¡Vamos Hostias! - 0

This report was originally supposed to be called "La Última Aventura" ("The Last Adventure"), or "La Gira De Despedida" ("The Farewell Tour"). It’s not that in the process of completing the report the hope grew up on me that everything would get better in the near future - but I hardly feel despondent or melancholic, so now I would like to make the title more uplifting. Neither English translation of the word "hostia" comes any close to adequate, so you are free to place anything you like instead of it. "Let's go, bitches!" or "Let's go, cool kids!" – you name it.

Sonorama 2018. Days 1-2

This particular Sonorama differed much from all the previous editions we’ve been involved into. This time we made an initial decision to abandon seeing as many bands as possible. When there’s a lot of events around it’s hard to keep up fully with what’s going on so most of the time you’re running from stage to stage with the sweat on your teeth trying to catch a couple of songs here and then a couple of songs there. Now we were more about soaking our bodies and minds into the atmosphere of the festival instead. We’ve got along with more people, we spent more time simply enjoying just being the part of it. 

Wednesday, 08th

The festival started at 9:00 pm sharp with the performance of Disco Las Palmeras! It looked like shame the audience was rather sparse during their show as Diego Castro and his pals deserved much more attention. But it was only Wednesday, and the most of the young festival people didn’t arrive to Aranda at the moment, I suppose. Anyway, their new album “Calida” is one of the year’s best, so I enjoyed the new songs a lot – and poor are the ones who didn’t came.

Triangulo Inverso is one of those bands that are deemed to be popular while lacking originality. You may easily recognize the influences of Izal, Vetusta Morla, Miss Caffeina in their songs. For the festival stages such bands are the great deal cos their songs are always good enough to make the people rave and dance and fully enjoy it but at the end of the day it’s a dead end. For me it’s pretty clear you need something more to be truly original.

The next ones to step upon the stage were Correos. The Sonorama’s darlings (I’ve lost count of how many times they performed at different locations of the fest for the last 5 years) were loud and cheerful and highly energetic as always. The fact they had lost a member prior to recording of their new disc “Terapia, Terapia” didn’t impact their sound and stage behavior at all. They presented the pack of older hits along with a couple of new tracks from “Terapia, Terapia”. I should declare the new ones fitted great so the next time the crowds gonna be shouting out the lines from “El Ultimo Verso” or “Sobreviviendo” like they shouted out ”Calles llenas de gente vacia/ Y nadie sabe donde esta la salida“ or “Todo el mundo necesita un corazon salvaje” now.

Thursday, 09th

We started the first full day of Sonorama from the Floridablanca performance at Plaza la Sal (Heineken stage). Floridablanca had only a handful of songs released publicly as singles earlier this year, and their debut album is set to release for the autumn that comes. But for me they are kind of old friends as my Sonorama history was ignited by these guys. I mean, all my love and adoration of this fest started to blossom from the performance of the band named Sin Rumbo in the year 2013. Floridablanca are exactly the same guys who performed as Sin Rumbo up to the year 2017. Now they have changed direction starting to play synth-driven music with sunshine pop/balearic influences. It was quite different to what they did before but anyway entertaining. As I predicted previously, if you're a fan of Sin Rumbo it's easy to convert yourself into the fan of Floridablanca.

The next band to perform on the same stage was the young quartet Patio Rosemary. Up to their concert I was put into situation that cut short my abilities in squaring down the correct and weighted opinion on this band as we were approached by a group of our friends (hi there Glo, Eva, MariAn and company!), and during Patio Rosemary’s set we spent more time talking and embracing each other than listening to the band.

Right after Patio Rosemary came offstage we left Plaza la Sal and came to a restaurant to enjoy some lechazo. While sitting there at the table with the piece of meat in one hand and the cup of wine in another we were thrilled by the news that today’s concierto secreto (now it’s called #EspirituRibera due to DO Ribera Del Duero sponsorship) on Plaza del Trigo would be Cycle. The same Cycle our friend David Tabuena plays with! We finalized our meal quite quickly and rushed to Plaza del Trigo but this place was overcrowded as usual. Fortunately, we managed to win ourselves some free space aside of the stage so for the last 4 songs we stayed in a couple of meters from David and China Patino (David Kano, Juanjo Roig and the frontman Luke Donovan were a bit farther from us). Cycle performed mostly the tracks from their new album “Electrik” – at least in the final part of their set. Right now I look at the results of the poll “What #EspirituRibera event you consider the best” in twitter, and the Cycle’s gig is on the last place with no chance to step up. I totally disagree with that, by all means Cycle were great.

After we met David backstage we took a 2 hour break before the nighttime set of concerts in recinto ferial (main festival area).

