It was only a matter of time before I stumbled across this. Inevitably, given the band’s name, they frequently turn up in Google alongside Indo-chine. I probably wouldn’t have heard of them otherwise in spite of them being the biggest selling band in France. I was naturally drawn to this live album based on a performance in the Hanoi Opera House with the Hanoi Opera Symphonic Orchestra in June 2006. It’s probably not definitive Indochine given that by 2006 only one of the three founding members, Nicola Sirkis, remained; Dmitri Bodianski having left in 1989 and Stéphane Sirkis having died in 1999.
Unfortunately, for me, the best thing about the album is the cover art. And that goes for the single Salombo as well. I’m sure Indochine fans consider it a classic. Maybe you just had to be there.
Below are a couple of YouTube clips. The first is of the opening track from the Hanoi concert, ‘Le Peril Jaune’. I’ve also included another clip from the album: ‘Pink Water’ because it includes a few atmospheric shots of Hanoi. The quality’s not great but better than any others I’ve been able to find. The only thing I couldn’t find that I would have liked to track down was a version of Gitane -smoking bad boy Serge Gainsbourg’s treatment of another track from the album: ‘Tes Yeux Noirs’.
