We missed the show of McEnroe so the 1st band we saw in the evening were Barcelonians Stay. Stay are the britpop act with the psychedelia touches, and as for me their presence on the main stage was kinda difficult to explain. The venue was definitely too large for these guys. I don't want to say they were bad or playing poorly or anything. No, they were playing well and bandleader Jordi Bel was really good in stretching the psychedelic vibe out of his guitars - but it was really too large for them. Plaza del Trigo or Carson Camping would be much more appropriate.
Stay
Havalina is one of the bands whom I really adore. But for Tanya, they seemed to be too loud to fall in love with before Sonorama. So the Castilla y Leon stage was lucky for loud bands this year. And two of us were on the first line of defence again - we were standing pressed to the security bars right in front of the bass player Ignacio Celma.
In terms of the playing techniques all three members of the band - Manuel Cabezali, Ignacio Celma & Javier Couceiro - were amongst the best musicians on the fest. Their control over the sound they made was almost unbelievable. They produced such the solid wall of sound that it would be undistinguishable for many bands of larger 'capacity'. We were absolutely stunned during their show. We were so stunned that even did not noticed how the man behind the scene turned them off while they were in the very beginning of "Incursiones" due to they got out of timing so the rest of the song was some kind of unplugged with the audience singing all the lyrics.
Havalina
After the unforgettable set of Havalina we started running to the escenario principal - started and... all of a sudden stopped at the same moment. In the falling curtains of the dusk we saw the 'footballfieldful' sea of people who were just standing there. All of them were awaiting for Xoel Lopez. So the mean plan to get to the stage as close as possible fell apart.
Xoel Lopez is the reason I'm here. Not only in Sonorama. Globally 'here'. This is the musician who, performing under the alias Deluxe opened for me the door to the world of the spanish indie music. Searching for his recordings in Internet I had discovered all the rest of the bands I love now. So this would be the heartwrenching moment for me. And it was, really. Xoel and his band were playing, and I was standing in the middle of the crowd with my eyes shut and listening to his voice not being able to make a single move. The set consisted mostly of the songs from Xoel's lates release "Atlantico" with only one new song and only one song from his past days (it was gorgeous "Historia Universal"). And his supporting band was so harmonious that there was no single wrong note in the whole hour-long show. And Xoel's artistic magnetism kept the crowd as the whole entity with the thousands of hearts beating as one.
Xoel Lopez
Then was the time for us to spend a couple of sonos for sparkling water and calimocho. Our legs were crying for us to give them some rest so we placed our tired bodies on a sidestep against the FutureStars stage, where we noticed the band playing in there. The band was good, so we stood up again and came in. According to the schedule this would be Llum. I had never heard about this band before so it was another good discovery for me (later that night that band revealed to be Garamendi, not Llum). We had made some jerky dance for half an hour anf then came to Castilla y Leon for The New Raemon.
Garamendi
For the last couple of years Ramon Rodriguez is acting in the close connection with the band Maga from Sevilla, and here they were promoted as The New Raemon & Maga. Before their show started we had to listen to the part of Standstill set. Standstill is the renowned band who began in 90's as 2nd wave emo act but lated changed the direction and started making music with post rock-tinged chamber pop in its core base. What the fuck were they playing there I could not understand. It was something tribal, with doubled drumkit on the stage, dense strumming of acoustic guitar, all very repetitive and disturbing. Sorry, not my kind of music at all.
The New Raemon & Maga were the opposite thing. With the whole bunch of the good songs where the Ra(e)mon's songs were interleaved with Maga's power-pop singalongs this show was driving and upbeat. Both acts were very warmly received by the audience. But at the end of the show we hardly could stand on our feet. Fatigue have knocked us down to the ground, and three Supersubmarina songs ago the Sonorama Ribera 2013 was over for us.
The New Raemon y Maga
It's a pure grief and disappointment that we have lost the chance to watch the show of L.A. and now I am deemed to cope with it. The only reason to lower the grade of self-disappointment is the fact of L.A.'s "Dualize" album purchase on the mercadillo.
And for the most part, that's all.