***

The first evening show was the one of Joana Serrat. Well, I can’t call it disappointment of any kind though I can’t hide my dissatisfaction. The songs were still that great but the sound was samey song to song. It sounded like ‘ok, as we’ve got this guy on pedal steel let he play it all the way’. I don’t know... Her albums are gorgeous, there’s nothing about sameness in “Dripping Springs” or “Cross The Verge” – but live the impression was somehow spoiled for me. Anyway the show pleasant enough to feel some kind of regret when moving away halfshow from Burgos stage to Ribera stage for catching the second half of Tulsa’s gig. 

This was the 3rd time we observed Miren Iza’s band live and surely this was the most danceable show out of these three as it was based upon the material of the last year’s perfect “Centauros” - in contrary to the previous two that were post-“La Calma Chicha” gloomy yet vulnerable psych-pop ones.

The next stop was the Burgos stage again. El Increible Paso was the new name for us and we wanted just to check the band out. So we did right what we wanted to do: we checked this band out placing Hombre Esponja and his pals into the ‘to listen to their albums later’ category. As evidenced by the show they stood both legs in folk rock and probably paid some debt to Izal but they’ve got something of their own as well.

We never managed to appear at Neuman’s performances before so this time we arrived to Aranda stage beforehand to get ourselves the good places. Everyone who ever listened to his albums knows well that Paco Neuman is a guitar junkie. Who else could start his set with 12 minute long “Deleted Files” from the most recent release “Crashpad” ((p)2017 Subterfuge)! Then Paco continued to pour the waterfall of the guitar swirl onto the audience. He changed guitars after every song and used two full pedalboards of guitar effects. I think ‘astonishing’ is the proper word to describe his art.

Then we walked to the Burgos stage for the Modelo de Respuesta Polar performance that appeared to be the logical continuation of Neuman’s as the five-piece from Valencia used three guitars onstage to produce the sonic squall simultaneously vigorous and intimate. With every new album the songs of Modelo de Respuesta Polar are getting slower and mellower but live the band is still powerful and loud.

Despite the fact the shows of Neuman and Modelo were really great, the best show of the night definitely was performed by Pasajero. The Madrid-based band collected the best tracks out from their three albums for that special night. 100% hits, 100% energy, 100% pleasure.

Day 3
Day 4

#Sonorama20. The Report. Part One

I’ve been writing it for a week, and what I wrote at the moment it covers only the first day of Sonorama 2017. It’s bad. It's inappropriate. I’m fucking up all the deadlines (though there’s no one to set the deadlines for me), and what I really need now is the correction of plans. However, here it goes.

Premise 
I was forced to go through a lot of problems with this Sonorama. First of all, at the end of June I was told that my chiefs’ vacations would coincide with mine in August, and they wouldn’t let me go. Previously I’ve discussed my Sonorama vacation with them many times, and everything was ok – so this situation has got me stunned in the bad way. I had no idea what to do, and was only waiting for some miracle to come. The miracle has come in the form of the unexpected pregnancy of my direct chief’s wife. Her first trimester started quite harsh what made her impossible to travel, so the chief postponed his vacation. That apparently opened the doors for me to come along the way out – but one week before Sonorama I fell ill with the tonsillitis that led me to stay in bed for 7 days – with body temp 39*C for 5 days in a row. These circumstances successfully made me coming to Aranda painfully worn-out and totally unprepared. I wanted to precede our visit with a couple of preliminary reviews (the most thought-about and even half-done was “20 bands for 20th anniversary” coverage of 20 most interesting ‘smaller font’ bands to see) – but all plans went crashed with my illness.

Despite my exhausted state of body and mind we did a lot in our 5th Sonorama. This time there were more stages inside the town of Aranda, some of them were located in remote places which made the daytime logistics quite complicated. But we exceeded our usual normative of 10-11 bands per day to observe, and approached the level of 13-15 bands seen in a day. The major difference of this Sonorama for us as compared to the 4 previous festivals is that we didn’t manage to reach the Plaza del Trigo performances. As I told you many times before, this square is the heart of the festival, but this time we found bands to perform on other stages more interesting than the ones of Plaza del Trigo. Thus we omitted the secret shows, because to see these undeclared concerts from the good viewpoint it needs to come to the square before the first band starts performing. If you come later – you’ll be forced to listen to the shows from afar due to the venue quickly getting overcrowded within the first minutes of the first concert. The only secret show we attended was one of Leon Benavente – the vast difference with the previous year when we observed all the secret shows from the very first line. Regarding the plan of the bands to see we made during Moscow Domodedovo – Madrid Barajas flight, we successfully met the most part of it, with some painful omissions:

• We missed the show of Niños Mutantes almost completely because there were soooo many people when we came from Burgos stage after seeing Paranoid Android, 
• We missed the performance of Echo because it coincided with Viva Suecia, 
• We missed the show of Noise Box and Correos because their performances coincided with Nixon and Villanueva respectively, 
• We had no chance to see Nocturnos because of our flight back home at Monday. 

