The second day of the festival had much to offer us. The Plaza del Trigo stage was fully dedicated to Subterfuge's 25th anniversary showing the present day of this definitive indie label. The band that was chosen to open the program of the day was The Bright. Built around the creative forces of Miryam Gutierrez (she) and Anibal Sanchez (he) the band plays tight and catchy songs within the spectre from alternative country tracks in the vein of Amy MacDonald to more rocking songs which have less in common with the 'classic' country sound. Their show was impressive and very positive. An hour later I met Miryam and Anibal backstage and asked them for a foto - they didn't decline my request. Nice people.
Me and The Bright
Right after the show of The Bright we successfuly managed to move our bodies through the crowd to Red Bull stage where the band Bestlife (Under Your Seat) was playing at that moment. The end of their set was interesting enough, I'd like to see their full performance if there'd be a chance. Then we decided to return to Plaza del Trigo but to drink a cup of calimocho before. In the bar where we intended to buy us a drink named "Tapas Copas Bar" Tanya asked a girl behind the counter for a permission to take a photo of her cos she was really nice and colourul. I mentioned that we're from Russia. Then it's revealed that this girl knows about my blog. It's unbelievable - to occasionally run into a person who knows about my blog! The only thing that still makes me worry: it seems like I didn't pay for the drinks correctly and underpaid to her 1 Euro or so. I'm sorry for that, really.
After such the pleasant encounter we finally returned to Plaza del Trigo being a bit high on calimocho and catched the second half of Bravo Fisher!'s show. This electronica-based dance rock band really made the whole squareful of people jump and dance to their songs, and were welcomed with the great enthusiasm. After Bravo Fisher! finalized their actuacion we stayed on the square waiting for the Joe La Reina.
The Donostian band spearheaded by somber-looking vocalist/guitarist Lucas Malcorra issued their debut longplay called "Bailamos Por Miedo" earlier this year. I've purchased it via iTunes and now wanted to see how these songs would sound on live. Their stylistics I'd describe as art-folk. The songs of Joe la Reina are more like tales - with all these twists and turns and changes in dynamics and tempos. The band looked and sounded great. Especially their drummer catched our attention cos he was very into what he was doing.
The band
Again we moved to Red Bull Tour Bus. The punk band Margot were playing there. Margot did not impress us so we stayed there to think it over where to move our feet, when my mobile phone told me that Facebook chat message just arrived. I should say that there was free access to wi-fi in the central part of Aranda. The message was from Javier Ajenjo. My legs almost refused to function. "Hi Mikhail", he said, "Do you have a mobile number to call you?" "Yes, I got one but it crushed" replied I - yes, earlier in the morning my mobile provider had disconnected me unexpectedly - "I saw you 5 minutes ago on the Plaza del Trigo backstage", I told to him. "Come here, I'm still here", he said.
I should put it clear - it was not some kind of an usual situation for me. Rather it was some kind of unbelievable. We met with Javier and all the cool nice people around him. It was visible that these guys really felt good about some strange bloke from hell knows where likes what they're doing. Now being in Moscow deeply drowned into post-fiesta depression I should say to all of you: my friends, I love you and everything you're doing!
Finally Javier asked us to be there again tomorrow by 2 p.m.
I should put it clear - it was not some kind of an usual situation for me. Rather it was some kind of unbelievable. We met with Javier and all the cool nice people around him. It was visible that these guys really felt good about some strange bloke from hell knows where likes what they're doing. Now being in Moscow deeply drowned into post-fiesta depression I should say to all of you: my friends, I love you and everything you're doing!
Meantime, back on Red Bull six-piece Proyecto Solaz played. They sounded cool, and I've ticked a checkbox against their name in my mind.
After them we came to Future Stars stage to see Baden Bah! (I reviewed their new album called "Aleph" earlier). The show of this Salamancan indie (true indie) band was painfully underattended by the audience. The lack of people before the stage visually did not disturb the musicians, and they were playing for 15 of us like they're doing this for 200+ crowd. You may read in the review of "Aleph" what I think of their songs. To put it short: they're great.
Meantime Raphael came onstage.
