#SonoramaRibera2014. Los recuerdos nuevos

#SonoramaRibera2014. The Report. Day 4, 16.08.2014. All has come to an end

The day that presented us with one of the greatest shows of the year has started from the set of Ricardo Vicente. The resident of Marxophone label made the full-band performance that sounded as beautiful and confidential as muscular enough. The man on the second guitar looked like the former Havalina bass player Nahum Garcia. It wouldn't be any surprise for me if it was exactly he. 

Ricardo Vicente

After Ricardo stopped playing we stayed on Plaza waiting for Maryland. This galician band made it to TOP10 in my own list of the best releases of year 2013 but I couldn't even think that they're such great onstage! It was an absolutely fantastic show indeed! With wreckingball energy, melodies galore and sincere enthusiasm they arranged on Plaza del Trigo la gran fiesta para todos los espectadores. In the crowd before the stage we were so close to the group of girls prepared for the show - they have all these festive crackers and confettis and multicoloured spiral-twisted bands. They gave us a part of their packs so we were involved in this celebration. In sum with what occured onstage it was grandiose, by all means.

Maryland

We were so exhausted emotionally that we decided not to stay here for Sexy Zebras - and this decision later appeared as a great mistake because after Zebras' set the new 'secret show' was announced. This time there were Second. But we were not there, unfortunately.

Before the evening/night set we paved our way to Restaurante Miguel because two days ago  Javier Ajenjo gave us two coupons for free lechazo in there. Lechazo was great but what made our presenсe there unforgettable were the plates attached to the walls. All these plates were signed and decorated by the musicians who were there before: Tuya, Tachenko, PLV Havoc, Sharon Bates... Even my all-time american favourites Nada Surf. So, we were permitted to take a photo with the latest plate - one with Ninos Mutantes' handpaintings.

The evening set started for us with the Paciente Cero's set in the Hangar tent - the tiny stage situated opposite to the mercadillo. The band contacted me in twitter a week and a half before the festival and invited me to their show. I agreed.

Paciente Cero rocked. They played highly melodic alternative rock with interesting rhythmic consequences and memorable vocals of band leader Rafa Tunon. These guys are ready for the larger venues and I hope they would be invited for the next edition of the fest. After their set I approached them and told them who we are and from where we are. The guys were pretty shocked by the fact that somebody from hell knows where could attend their show.

Dos pacientes con dos rusos

Then I was forced to run like hell to catch the last two songs finalizing the actuacion of Belako. Initially I intended to see their full performance but Paciente Cero were too cool to leave them so I catched only the final part. Fortunately, the part that I managed to watch included the song "Sea Of Confusion" that I consider their best song. After Belako we came to Castilla stage to look at Juventud Juche. This trio made aggressive and essentially un-melodic punk rock. We stayed there for 2-3 songs and then moved further. The 'further' were Rick Brendan, the rock'n'roll clowns of political incorrectness and glam-rock freak-show positivism. To our surprise, it sounded better than looked and than we might imagine from such description.

Rick Brendan

Then we returned to Hangar tent to see one more young band that I occasionally followed on twitter. Versos Rotos as Paciente Cero before them showed their ability to hand over the larger venue. They sounded very clean and rich, and their songs had really catchy choruses. Some of the young female fans were detected in the crowd - for young rock band it's always good. 

Versos Rotos

Our next stop was Nacho Vegas on Ribera stage. Nacho with his guitar stood in front of the crowd. Right beside him there was Abraham Boba sitting playing on his keyboard set.

Nacho Vegas (right) and Abraham Boba (left)

We stayed there for some time and then came to VIP zone to drink some wine - an obligatory ritual for us these days. After our blood/wine balance was fine-tuned we came to Tachenko. Honestly speaking, I mostly don't like the albums of this band but their live set changed my mind on them. They were really consistent and their songs sounded much better than on albums. The perfect live band they are.

Tachenko

I don't know why and how but after Tachenko we somehow appeared in Future Satrs stage where some synth-based band was playing at the moment. It was the band Panama from Australia. They sounded like indie rock Simply Red but the songs were catchy enough to enjoy them so we spent some time there until Panama's set was over.

Panama

We spent 10 minutes or so at the main stage where Duncan Dhu were performing. This band of Basque origin disbanded in 2001, but in 2013 they returned to activity. I've tried them earlier but couldn't find my soul much into their music. But it seemed right to look at them just to show respect. 

Grises are from Basque Country as well. This year the band from Zupiskoa put out their third album called "Animal", and its quality pushed their show in 'not-to-be-missed' category for us. Grises fully met our expectations being loud, outrageous and roaring. Though mostly they showed us their electronica side but at times the band exploded with the bursts of alternative rock guitar chugging or elements of techno-dance rave.

