Lisa Leblanc … is only one of the hottest-trending French-language singers and musicians in North America!  And I just met her at the Franco-Fête in Toronto !!!  (Toronto’s equivalent of Montréal’s Francopholies festival — Woo hoo !! – and again, there was no shortage of attendees… Dundas Square was packed!)

Best of all — I managed to get a front row spot!!  I apologize to everyone who I pushed to the ground, bit, kicked and punched as I wrestled my way to the front… I sincerely hope your injuries heal in a timely manner 🙂

Man, I so wanted to go to see her in concert last year when I was passing through Québec – but I missed one of her concerts by two days.   But today’s concert more than makes up for not seeing her last year.

This post will be quite straight forward in the sense that there’s not much to say… other than she’s riding the crest of the wave of fame and popularity – the top of the charts.

She’s not Québécoise.  She’s Acadian from New Brunswick;  from the little village of Rosaireville, a whole 57 people!! (and her Acadian accent is as charming as she is).   Yet she has conquered Québec to the point of pushing her way into top of the pile of Montréwood’s celebrities.  She has won over the hearts of Francophones & Francophiles in Québec and elsewhere across Canada (you’ll see what I mean when you have a look at her concert locations lower down in this post).

But her style of music (modern Acadian with a huge dose of rock and folk-jive) has taken the radio, billboards, and pop-culture scene by storm.

I’m finally getting the hang of this video thing (super easy & fast)… so here’s a collage of short films I made this evening.  Check out the crowd getting into it at 1:05 !

And here is a final video I made which ended with me meeting Lisa Leblanc!!!  (Like anything in life, persistence and “insistence” pays off — and boy, can I be a persistent bugger!)   

If I had written this article even 10 minutes earlier, I would have told you that 100% of all Francophones under 40 in Québec and elsewhere in Canada know who she is (after all, you would be hard pressed to not hear her on French-language radio at least once a day).   But within the last 10 minutes, I boasted to a buddy in Québec that I just met her, and he didn’t know who she was (WT.Heck É.D.!!).   I suppose that means that only 100% minus 1 knows who she is (that buddy of mine sucks!).  But that’s still a good score.

Her last album went platinum (the one I bought tonight at her concert).

Last November, the CBC radio program “C’est la vie” conducted an amazing English language interview with Lisa Leblanc.  It was her formal introduction to English Canada.  I highly recommend you listen to it if you wish to know more.  The link is as follows:

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/C’est+la+vie/ID/2578643512/

In tonight’s crowd at Dundas Square in Toronto, I chatted with three people from France.  They said that she’s even known in France where she has given concerts (I had no idea her reach in popularity stretched so far).

Her #1 song:  “Aujourd’hui, ma vie c’est d’la marde” (“My life is shit”)

Everyone across Canada, you are all on notice… Her next concerts will be given at the following dates and locations:

• 2015-07-24
• DAWSON CITY, YUKON
• Dawson City Music Festival

• 2015-07-31
• NOMININGUE, QUÉBEC

• 2015-08-07
• MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC
• FestiBlues International de Montréal

• 2015-08-08
• ROUYN-NORANDA, QUÉBEC
• Osisko en Lumière

• 2015-08-09
• RÉGINA, SASKATCHEWAN
• Victoria Park

• 2015-09-09
• VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA
• Upstairs Cabaret

• 2015-09-10
• VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
• The Biltmore

• 2015-09-12
• EDMONTON, ALBERTA
• STUDIO 96 (OMG, This joint is still open???  I used to go to the place at the same address in the 1990s when I turned legal and was living in Edmonton – yikes!!).

• 2015-09-16
• CALGARY, ALBERTA
• Festival Hall

• 2015-09-17
• OTTAWA, ONTARIO
• CityFolk Festival

And one last note, I unexpectedly ran into Steph Paquette in the crowd (one of the best known celebrities for Ontario’s 600,000+ Franco-Ontariens!).  But I’ll leave him for another post 🙂