As I watched Ariane Roy’s fans lining up, laughing and giggling, I asked one what it was like to see her live. “It’s breathtaking, it’s more than relevant in the age of feminism and limitless freedom of expression, and she embodies Marjo’s rock attitude mixed with harmonies and a voice as graceful as Les Soeurs Boulay and all that on melodies as catchy as those heard by fellow artist Marie-Mai in the 2000’s.”
Ariane Roy had her first hits with medium plaisir, which was released in 2022, and in 2024, along with Thierry Larose and Lou-Adrianne Cassidy, they offered the public a live album titled Le Roy, La Rose et Le Loup, which was positively embraced by critics and fans as a masterpiece. It served as a sweet reminder of J’ai vu le loup, le renard et le lion and 1 fois 5, both live albums recorded during la fête national du Quebec, featuring Gilles Vigneault and Robert Charlebois amongst other great names of the Quebec music scene of their respective eras.
In 2025, Ariane came up with an album titled Dogue, music featuring French lyrics sung with electro-pop melodies, all the while being quite refreshing from her last album in 2022.
Virginie B opened the night, bringing Charli xcx vibes with a soft voice screaming atop Brit electro-pop vibes. The set was a mix of Yoko Ono’s soft, extended vocal range with Lady Gaga’s hard-hitting pop music and theatrical looks. Virginie B woke us up and got us warmed up before the main act. Thus followed the long-awaited Ariane Roy.
Silence, lights, action, Ariane Roy comes up on stage dressed in a white robe topped with a plaid red velvet corset and a yellowish tie. Her eyes, contoured with glitter, shine as she sings the lyrics to the title track “Dogue.” The crowd is hectic, everyone is singing the chorus, and for a moment, we all harmonize together with Ariane Roy. Odile Marmet-Rochefort is playing the keys while harmonizing on the backing vocals with three back vocalists who act as support during the performance alongside Dogue’s producer, Dominique Plante, who plays saxophone, flute, bassist and guitar, who also comes and brings support on backing vocals.
The songs flow as the act is gradually heating up with songs like “Kundah” and “Bonne Fête” kicking the pace up, encouraging the crowd to jump and dance like there’s no tomorrow. Following with songs like “Une cigarette sur le balcon” presented as a tale of little Ariane Roy, who worries for her mother, who smokes only in troubling times. The feeling of powerlessness is something we’ve all felt—one day, seeing our parents weep and cry alone in the dark of the night. I must say this allowed me to bond a bit more with the superstar, as I felt we all shared a human touch, although she swims in fame and fortune.
Photo by Rose Cormier
Another great moment came as she sang “Ce n’est pas la chance”, a song about homeless people featuring Arcade Fire guitar-esque riffs and ending with a solo by Plante, bodies colliding, grinding one upon the other, while they unleashed a thunderous run of arpeggios that had the crowd fired up.
“Tu voulais parler” starts soft but picks up the pace, and electricity radiates in the hair as Ariane Roy encourages everybody to dance and sing, not caring about what others might think or say. The show ends with an encore featuring “Banc de parc”, a song nodding at George Brassens “Les Amoureux sur les bancs publics”; a second song titled “Ta main”, which embodies the more organic sound of her previous album medium plaisir and to top it off, she sang “Fille à porter”, a fan favourite featuring Lou-Adriane Cassidy on vocals. Although it would have been nice to see her co-star come and sing with her on stage, fans were exhilarated at the end, and applause echoed endlessly after the final bow of the band on stage.
Ariane Roy deserves all her success; she is grateful for it all and took the time to thank all the people who helped out on the show. She embraced two Quebec flags that fans had brought, a great nod at the rising independent movement rippling across Quebec’s lakes and rivers. I must admit, I was flabbergasted. With a diversified setlist, moves like Jagger and such beautiful staging, Ariane Roy’s show is one that I will remember. It was refreshing and great to see how alive our local artists are and to see fans sing most of the songs. I can definitely say Quebec’s local culture is truly alive and breathing! If you missed her, she is currently touring around Quebec, with the next date on March 27 at Laval-des-Rapides. She will also play in Lavaltrie on April 9.
Photos by Rose Cormier
