Yelle Sets A Packed Crowd Dancing

By Betsy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on May 9, 2011 7:40PM

French pop group YELLE has a developed a reputation for upbeat shows, wacky costumes and edgy lyrics. Their lead singer, Yelle, is petite and playful on stage, hopping and bouncing around with an energy that encourages her audience to do the same. When YELLE announced a tour for their new album, Safari Disco Club, it was no surprise that the Chicago stop sold out, and the crowd in attendance was cheerful and boozey when she and her band took the stage at Bottom Lounge this weekend. Everyone present immediately started dancing from the opening lines of “Je veux te voir,” ready to match Yelle fist pump for fist pump and jump for jump and scream what lyrics they knew. The dancing didn’t stop until the lights came on.

Yelle and her band know that their stage presence makes their shows worthwhile. They’re an off-the-wall, not-from-around-here group, and they definitely dress the part. GrandMarnier and Tepr donned the same costumes from the Safari Disco Club music video, and Yelle shimmied through a few different outfits, finishing her set in a red leopard bodysuit. No matter what she’s wearing, Yelle didn't let it hinder her movement from one side of the stage to the other.

YELLE proved that the music is only one component of a memorable live show. In fact, few in the audience probably understood what Yelle was singing about. All the group's lyrics are in French, but you don’t have to understand what they're saying in order to want to dance to them. Yelle playfully delivers her vocals over to ‘80s beats + synth, so that you’d never know how vulgar they really are. To stand still would be impossible. “Do you want to be more sweaty?” she asked the audience towards the end of the show. The crowd enthusiastically replied that yes, they did. So Yelle kicked it up a notch and delivered more songs to further drench the room.

When we finally squeezed our way close to the stage to snap a few photos towards the end of the night, we noticed that a slew of front-row audience members had clearly spent the whole show holding steady their iPhone cameras. We felt quite sad for them. Filming a show ain’t nothing compared to dancing through it.