Photos: Christine and the Queens at the Theatre at Ace Hotel

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christineandthequeens
Christine and the Queens (photo by Max Ho)

Concert-goers leaped out their seats Saturday night when French singer-songwriter Héloïse Letissier — aka Christine and the Queens — sang the first few words to 2013’s “Starshipper” in the dimly lit Theatre at the Ace Hotel.

Already a sensation and Europe and fast becoming one on this side of the Atlantic — this was the fifth of seven dates on her first North American headlining tour — the 28-year-old artist, who identifies as pansexual, set the tone early:

“I’m saying that for the time we have together here this becomes a free zone, where we can experiment and just find yourself if you want to,” she told the crowd. “Forget that you’re yourself if you want to. Be a bicycle if you want to. Be a tree if you want to. Who am I to judge you? There is no judgment here. You can dance if you want to.”

Dance she did, joined by four other bodies in frenetic motion, working her way through the songs from “Christine and the Queens,” this year’s English version of the album she released in France last year. Throughout the show Letissier could hardly stay still, dancing alongside her dancers who were in-step with her movements, occasionally performing acrobatics like jumping the air and doing handstands. Included was her breakout single “Tilted,” along with “iT.”

She shared the inspiration for some of her songs, including “Saint Claude,” a song regretting not standing up for a boy that was laughed at for being different. Hearing Letissier’s vocals bounce around the Theatre during “Paradis Perdus” was hauntingly majestic. Towards the end of the night Letissier admitted to not having the breadth of material of someone like Bruce Springsteen, so she decided to perform a cover of Beyoncé’s “Sorry.” For the last song, “Night 52,” Letissier had the audience hold their lighters and cell phones up in the air while she sang in French. Hilarity ensued when the crowd tried to sing along with her, and failed miserably.

L.A.’s Dâm-Funk entertained the early crowd with his one-man show.

Photos by Maxmilian Ho