ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses quasi-televisual phenomenon through the concept of the palimpsest, whereby the present aging body in performance is a thin layer above the remembered youthful body of the performer in the 1960s. It presents the web of sexuality in aging bodies as it is played out against a background of nostalgia. Every year since 2006, a group of French, English, Italian and Belgian singers have gone on tour around France, Belgium and Switzerland under the title of ‘Age Tendre’. Age Tendre is undeniably versed in the tropes of nostalgia; it grounds and shapes the performances, the promotion, and the online interactions with its fans. Age Tendre operates a dual inclusivity and exclusivity. It includes the francophone voices, including Belgian and Swiss singers and even English ones and in 2016, the English band, the Rubettes are performing. The Age Tendre community is predicated upon emotional belonging and emotive expression.
