French pop legend Lorie brings nostalgia tour to Quebec

After stepping back from the spotlight, French pop icon Lorie is returning to the stage. Her tour launched in France last fall. This month, she plays Quebec for the first time in her career — a homecoming of sorts for someone who lived in Montreal for two years.

"When we released the EPs Hyper Lorie, where we rearranged old songs and made duets with younger artists, we got enormous messages saying, 'The new stuff is great, but we want concerts," she said. "It wasn't in my planning at all."

The Lorie Party is a massive singalong. "It's a huge karaoke, a giant party. Everybody sings. It's really a moment of nostalgia," she described. The setlist runs 90 per cent deep catalog — Je serai (ta meilleure amie), À 20 ans, and unreleased pieces written specifically for the tour, including a song for her daughter Nina and another called 20 ans x 2 about time passing. "It's a good way to say we're not 20 anymore," she laughed.

Lorie reflected on her creative arc and what she'd tell her younger self. "I'd say: you did well to believe in your dreams. Keep going. Life won't always be easy, but that's OK. The most important thing is knowing how to adapt, get back up, analyze, then start again. You always come out stronger from those experiences. And listen to yourself, especially. I truly think the real answer is always inside us."

She carries testimony from people who grew up using her music as refuge — fans who say her songs helped them survive difficult childhoods. "Each time, it touches me enormously. Back then in the studio, I wanted to entertain people, to make them happy. But it goes further than that. Today I really understand that I helped others."

Her strongest Quebec memory was realizing a childhood dream. "I wanted to be a figure-skating champion, and my dream was to skate on a frozen lake. I did that here. I was skating and crying — the landscape was so beautiful. I had this feeling of freedom. I still get goosebumps thinking about it."