Anyway, we saw a lot of bands and we didn’t die. We met a lot of people. These were the happiest days of our lives.

09/08/17. The night. Location: camping 
La Fiesta Bienvenida should start for us with the performances of Amaro Ferreiro and Rufus T. Firefly. Though Amaro Ferreiro is around here for so much time, his solo career could make James Iha seem prolific. This fact shouldn’t distract you cos he co-penned some of Ivan Ferreiro’s most memorable songs (“Turnedo” is, probably, the best evidence) – so his songwriting abilities are irrefutable. The second album that bears his name alone on the sleeve was put out the previous year. “Biologo” is very sympathetic record – just like its auteur is. Despite some apparent similarities with his brother’s art, Amaro makes something of his own. As a performer he seemed a bit shy (what is rather his personal feature than anything else), so all it was sweet and warm and intimate. We liked it a lot cos his songs and the manner of performing were pretty close to our inner selves.

Rufus T. Firefly is the band whose name first comes to mind when you talk about the bands in the blossom #rightnow. It’s a mistake to call them ‘young emerging band’ with their 10 years long career and the string of amazing albums in back catalogue but it’s obvious that within the last couple of years Rufus considerably increased their popularity. Now they are capable of gathering the crowd that is limited only by the size of the venue. Additionally, you hardly meet a person who doesn’t like them. Everybody likes Rufus T. Firefly, especially those amongst the musicians. The band rocked the Plaza del Trigo two years ago. Now they played not less than 4 times on festival: the first night, the Santa Catalina stage as a surprise band, a close-up acoustic show in Le Club, and as a part of Paranoid Android supergroup covering the tracks of Radiohead. We attended three of those four shows. The first one was the most impressive one. The distorted darkness that surrounded the camping stage in the General Gutierrez Park perfectly fitted the synth-soaked psychedelia the band created onstage. Even if the sound was not ideal it was absolutely clear why the band is so adored by their colleagues. Victor Cabezuelo and Julia Martin are one of the best musicians in their respective fields, and their music is a grandeur. A listener’s delight.

10/08/17. The morning. Main location: Plaza de Sal 
After seeing Vurro and Antes

Vurro: once viral one man band whose face and forehead is covered with the cow skull. He plays a drum kit and three keyboards. Additionally, he has two cymbals standing both sides of his head, and he is playing them with the horns of the skull; 

Antes: alternative rock trio with high quality ‘metallic’ sound and Biffy Clyro stage behavior, 

and the brief unexpected encounter with Sean Frutos (Second)

We had 15 minutes before Antes started playing so I rushed to the Plaza del Trigo to see what was going on in there but was not capable to get into due to the most streets around were banned for trespassing. I quickly returned to Plaza de Sal only to see Tanya making some strange gestures. From the distance I didn’t get what she meant, so when I got close she told me that I had just passed by Sean Frutos, the frontman of Second. In seconds we reached him, briefly talked to him and asked for a photo. He was so kind to let us do so!

we headed to Maria Pacheco stage to see Los Vengadores. We caught them two years ago on Burgos stage – and they were excellent with their over-the-top energy and memorable songs. Now they have slightly corrected their approach and presented more stripped-down sound and more mid-tempo set of songs. This didn’t change the fact that Los Vengadores is a band to follow, and their performance was the best for us in the midday section of events. When they covered up their actuation we approached them and expressed our feelings to Coque, the frontman of the band. He was nice and friendly talking to us and giving us the CD copy of their recent album “El Arte De Vivir” as a gift.

After we returned to the old town of Aranda we run into the guys of Igloo along with Rodrigo Valiente, the frontman of The Trunks. We were laughing together for 10 minutes and made a lot of photos.

Then our amigos gallegos walked away for lunch, while we headed along to Plaza Mayor intending to get ourselves a couple of white wines. Passing along the Plaza del Trigo we saw Arizona Baby playing their ‘concierto secreto’. In the back of the crowd we noticed Alejandro, the frontman of the band Kitai, who is of the Russian descent. He is famous for his furious stage appearance being ruthless as for spectators as for himself. So I was a bit scared touching his shoulder to attract his attention. But in real life he was so sweet and friendly that, after we did some photographs together with him we felt like if the sun poured its shine on us after the hours of heavy raining.

10/08/17. The night. Location: Recinto ferial
Right after we entered the festive zone we unintentionally stopped at Burgos stage where Molina Molina and his band performed at that time. I’ve read a review of his recent disc “Oz”, but for some reason never listened to the songs. Now this band is in my wish list, the hottest part of the wish list. Then we moved to the La Carpa Meetin Arts tent to see Destino 48 - the band that play melodic guitar-driven pop music with the 80’s touch in the melodies – to kill some time between Molina Molina and A Por Ella Ray. A Por Ella Ray were the first band marked ‘obligatory’ in our plan for this night. And they didn’t disappoint us with tight and catchy song-oriented rock rooted in earnestness and sincerity.

