(traducción de la crónica para Rock Sin Subtítulos)
This past weekend it has all been about Manel. While last Friday the Catalan group Manel performed in London, the following day, Spain finished in the last position with the performance of Manel Navarro in Eurovision.
In London, an audience that almost filled the capacity of The Grand Theater waited impatiently to the band. The band opened the concert greeting the Spanish fans who were anxious to enjoy their songs. The community of expats living in the United Kingdom was looking forward to singing the melodies, all of them in Catalan. Manel on the stage managed to open a fissure in space and transport the Spanish fans for a moment to a concert in Spain.
The group kicked off in 2008, and since then their trajectory has been unstoppable. Renewing their style with each record, the group had two clear missions at The Grand: present their latest album Jo Competeixo (2016) and cross borders. They exceptionally played a multitude of songs from this album. Themes such as Serotonina or Les Cosines reminded us of their transition from a pure indie folk style to a mix of synthesizers, Latin rhythms and electronics. Manel demonstrated in this show his musical maturity with a clean sound and a basic staging, that showed their music in its most pure state.
But Manel not only came to present the songs in his last album. They played great classics like Benvolgut or Boomerang, and managed to wake up their audience and encourage everyone to use their smartphones to capture and share the best moments. On the stage of The Grand, the camaraderie between Arnau Vallvé, Martí Maymó, Roger Padilla and Guillem Gisbert, transcended the public and made us coconspirators. It was impossible not to move our hips and hands following the movements marked by her vocalist, Guillem.
And although in Kiev the other Manel (Navarro) was not so lucky with his out of tune, in London, Manel’s gig left us all with very good taste.
Empieza para Stereo Giraffe una nueva etapa de colaboración con Rock Sin Subtítulos. Rock Sin Subtítulos es un proyecto cultural que promueve conciertos de músicos españoles en el extranjero. Tienes dos finalidades claras: transportarnos a los expatriados de vuelta a nuestro país, y exportar música española de calidad más allá de nuestras fronteras. En Stereo Giraffe ofrecemos un variadito de temas alrededor de la música, y estamos muy contentos de apoyar el proyecto.
Stereo Giraffe 