Grises

Tired but happy we came to Future Stars to see Parade. But the show of Parade was delayed due to a) prolonged performance of Wilhelm And The Dancing Animals, and b) problems with connection. When the 'robot rock' band of Antonio Galvan finally started to play we understood that we were already too tired. So, Parade were the last band that we saw on this Sonorama.

Parade

So, say goodbye to all these sunny happy days full of great music and best people in the world! Say hi to yearlong days of grief and depression. Though... the memories are with us, ain't they?

#SonoramaRibera2014. The Report. Day 3, 15.08.2014. Minutes of glory

The program of the third day should start again on Plaza del Trigo with the set of The Handicaps. We saw The Handicaps last year on Red Bull Tour Bus and they caught our attention by their energy, good pack of melodies and unconventional use of stage railings and mic stands as the tools to play their guitars. So The Handicaps were 'must see' for us.

The Handicaps

Their set was as energetic and melodic as it had been a year ago, and we were standing right before the stage at its middle, but for us the performance was a bit spoiled by the fact that we hardly could hear the vocals (I suppose that the stage monitors were tuned this way to provide the far-standing persons with the wall of sound cos it seemed like for those behind us everything was OK). In terms of stage presence The Handicaps rocked as hell. Would like to see them again.

They were folowed by the four-piece Perro - the band from Murcia who play loud rock that has strong ties to hardcore but is not hardcore itself. Their uncommon feature is doubled drum section - yes, with two drummers. Additionally, the guitarist and the bass players shared the vocal duties and switched their instruments. We moved to the left (for us) corner of Plaza del Trigo to hide from the scorching sunlight - and there vocals were OK. Perro were bold, cocky and perky. The people on Plaza raved for them.

Perro

The next band were Correos, another alternative rock band. I was not familiar with them at all, never heard anything of them before. But they were equally cool, loud and melodic. One more band to follow or even to fall for.

Correos

After their set we met again with Javier Ajenjo. And what followed next almost drove me absolutely mad. Javier took me onstage right in front of the crowd and then introduced me to all of the people there, to all of these happy faces on the square and nearby streets. it was only for 30 seconds max but it was definitely the most heartwrenching moment of my life. The crowd even chanted my name! I'm a shy person but it was fantastic. If it was unbelievable for me to met a person who knows about the mere existence of my blog, or to hug with the fest director/musician from the band that I adore - then what was THIS? It was... I don't know. Maybe if I'm dying at 70 there wouldn't be any comparable moment for the rest of my life (unfortunately, I can't find any foto documenting this moment).

And after that the 'secret show' of Ninos Mutantes started. Plaza del Trigo stage is famous for such the surprises. Last year there was the secret show of Supersubmarina where the band played their own songs but finished them with somebody else's tunes. Now Ninos Mutantes made a set of covers that included Pixies, Depeche Mode and, again, Raphael's "Como Yo Te Amo". The only song of their own was "Errante".We were standing backstage 10 feet behind the musicians so I didn't dare to shout out the words of "Where Is My Mind" or "Errante" staying so close.

Ninos Mutantes from backstage

The opening act of the evening/night set were The Three Generations. I'd been listening to their album "Pillage" pretty regularly a couple of years ago. Live they were driving and cohesive but we left them in favor of Jack Knife. We missed this band last year on Plaza del Trigo - and as far as I knew from the reports and chronicles they set the Plaza on fire. So I would like to see them on much larger venue. And I'd rather consider this a loss. No, the band was OK - but Ribera stage seemed too large for them, and the audience seemed not to be so numerous. On the closed space of Plaza del Trigo surrounded by buildings the sound is more narrowly directed than on wide area of recinto ferial, and the spectators are so close one to another that they can almost strike the sparks by the collisions of their bodies. Maybe now they gathered the same amount of people - but here before the main stage it seemed like the lack of people.

The Three Generations

Jack Knife

Later we went to Castilla stage to see El Hombre Gancho. Before Sonorama I've checked them on youtube and found them good enough to go and see them. I made no mistake - El Hombre Gancho were fine. The band members looked like the old school latino-rockers but their music had nothing in common with old school latino-rock.

El Hombre Gancho

We stayed with them for 6 or 7 songs and we'd like to stay more but we should leave to win ourselves a better place before Ribera to see Second. Second are on tour with the last year's album "Montana Rusa", and now they're touring with the tiny classic orchestra. The participation of the orchestra is limited, it does not prevail on sound but makes the songs more colourful and bright. Second were in the perfect form. The band did not concentrate on the songs from "Montana Rusa" and played almost all the best songs from the last three albums. Overall, it was an astonishing show. "No, THAT was the best concert in my life", said I when it was over.

Second with the orchestra

After Second we came to VIP zone to drink wine and stayed there for awhile listening to DePedro from afar.

