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.