Anni B Sweet was the second one marked obligatory. Her dress was pink, her set of songs was concentrated around the album “Chasing Illusions” – one of my favorite albums of the last three years. This could not disappoint me, this could only make me happy.
20 Años de Sonorama was a “best of” show directed by Charlie Bautista, the rock espanol jack of all trades. He presented some of the most famous songs in the history of the Spanish indie scene. It started from "Rincon Exquisito" sung by our newfound acquaintance Sean Frutos. It was followed by Izal's "Mujer de Verde", Ivan Ferreiro's "Turnedo"... It was gorgeous but after 4 songs I run away to see Tuya. Passing by La Carpa Meetin Arts I was attracted by the sounds and stepped into. Previously I knew nothing about Yoyo Banana, but they became one of two greatest discoveries of this Sonorama for me. Their performance was unattended as it coincided with 20 años – and it was fucking injustice, because the band was as competent as original and they sounded really great.

Feeling guilty for missing Tuya I escaped La Carpa. Another great disappointment was to see the performance of Tuya was also unattended. Having barely 40 persons of audience the band fronted by David T. Ginzo arranged one of the best performances of the fest. Presenting their most recent release “A War Is Coming” Tuya appeared before our eyes as a duo. I’d describe the new sound of the band as quasi-psychedelic kraut-pop with lots of synths, occasional guitars and memorable hooks. The show was supported by the mysterious backstage video which added some majesty to the overall result. The older tracks were also reworked in “A War is Coming” stylistics. I think no one of those who came to see them left the venue unsatisfied.

Then I returned to the main stage to catch the final moments of 20 Años de Sonorama right when Maryan Frutos (Kuve) and Deu (WAS) were in the middle of their “Toro” cover (originally by El Columpio Asesino), and after we did a couple of wines and listened to Leon Benavente's "Ser Brigada" we moved our feet to see Siloe. Siloe has grown as a performer for this year between now and his Sonorama 2016’s Plaza del Trigo show. Back then he sounded lacking experience of the live concerts, but now he and his band re-appeared as a high class professionals ready to perform on larger stages. In the crowd we met Jose and Diego from Yo, Estratosferico and talked to them about tomorrow's plans. After that we had something like an hour of spare time so we decided to catch the place on the first line before Aranda stage to see Dorian from the better viewpoint. We successfully achieved the goal placing our bodies right before the Belly Hernandez’ working table. Anyway, our happiness was cut short by the unpredictable circumstances: the set of Dorian lasted only for 4 songs and then the equipment called it quits making the further performance impossible.

To diminish the disappointment we walked into VIP zone for drinks. After half an hour of waiting we returned to La Carpa to catch the beginning of our Barcelona friends Pin&Pon djs' set. We waved hello to them, and after the brief dancing to Ladilla Rusa' s "Macaulay Culkin" we sent them the goodbye kisses and left the venue thus ending our first full day of #Sonorama20.

#CaminoAlSonorama2015. #0

In 5 weeks we'll be back at Sonorama!

Las Resenas Casuales. Baden Bah! "Futuro/a"

Baden Bah! "Futuro/a" (p)2014 self-released

This short album was recorded in Aranda, a home to Sonorama Ribera music festival, right after this year's Sonorama edition was over. The recordings were made very fast (I believe it was like one weekend or so), so it hardly took a month for the whole cycle of recording, mixing, mastering and then presenting the final result to the main digital platforms.

Such overspeeding of the process (I suppose it's not the kind of usual approach even for the truly indie band) didn't spoil the quality. So if you liked "Aleph" (the previous album of baden bah!) like as I did you will definitely like the new one as well - like as I do.

The bandmembers have changed the looks. From the white shirts with black ties and 'aleph' symbols on their sleeves they switched to 'pop art' colourful suits and bright images. Musically, without taking major steps aside the band nevertheless incorporated some additional elements to their core power pop sound.
The tubes in "Iguazu" made me curious of how that song could sound in 2-tone ska key. The Madness-like tubes return in the next track called "Invicto" making this song a potential hymn for the successfull football team. The closing "Alma" started with the simple guitar strumming but then it turned into the emotional and sublime chant orchestrated with cello and synths that fits perfectly for its role. The other tracks are more habitual to the band's template but in comparison with the previous releases from the first song to the last here baden bah! sounds more focused, more concentrated, more intense and apparently more concerned. 

The best tracks: Iguazu, Universo, Futuro

baden bah! en la red

#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.