's vocals being as warm and beautiful as ever. The first of the new songs came next, most definitely one that would be at home on 'Offering pts I & 2'. 'J'ai du ben tabac' and 'Ronde de nuit', which followed, showed Stella's vocal abilities off to great effect.
'To Love' led into 'C'est pour nous' via an impressive piano improvisation from Christian. The last three pieces were all new material. The first of these was a duet between Christian and Isabelle; the second a duet between the Vander's and finally Isabelle joined them again. These last three songs were very much in the style of Stella's solo album.
An enthusiastic crowd brought them back for an encore of 'The night we died' and then the show climaxed with an awesome new piece by Christian alone on vocals and piano. This closing item veered once again toward the OFFERING sound.
Although there don't appear to be any plans to repeat this event (as yet) I would recommend this show to anyone who enjoys Offering and the solo works of Christian and Stella Vander. And finally, that's right not a trumpet or tambourine in sight – no drums either but Christian's piano work was magnificent.