Paris (AFP)

"Am I trying to sing the beginning with the mask?" Wonders Thomas Dutronc: the artists returned to the stage of Olympia this week, facing empty armchairs and masked cameramen, for a charitable TV show.

The main access gate is still closed on Boulevard des Capucines. But the artists' entrance is unlocked. A return to normal for the legendary red letter room? Not yet. The directions of circulation marked with adhesive on the ground and the refueling points in hydro-alcoholic gel in the passageways mark out the route to the lodges.

"You saw, we do not cross paths between artists and we were given three pages of explanation of the health protocol at the entrance", slips AFP Christophe Mali, from the group Tryo.

Who could therefore only see from afar other headliners - around twenty in total - who volunteered to benefit Emmaus, such as Dadju, Soolking, Camélia Jordana, Camille Lellouche or Thomas Dutronc.

The latter therefore tries to sing the intro of "Plus je t'embrasse" with his protective mask, before removing it. "I thought that considering the title, it could be a good idea (laughs), but I think they will not keep this hold," he told AFP.

- "We can't wait to kiss" -

The singer, accompanied by a guitarist and a pianist - "it was good, it was our reunion, we hadn't played together for more than two months!" - then delivers a second version of his song. Shortened "because without the drummer and the bass player, still confined, it's too long in trio". At the end of his song, he blows a mischievous "keen on kissing" into the microphone.

Facing him, the seats are deserted and the movement of cameramen is limited. "I said to myself, + it's like a tv show + and it's always better to start again at the Olympia".

Previously, Tryo came on stage. Just before confinement, the party had played in an empty Bercy, for its fans, on social networks. And they find themselves in an empty Olympia for their recovery ... "It's a surreal period", comments Christophe Mali.

"But hey, it's heart-warming to find others, even if you can't fall into your arms - while we love it in Tryo! - because of the barrier gestures". "It's great, life is starting to resume, but the audience is still missing," he adds.

The meeting is too short: Guizmo, one of the members of the group, must return to Brittany. "But we're going to go into residence very quickly to prepare the next album. Together, because in Tryo, things have to flow, voices and guitars get mixed up," says Christophe Mali.

- "First step" -

For the forty technicians present, there is also a scent of back to school. The schoolboy jokes on the different colors of the mask burst, despite the leitmotif "what are we hot there!".

"There are people I have not seen for three months! The realization of this show will take us twice as long, because of the health protocol, but nobody balks, our job we missed so much," says AFP Christophe Sabot, director of Cstar and Olympia Production. "What better sign than this first step afterwards?"

The show swings between titles recorded in live conditions and sequences shot with artists - compartmentalized - in places unknown to the general public, such as the dressing rooms where the Marilyn bar. "It is a spectacle, a visit and a good work", describes Christophe Sabot.

"Ensemble à l'Olympia", an initiative of the Canal + group, Olympia, Olympia Production and Flab Prod, will be broadcast on June 9 at 9:15 p.m. on C8 and at 10:45 p.m. on Cstar. It will also be broadcast on Canal + Afrique on June 9 at 9:45 p.m., on Olympia TV on June 21 at 8:30 p.m. and will be available on myCanal.

© 2020 AFP