OrelSan Kicks Off Francos with Cinema Spectacle

French rapper OrelSan opened the Francos de Montréal Friday night at Centre Bell with a multimedia show that blended his latest album La fuite en avant with scenes from his film Yoroï, a meditation on fame and family.

The 90-minute set moved through his catalogue—from early hits like Basique and La Quête to deeper cuts from Perdu d'avance, Le chant des sirènes, and Civilisation. The stage design played a key role: a sequence where OrelSan fell into a well and emerged wearing the ancestral Japanese armour from his film created a visual anchor that let him move between eras of his work without feeling disjointed.

The crowd—over 8,000 people—sang along to closer tracks like Jour meilleur and Épiphanie. OrelSan ended by descending into the audience to perform La Terre est ronde, then closed with Du propre.

He promised the next Montréal show won't take eight years to arrive. The last time he played the city was 2018 at MTelus.