The Bonnie & Clyde of the Belgian music scene, that’s how Danny Mommens and Els Pynoo alias Vive La Fête could be described. For nearly twenty years (!) they have climbed up on stage with a disregard to just about everything : trends, to etiquette, to ‘good taste’, grammar. For twenty years a ‘I don’t give a damm’ but with no jubileum.
You Can Sleep in my Bed
Now, the couple comes back after three years of silence with a new song: ‘You can sleep in my bed’. The song shows that Danny and Els pay relatively little attention to the current state of the pop music – ie post-hip hop everywhere – and just do their own thing.
Vintage Vive La Fête
‘You can sleep in my bed‘ is grammatically incorrect disco, plain kitsch to the smallest seam, party music a bit like faded perfume and pheromones. Men and women with perfectos and in stilettos. So in other words, vintage Vive La Fête. Like their other songs, this one sounds like a combination of drunken lightness and melancholy. We hear a grownup Els singing, naïve and from her nineteens : you feel suddenly like prey in the midst of dancing men, in the thick of the night, come then and feel free to stay with me tonight.
Vive la Fête played at the annual Wave Gotik Treffen festival in Leipzig, Germany on May 24 2015. An audience video recording of this show is now on YouTube. This is Vive la Fête at their finest with a selection of greatest hits, best live fan favorites and tracks from their most recent album ‘2013’.
Back in the early 2000’s Vive la Fête’s unique style and sexy music got the attention of some of the biggest names in the fashion world. Among them was Karl Lagerfeld, who asked the band to perform live at the catwalk during the presentation of his autumn – winter 2002/2003 collection.
Vive la Fête performed five songs during the 23 minute fashion show, all the while playing on a rotating platform in the middle of the catwalk. Surrounded by the most beautiful fashion models in the world, the band set the right atmosphere for the presentation of Lagerfeld’s new collection.
The set ended with a killer version of Attaque Surprise from the album with the same name. Lagerfeld came onstage to thank the models, the audience and the band.
Upcoming Vive la Fête DVD
This exclusive footage has been rarely seen. The full fashion show set is scheduled to be included on the upcoming DVD with rare Vive la Fête material which is due for later this year.
It all started back in 1998 with the EP Je Ne Veux Pas. Els and Danny, freshly in love, recorded their mutual love for music, electronics, romance and catchy beats and shared it with the world. The CD quickly sold out and even though it was repressed a few years later, it has been unavailable for many years. The title track was re-recorded in 2000 for Vive La Fête‘s first full lenght album Attaque Surprise, but nothing beats the original version.
After playing exclusive shows on the catwalk for Chanel in Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, New York and Las Vegas, Vive la Fête was invited to open The Ball de la Rose in Monaco in Match 17, 2002. Initiated by Karl Lagerfeld, for whom the band had played the catwalks shows, Vive la Fête opened the dance party, after concerts by Marianne Faithfull and The Ringo Starr Allstar Band.
For the opening dance, Princess Caroline of Monaco requested a cover version of the Rolling Stones classic ‘Angie’. With Mick Jagger present among the guests of the annual fundraising event, Vive la Fête played an impressive and sexy version of the song which set the mood for the rest of the evening. Being in the world of the rich and famous, Els changed the lyrics from ‘Angie’ to ‘Angel’, referring to the magic of The Ball de la Rose and host of the ball, Princess Caroline of Monaco, in particular.
Amateur footage of the Vive la Fête set at The Ball de la Rose recently surfaced from the vaults of Danny Mommens.