The atmosphere in front of 28, boulevard des Capucines will be very Easy Rider on Monday November 6: nearly 2,200 bikers and other rock and blues fans are expected at the Olympia. On the facade, Manu Lanvin

A few days before the big evening, Manu Lanvin is enthusiastic. “It’s going to be a very special evening, a big rock ball. We had around ten full days of rehearsal and it’s going to be great,” he explains, referring to a “very old school, Joe Cocker-style evening with two drummers simultaneously”. The poster concocted by Gérard Lanvin’s son is tempting. “I started by calling the daron. He and Coluche had met at the Bus while discussing bikes,” he recalls. “Gérard is stamping his feet,” laughs Manu Lanvin, who co-signed the album Ici-Bas with his father, a near-gold record. “In addition to this Olympia, I have put together a little autumn tour which will end in Geneva. His concerts must remain rare moments. His job is actor, he is still in high demand on big projects. Music must remain a game, a pleasure. This very personal first album where he sings his own texts has received good reviews and I am very proud of him.”

Also read: Dani’s rock’n’roll complicity with Gérard Lanvin and his son Manu

At his side, Manu Lanvin will also have Axel Bauer (who will come with his guitar) and Fred Chapellier, guitarist for Johnny Hallyday, Jacques Dutronc and Eddy Mitchell. Despite health problems in his shoulder, Little Bob, 78 years old, the oldest rocker and biker idol, will come specially from Le Havre. “He’s a little guy but the only one not to have been thrown out by the English who had the Stones and the Beatles,” says Manu Lanvin. Of all the French rockers, Little Bob was the only one they didn’t die of laughter at.”

David Hallyday will also go on stage and play behind the drums. He is not a close friend and a fan of motocross rather than Harley but “we have musicians in common and we always communicate by message at important moments in our lives”, confides Manu Lanvin. Rock’n’roll lovers will enjoy seeing them both with Johnny Gallagher. This trio shares a strong friendship with the Ciotaden manager and producer with the big mustache, Maurice Suissa, a strong personality in the world of rock. “If he looks from where he is, he will be happy to see all three of us”, says Manu Lanvin who lost this friend at the end of summer 2022 a few weeks after the death of his dear Dany.

Also on stage, Yarol Poupaud. With him, David Hallyday and Manu Lanvin, whom Johnny Hallyday loved very much, we can expect several nods to the rocker who died six years ago now. One idea is to play the original rock songs that Johnny Hallyday adapted into French. Perhaps we will hear Black is Black, which the youth idol had transformed into Noir, c’est Noir. All proceeds from the evening, organized by Harley-Davidson, will be donated to the Little Princes association.

“In 2024, I will give a few concerts with my group the Devil Blues and I will release an album in tribute to the Texan country, rock and blues singer Calvin Russell (1948-2011) with Charlélie Couture, the British Hugh Coltman, the American Beverly Jo Scott and the young Lyonnais Théo Charaf who embodies the next generation with an intimate, slightly dark universe,” confides Manu Lanvin. But above all, he will return to the studio. The tracks worked as always with Texan musician Neal Black are almost ready. It was time. His last studio album Grand Casino dates from 2018. Before Covid, that’s an eternity.

Manu Lanvin

(*) Gérard Lanvin autumn tour: Liège (November 3), Olympia (November 6), Amneville (November 9), Lens (November 10), Lille (November 17), Châtel-Guyon (November 23) and Toulouse ( November 24).