Date: August, Friday 14th
Place: Spain, Burgos Province, Aranda de Duero, Plaza del Trigo & Recinto Ferial
The second day of
Sonorama promised us even more than we had yesterday, so we slept a bit more to 'recharge the batteries' and did not managed to arrive at Plaza del Trigo in time. As a result, we skipped almost entire performance of
Jacobo Serra, the young singer-songwriter who presented his melodic
Beatles-tinged songs to the crowd with passion and honesty. This day we made the decision to stay on the Plaza constantly due to the necessity to save good places for '
concierto secreto'. So when the people started to flow off the square to get themselves some beer or calimocho in between of performances we stayed without any move.
Jacobo Serra
Belize, the next band to perform, appeared to be a bunch of boys and girls who looked like the high school students. Really, they looked very young. Their music was a mix of warm and sunny lounge with the most poppy form of indie rock. Visually they were a bit nervous being granted with the possibility to perform on Plaza but the crowd was warm to them anyway.
Belize
Full were the most well-known band in the morning session. Based on the songs from their latest album "Mi Primer Atraco" their program have shown the band's best sides with the melodic alternative rock much in the vein of Supersubmarina. In the middle of their set all the guys from Izal appeared backstage. Are Izal today's secret band? - the unasked question was almost palpable in the air. The next surprise was when Sean Frutos came onstage to support Full's frontman Javi Valencia for the song "Adios". Are Second today's secret band again?
Full & Sean Frutos
Apparently the answer was "no" for both. Because, occasionally, we were granted with the opportunity to see
La Habitacion Roja for the third time within 8 days.
This secret concert have shown us the most energetic side of the band. And it was absolutely unforgettable. From the very beginning of the show Jorge looked a bit tipsy but if it was really so it did not spoil anything. LHR did the same thing as Ninos Mutantes an year ago - they have made a set of cover versions. "Heroes" of David Bowie, "Boys Don't Cry" by The Cure, "Man On the Moon" by REM, "Song 2" by Blur... Finalizing the set with their own "Ayer" Jorge crashed down on the ground with the t-shirt totally wet from sweat. We felt ourselves like the lemons squeezed dry but happiness was our second name because of this crazy smashing groundbreaking show.
After having a nap (and a cup of wine) in the hotel room we came to
recinto ferial to start the evening with the
Grupo de Expertos Solynieve. The supergroup with
Jota and
Manu Ferron as co-leaders and two primary songwriters played some sort of electrified alt-country rock where one song could lean to blues, and another could be arranged in pure indie rock key. We stayed with them until the performance was wrapped up and then went to VIP zone to look around.
Grupo de Expertos Solynieve
In VIP zone we run into Javier Ajenjo and we talked a bit. He asked us if we attended the Morente Vive! show yesterday (of course, yes!), and I praised him for being capable to get all the pieces together in his hands and for making Sonorama better and better with every new edition.
For
Arizona Baby we decided not to dive deep into the crowd, so we took ourselves some perfect DO Ribera del Duero wine and moved our bodies to the place within VIP zone from where we could observe the main stage. It surprised me how cool this band sounded live. I've tried to listen to their albums but I definitely couldn't fall in love with cos I considered the sound too thin, and the vocals too. But live it gave me absolutely different impression. It didn't sound thin at all. It sounded vital.
Arizona Baby
Jero Romero is a special band. You might not be much into their music. You might not want to listen to them. You might come there for the couple of songs just to tick a box - but surely you will stay there for the whole set of songs. There is something magnetic in this bunch of musicians gathered in the center of the stage like if they are jamming in very small room. It is impossible to say 'OK, let's go to see something else' and walk away. It's always some kind of magic.
Jero Romero
Before starting the "
Calexico -
Mi Capitan -
Murciano Total -
Supersubmarina" long run we came to VIP zone again to visit less overcrowded WCs. Standing in the queue I noticed the
Grupo de Expertos Solynieve musicians coming into VIP zone. I felt stupid to run away from the queue and ask them to take a photo together with the toilets as the background - though to take a photo together with
Jota for me it was the same as taking a photo with God for any religious person. Just to react to the situation I started to applause. In two seconds all the queue started to applause. The musicians waved hands to us, everybody was smiling. It was pretty nice moment but I felt like I've lost the momentum, and I would never see them again from such the close distance. But when we went up for the next doses of wine they were just standing there and having the conversation together.
Jota!!! - I was almost crying. -
Sorry for disturbance! We're your fans from Russia! One photo, please!
From Russia? - Jota cracked a smile. -
You've come a long way!
When the photos were taken everything I could was just to shout "
Aaaaaaaa!!!" in the air, and I did so. The happiness became my first name. Really, for some amount of time I was the most happy person in the whole world.
We skipped
Calexico because, you know, I'm here to observe the local bands rather than the international stars. They sounded great, and they were great in fact - but I wasn't there for them. So we ran to Burgos stage to see
Mi Capitan.
Mi Capitan is somewhat new name for the scene with the debut album "
Drenad El Sena" released this year - new name but with familiar faces. The members of
Standstill,
Egon Soda and
Love Of Lesbian are here to accompany longtime friend
Gonçal Planas, the tour manager and sound engineer of the aforementioned bands.
Mi Capitan have presented most of the songs from "
Drenad El Sena" including their emblematic "
Es Suave La Voz" - the song the band is going to be remembered for in years. With unexpected appearance of
Sidonie members onstage for the final song their perfomance definitely was worth abandoning
Calexico.
Mi Capitan
Then we stayed before Burgos stage awaiting
Murciano Total. The residents of
El Genio Equivocado label that initially had been hiding their names under Lena & Sema monikers (later revealed to be
Jose Lozano (of
Automatics and
Universal Circus fame) and
Elena Molino) reproduced the sound of their cool and fresh "
Quereres Y Dejenes" album quite literally, and their set was the pure pleasure for me as I like that album very much.
Murciano Total
While the Castilla Y Leon stage was sieged by
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah we were hidden somewhere in the middle of the crowd before the Ribera stage.
Supersubmarina were the headliners of this night so half an hour before the concert the crowd was already enormous. Considered 'too commercial' by fellow musicians this band presented the loud and colourful show with heroic poses and all these attributes of successful rock band. Anyway, the sound was not ideal, and while the performance was very professional and energetic the impression was not quite what we expected overall.
Supersubmarina
To finalize our activities this night we came to the Castilla Y Leon stage to look at
La Maravillosa Orquesta del Alcohol. In comparison with the last year the local Burgos province heroes were promoted from openers to headliners in terms of the timeslots. The crowd was also significant so we didn't manage to get closer to the stage. But all the songs were familiar to us as we listen to their albums frequently in our everyday life, and we got enough pleasure just standing there behind the crowd and singing these songs along with the band.
La Maravillosa Orquesta del Alcohol
Text: Mikhail
Photos: Tatiana & Mikhail
