An evening with Eric Cantona, former Manchester United footballer is just about as good as it gets for many fans that had the privilege of watching him pull on the United shirt for the 5 years he was at the club. He has been described as an enigma, a genius, the catalyst for Alex Ferguson becoming the most successful manager in English football history but the one thing that is undeniable is his popularity and admiration – a hero to many fans.
Before we got to meet the great man himself, there was a support act. A stand-up comedian by the name of Aaron James who arrived to the stage to polite applause – most of the fans were there just to see Cantona. However, James was an accomplished comedian and he most definitely knew his audience. He made references to local areas around Manchester, rival football clubs and sports related topics even throwing in some sporting impressions during his routine. His comedy wasn’t sophisticated but he was funny, with mostly throw away gags no doubt from a much longer list he had in his locker.
After a short interval the main man himself arrived onto the stage to a thunderous reception, with a standing ovation followed by Cantona chants that lasted for several minutes. Eric stood to the front of the stage and just took everything in – I have to admit that I have never seen a personality greeted in a theatre with so much love. This reception was very special and you could tell from Eric’s reaction that he loved every second of it.
The format of the evening was a relaxed style of interview with some pre-prepared questions that allow him to talk about his days as a Manchester United player and his work as an accomplished actor since he retired – he has in fact been an actor longer than he was a footballer making 30 films. Whilst this is an understandable approach, this led to some frustrations in the audience as they wanted to ask Cantona more searching and detailed questions, often shouting these out but being ignored.
Despite the limitations of the questions, some of the insights that Cantona was able to provide were quite remarkable, not just about his love of Manchester United and his great relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson but also how he came to England having been banned by the French Football Association for 3 months for a red card he received in a game – the initial ban was 2 months but he called them “a bunch of idiots” during his tribunal hearing. The mention of his first club Leeds United drew a humorous chorus of disapproval from the audience but as Cantona pointed out they won the league during the season he was at the club.
Cantona also talked about his love of art and in particular Banksy, a man he described as the perfect artist with his hidden identity being a key part of this. His admiration for Banksy came through very clearly as he spoke very eloquently about him and in great detail about his works.
Cantona has charisma in bucket-loads and his style is very engaging – when he speaks people listen. He tells the story of his famous quote about seagulls following the trawler, he had been forced to give a press statement by the club at that time and he just made up the quote on the spot and it meant nothing; speaking of his delight as he watched journalists try to pick out key parts of his statement in an attempt to uncover what he truly meant – he laughed even now when he spoke of this all those years later.
For the vast majority of the Manchester United fans in attendance at The Lowry just seeing Cantona speak for about an hour meant we went home happy, but I cannot help feeling that the show could have been so much better. The use of some key photographs or video clips in between sections of the show would have definitely enhanced the experience. I also think that having some type of Q&A would have satisfied the demand in the audience, it all seemed unnecessarily guarded and cautious.
Reviewer – John Fish
on – 28/10/18
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