Everybody boards the afro-love plane!
Fear not, the one who appeased all of our bad heartbreaks over the past couple of years with his melancholic lyrics and high-tempo beats has finally come to Montreal to spread the “afro love” sound.
Indeed, 26-year-old French Cameroonian artist Tayc performed at Place Bell on Saturday, Sept. 24.
Tayc saw his international success grow recently with hits like “N’y pense plus” and “D O D O,” a pretty fast come-up in the international music scene considering that his first studio album NYXIA, came out in 2019.
The show on the Place Bell stage started with a high-energy performance by the artist and his female backup dancers, also known as the “OG wifeys,” with great choreography and dance breakdowns from all of them.
Dance was a big part of the show, with Tayc making sure his fans could show off their moves by having some of them get up on stage to dance to his song “P A S C O M M E Ç A.”
Tayc has been associated with the rise in popularity of French afro-beat, or has he calls it “afro-love”, a mix of afro-beat sounds that usually come out of Nigeria, paired with French love-song lyrics.
In my opinion, Tayc could have sung a little bit more, as he left a lot of the singing to the audience that knew all his lyrics by heart and sang at the top of their lungs.
If someone had a tight budget for concerts this year, I would’ve suggested only attending the Tayc official after-party. The tickets were $60, compared to the concert tickets ranging from $50 to hundreds of dollars. Plus, you were guaranteed to be close to the performer.
The official after-party took place at Le Salon Richmond 1861. Located in Griffintown, the venue is an old church whose inside is converted to a party room with a bar and a small stage. The after-party started around 10:00 p.m. where a DJ was already present to get the party started.
It wasn’t until around 1:00 a.m.that Tayc showed up when he played almost the same set as the one in concert. This time, however, he was just a couple of feet from the public in a beautiful historic monument.
Tayc stayed almost until 2:00 am, performing his biggest hits, after which the DJ kept the party going.
A day full of afro-love was what Tayc gave to Montrealers, with everyone singing all of his heartbreak songs loudly.
Graphic by James Fay