Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles is known for neighborhoods such as Little Tokyo and Little Ethiopia. On a recent Friday night, the area around The Fonda Theatre could have been renamed Little France as French was spoken freely both inside and outside the venue. It could be argued that a sizable percentage of the entire French expat community in Los Angeles showed up at the Fonda to support French singer-songwriter Zaho de Sagazan (full name Zaho Mélusine Le Moniès de Sagazan).
The night concluded a brief three-city (five nights) tour of the United States in support of her 2024 deluxe re-release of her debut album “La symphonie des éclairs (Le dernier des voyages).” Demand for tickets was so high in Los Angeles that her set was moved from The Roxy to The Fonda Theatre.
De Sagazan started the night on the keyboard playing the lead song off her album “La fontaine de sang.” The song was played with just a lone soft white spotlight on her. A few moments later, she introduced herself with her French accented English, “Thank you for being here. It’s so crazy, I don’t know why the f*ck you are here, but I’m very happy. Thank you.” She then gave a brief description of her next song “Le dernier des voyages,” which she introduced as being a song about dying.
Her fans laughed along in sympathy as she explained that she has dreamed about one thing: falling in love. She mentioned that she is 24 years old and then went on to explain that she’s “been alone for 25 years.” She did correct herself by saying 24, but perhaps she has been dreaming about love since she was in the womb? She mentioned how she falls in love with her friends, which means that she’s written songs about each of her three band mates that got her bandmates laughing. The song about her dreaming of love “Mon inconnu” had bass beats that had the sound guys bobbing their heads back and forth.
De Sagazan returned to the keys for “Dis‐moi que tu m’aimes” that had the most poetic feel with her bandmates providing an orchestra backing. The light team did another fabulous job as they turned the spotlight off as she finished striking the last note of the song, allowing the cheers of the crowd to fill the darkened venue.
“Tristesse” starts off with a beat that has one imagining that the singer is suffering through a nightmare. In the middle of the calm, the nightmare eases, but only for a moment, because it quickly devolves back into that nightmare that was all emphasized by the stage strobe lights blasting. The song had her dramatically pacing across the stage.
She introduced the song “La symphonie des éclairs” by explaining how she grew up a very sensitive child. The song happens to be her most played song on Spotify and the crowd sang along with her in French as she slowly twirled around the stage. As the song ended, a young child raised her arms above her head and clapped loudly.
The night ended with an epic rave with her telling the audience, “LA, I don’t think you understand this song. It’s time to dance.” She got the floor crowd going, but later noticed that the balcony crowd was sitting all too comfortably and demanded that they stand and dance. She then jumped into the crowd and made her way throughout the venue. It was a sensationally fun way to end the night. The crowd wouldn’t let her go without an encore and the band came back out to do a cover of David Bowie’s “Modern Love.”
Opening up the night was Los Angeles’ own Dove Armitage (Quincy Larsen). Her avant-pop with heavy bass tracks were on full display for her song “Sex On Display” that had someone in the audience saying, “I love her.” Having played The Fonda Theatre in the past, Larsen had no issues using the full stage for songs such as “Glass In Me” while singing the lyrics, “I guess I.
Hypnotized my guy. Hypnotized, bye.” It was a good week for her as she mentioned to the audience that she had graduated from school on Thursday. That put her in a positive mindframe as she joked with the audience, “Raise your hand if this is the most fun you’ve had today . . . . don’t raise your hand if it is the least fun, don’t do that, keep your hands down.”
Zaho de Sagazan setlist: La fontaine de sang, Aspiration, Le dernier des voyages, Mon inconnu, Dis‐moi que tu m’aimes, Je rêve, Tristesse, Ô travers, La symphonie des éclairs, Ne te regarde pas, Hab Sex, Dansez. Encore: Modern Love (David Bowie cover)
