lomepal live at electric brixton
Friday 1st march, 2019
Lil Bonhomme / March 2nd, 2019
Photo: Lil Bonhomme
On Friday 1st March, Antoine Valentinelli – AKA Lomepal – brought the Jeannine Tour and his inner madness to Brixton, delivering an insanely dynamic and aesthetically-pleasing performance for his first ever show in the UK.
His latest album – Jeannine – has been praised for its ingenious lyrics and melodies that French rap had never heard before, as well as the weight of true insanity, heartbreak and societal problems. Having been released as a tribute to his late Grandmother who was apparently deemed crazy, Lomepal has created this very personal and pioneering album, following his pivotal one – FLIP.
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Opening his show with ‘1000°C’ was a genius idea, getting the whole crowd in the right mood, and setting the bar incredibly high for the rest of the night to come. As soon as the first chorus came around, the singer made sure to leave his fans sing it – and we must say, it was rather impressive to see every single person singing all the lyrics back with such fiery passion.
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At that point, we knew we were in for a treat. The French lad wasn’t going to stand there and rap his way through the night without lifting a finger. Oh no. As well as delivering a perfect performance vocally, Lomepal had clever lighting going on too. With a different colour and special effects for nearly each track, the singer also adopted various attitudes during his pieces, which made it all very artistically satisfying.
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“Il ne faut pas avoir peur de laisser sa folie sortir Londres" ["You mustn’t be afraid of letting your inner-madness take over, London”] stated the young man, following a true battle of vocals between him and one of his rapper friends, who joined him for ‘Lucy’.
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While he surprised everyone appearing at the side of the venue during ‘Oyasumi’, he jumped around the stage when ‘Malaise’ came on, taking the crowd with him and creating a riot-like atmosphere.
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As the night went on and much to his fans’ delight, Antoine delivered some more intimate and acoustic songs. ‘Tout Lâcher’ and ‘Le Vrai Moi’ were two of the most beautifully executed tracks, as well as the famous piano-led ‘Trop Beau’. A handful of gobsmacking moments with warm lighting and sugar-coated vocals.
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Every fan went ballistic during ‘Ma Cousin’ with Lomepal’s friends on stage, and ‘La Vérité’ welcomed another big name in the French rap scene – Orelsan on a big screen with special effects. Followed by a video clip of the rapper hinting at who the denunciative truth – namely ‘La Vérité’ – was about, it ended up being a hilarious waste of time as we never knew who he was talking about.
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That precise moment of the show was somewhat very clever, as it showcased not only a way of captivating the audience, but also taking the aesthetics further. The short video clip was made as though Orelsan was slowly fading away, bit by bit before he literally exploded and turned into fireworks.
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Lomepal then looked back at when he was a young kid, reminiscing about how he had always dreamed of being a rock star. And here he is today, one of France’s biggest rap names out there.
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“Ça commence à faire beaucoup de personnes qui connaissent ma vie par cœur" ["That makes a lot of people who know my life off by heart"] joked the artist, before the first notes of ‘Beau la Folie’ resonated in the room.
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Lomepal clearly owned the place, and he made it his own with skill, passion and madness. His encoredemonstrated just that yet again with a second performance of ‘1000°C’ which saw soaring guitars and rusty vocals making the adrenaline run high and taking us somewhere out of this world.
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If this is what it looks and feels like to go mad, then let us all go mad, Lomepal.
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Set-list
1000°C
Club
Mômes
Lucy
X-Men
Plus de Larmes
Bécane
Beau la Folie
Évidemment
La Vérité
Oyasumi
Danse
Le Vrai Moi
Tout Lâcher
Malaise
Pommade
Ma Cousin
Yeux Disent
Encore
Trop Beau
1000°C (rock version)