Before winning five English league titles in seven seasons, Cantona grew up listening to his parents playing opera at home in Marseille before he later discovered punk and eventually perhaps his greatest musical inspiration, The Doors. Frontman Jim Morrison’s influence can certainly be heard on Cantona’s slightly apocalyptic, “Je Veux” (“I Want.”) As Cantona moves through his setlist, members of the crowd tried to interact with their hero; intermittent shouts of “Come on Eric!” more suited to accompanying him bearing down on an opposition goalkeeper with the ball at his feet, rather than bearing his heart out on stage.
As was the case when he quoted William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” to much bemusement as he accepted an award at a UEFA ceremony in 2019, the ambitions of Cantona’s artistic expression can at times leave some of his audience behind. At one point during the gig, his musings on an astronaut looking back on the world from space were awkwardly received with nervous laughter from the crowd. But when he gets it right, as he does with the genuinely captivating “Where Love Is Hanging Out,” Cantona can still draw an emotional response from a crowd.
It’s fair to say that Cantona is used to being misunderstood. When he first arrived in England at Leeds United in 1992, a reporter asked him who his hero was. Cantona answered: “[Arthur] Rimbaud,” (the French surrealist poet) but his response was mis-transcribed as “Rambo” — causing fans to bring photos of Sylvester Stallone to Elland Road in a misguided attempt at support for their new forward.
Cantona’s artistic journey post-football really is quite remarkable. It is hard to imagine an elite footballer today making the same leap into the world of the arts. Kevin De Bruyne contemplating the pitfalls of modern society through the medium of interpretive dance? Unlikely. Mason Mount penning an epic lament to a life left unlived? A tantalising prospect, but unfortunately not on the cards. But there he is, the Premier League’s overseas player of the decade 1992-2002, up there on stage and midway through a headline tour, crooning to a delighted audience: “I feel like a lizard / I’ve never been a lizard / But I can imagine / Because I drink / A sex on the beach.”