The whole show of Amaral we were watching from 'zona privado' of the VIP zone. Eva Amaral is another controversial person of this edition of Sonorama. She was one of the first headliners penned for the fest, and it was met with mixed reaction from fans due to Amaral and her band are on the far pop wing of Spanish rock music. Despite this fact she has good connections within the indie world, and her performance was much lauded anyway.

Amaral

If the performance of Leon Benavente that we say a year ago was absolutely outrageous, the new one seemed to be more controlled. All this year me and Tanya were listening to Leon Benavente's releases (self-titled LP and EP "Todos Contra Todos") so their set took no surprises for us in itself. But every performance of the band is a must by default - so great they are.

Leon Benavente

On the song "Ser Brigada" we started to break out of the crowd to run for Izal, but there was no place to run because another crowd was already there. We stuck somewhere in the middle without clean perspective to get closer to Tanya's favourite band. It was the first time for us when we could not manage to get to the security bars right at the stage - the good planning did not work well when the target shows were going back to back.

Mikel was bright and spectacular as always. We knew all the songs by heart and were just dancing and shouting the lyrics in the air. Needless to say that we were absolutely happy.

Izal from afar

At 2 a.m. we started to pave our way back home but before we walked away we listened to a couple of songs by Reptile Youth. It was enough to consider Reptile Youth not our piece of pie.

Summarizing the emotions, it was a great day for us. The greatest day. But it could be even better if we would attend the set of Cosmen Adelaida that was impossible due to coincidence with Izal.

#SonoramaRibera2014. The Report. Day 2, 14.08.2014. The good vibrations and everything like that

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

The drummer

After the band started to disconnect the gear I noticed backstage Javier Ajenjo, a director of Sonorama and simultaneously the leader of the cool band Yani Como. 

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.

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.

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.

#SonoramaRibera2014. The Report. Day 1, 13.08.2014. How to kickstart the event correctly

First of all, we had an intention not to repeat the past mistakes. The last year we came to Aranda right at the day when Sonorama started and we were late, and what was more important, after that crazy run of "full working day - then long sleepless nigt flight from Moscow to Madrid - then travel by car from Madrid to Milagros - then run to old Aranda - then to recinto ferial" from the start of the fest we were as full of life as mashed potato and as energetic as yesterday's beer. This year we came to Aranda beforehand so we had almost full day to watch the ducks swimming in the Bañuelos river, to walk the narrow streets of perfect Aranda and to drink cold white wine from the melting glasses in the tiny cafeterias making the day flowing slowly into the night.

Este año somos VIP

The next morning we also had the activities hardly related to music, but as the day had crossed its middle line our thoughts were leaning to what was waiting for us this night more and more. The first day of Sonorama 2014 was limited in terms of quantity of musicians to perform but in the same time absolutely unlimited in terms of impression due to the names of these musicians. I don't have much words about Hermanos Cubero - the acoustic folk duet of the most conservative pop tradition, but the brothers should be followed by two legendary names: Automatics and, most of all, Los Planetas. 

Automatics is the band from Jaen that appeared in the first half of 90's and formerly derived in equal parts from Madchester and psychedelic indie bands from the both sides of the ocean like Spacemen 3 or Mercury Rev. They dissolved in the early 2000's and their appearance in Sonorama was a big surprise to me as I have never heard about they are active again. And waht to say about Los Planetas? There is no other band in Spain that could be on par with them in terms of influence, and if there is the band to whom you may apply the sentence 'without them it all wouldn't be possible' than it's them. This year Los Planetas had returned to activity and the first day of Sonorama should be one of the first performances of the legendary band after 3 years of hiatus. So this promised to be the glorious night.

Los Hermanos Cubero from afar

And it really was the one.

The Automatics were great. They played almost one hour long set of songs that covered most of their past career. As long as the musicians never quit on making music (with the one part including the singer Jose Lozano to form the equally cool Universal Circus, and the second part playing in the band named Husband) they appeared to us in the near-perfect form. Their songs were always cool and catchy, and time haven't made them worse.

Automatics

Los Planetas

Los Planetas decided to show us their meditative side for the most part of the performance, with the main hits like "Mi Hermana Pequeña" or "Que Puedo Hacer?" and other driving songs being grouped close to the final of the show. The centerpiece of the performance was almost 8 minutes long song named "Toxicosmos" originally from the album "Una Semana En El Motor De Un Autobus" that many sources considered the best disc in their back catalogue. The audience raved full throttle, and I was absolutely stunned throughout the show feeling like losing my breath there at the stage right before Jota playing. Really, I never had an intention to see them live just because I never dared to believe I could have the opportunity to. 

The band walked out for the encore twice prolonging for us the majesty of this night.

On our 40 minutes long way back to hotel I shivered like hell and I did not know why - was it because the night weather in Aranda is relatively cold, too cold for my t-shirt, or was it because of some kind of the nervous disorder I got at that moment.

#CaminoAlSonorama #SonoramaRibera2014 - Horarios