It was a torment. Or fury. Or... I dunno. I'm not talking about his appearance onstage or his singing. No, I'm talking about the sea of people before the stage. I thought that the crowd of Xoel Lopez one year ago was huge. No - THAT was huge. Young people, mature people, old people - they all were mixed in one swirl of adoration. Me and Tanya were just sitting aside drinking wine and looking at that. To put it honestly, Raphael made a couple of steps from pop tradition towards indie rock world: he was supported by Miss Caffeina musicians, he sung with Alberto from Miss Caffeina, Juan Alberto from Ninos Mutantes... He even crashed a mirror with the chair.
Regarding the prolonged performance of Raphael the set of Ivan Ferreiro was delayed for almost a half of an hour. The occasional damage of this time shift was our inability to attend the Doble Pletina show in the Future Stars.
Ivan Ferreiro presented to us the same song set as it was on Contempopranea. But most of the songs were played a bit louder with more energy. So Ivan is one of my all time favourite musicians and for me he is always great. Especially having in mind that 14th of August it was his birthday - his band congratulated him in the end of the last song of the set.
La M.O.D.A
In the evening we were a bit late and run like hell to catch La Maravillosa Orquestra del Alcohol (or simply La M.O.D.A), the band rom Burgos. They make music in the vein of Mumford & Sons but their version of bluegrass-based pop-rock is more driving and humorous. They were furious and funny onstage, and have shown the ability to catch the attention of anybody who even wasn't much into that kind of music.After them we came to Future Stars stage to see Baden Bah! (I reviewed their new album called "Aleph" earlier). The show of this Salamancan indie (true indie) band was painfully underattended by the audience. The lack of people before the stage visually did not disturb the musicians, and they were playing for 15 of us like they're doing this for 200+ crowd. You may read in the review of "Aleph" what I think of their songs. To put it short: they're great.
Baden Bah!
When Baden Bah! ended up we started to float over recinto ferial between David Fonseca, Refree and the VIP zone where we were offered with good red wine (1 cup for 1 Euro) waiting for Ninos Mutantes. 20 minutes before their show we placed our bodies right at the security bars at Ribera del Duero stage. Right after we came here the mature women with the blue t-shirts saying "RAPHAEL" started gathering there. Yes, this year the organizers of Sonorama invited traditional pop crooner Raphael to the fest. Some said it was great business idea that could attract a lot of new attenders, some said it was a betrayal. I didn't lean myself to either of these rivaling camps - I just didn't know who Raphael was/is. Anyway, Ninos Mutantes made a performance that I described as "It was the best concert in my whole life". On my favourite song "Errante (Cancion Mutante)" (yes, deep inside my self I'm a good pop song loving guy) I almost broke my voice. The band was more rocky then on DVD "15 anos mutando" where they sounded like the Spanish Travis. The songs from new album "El Futuro" were cool on par with the earlier hit singles like aforementioned "Errante" or "Naufragos". The band finalized the show with the cover version of Raphael's "Como Yo Te Amo" making the bridge to what would come next.
Ninos Mutantes
We had no intention to see Raphael so to kill some time before Ivan Ferreiro we looked at Elefantes (another heroes of the past who returned to activity last year) and drank more wine in VIP zone.Meantime Raphael came onstage.
It was a torment. Or fury. Or... I dunno. I'm not talking about his appearance onstage or his singing. No, I'm talking about the sea of people before the stage. I thought that the crowd of Xoel Lopez one year ago was huge. No - THAT was huge. Young people, mature people, old people - they all were mixed in one swirl of adoration. Me and Tanya were just sitting aside drinking wine and looking at that. To put it honestly, Raphael made a couple of steps from pop tradition towards indie rock world: he was supported by Miss Caffeina musicians, he sung with Alberto from Miss Caffeina, Juan Alberto from Ninos Mutantes... He even crashed a mirror with the chair.
Regarding the prolonged performance of Raphael the set of Ivan Ferreiro was delayed for almost a half of an hour. The occasional damage of this time shift was our inability to attend the Doble Pletina show in the Future Stars.
Ivan Ferreiro presented to us the same song set as it was on Contempopranea. But most of the songs were played a bit louder with more energy. So Ivan is one of my all time favourite musicians and for me he is always great. Especially having in mind that 14th of August it was his birthday - his band congratulated him in the end of the last song of the set.
Ivan Ferreiro
Under the bottom line, this day of Sonorama 2014 was absolute winner for us. The only disappointment for me was the missing show of Doble Pletina. All the rest was great.
