The Porta Ferrada festival hosted a symbiotic double bill with the groups Nancys Rubias and Fangoria. And not only because the leader of the first, Mario Vaquerizo, is the romantic partner of Olvido Alaska Gara, the singing voice of the second, but because at the end of the concert they all came together to offer a version of Rumore by Raffaella Carrá, a theme that Alaska and Dinarama recorded as the B side of a single that contained on the A side the famous Rey del glam, a song that is part of the repertoire of Nancys Rubias, responsible for opening the evening in a glam rock and dance pop key.
A playful and mannered Vaquerizo, alias Nancy Anorèxica, acted as master of ceremonies in a repertoire that included other versions, such as Yo sí bailo, which adapts the great disco hit Yes Sir, I can boogie by Baccara, or Llámame, a cover of Call me by Blondie. Although to know their preferences nothing like the lyrics of Alfabeto Nancy, a dictionary of weaknesses that include Divine, Fabio McNamara, Giorgio Moroder, Joey Ramone, Kiss, Lola Flores or Andy Warhol. But it is the Y, from “marcianos ye-yés”, that best defines them. And it wasn’t clear if he was singing live or if there were moments of playback, but it didn’t matter as his 45-minute show was extremely funny.
The great protagonists of the night were Fangoria who arrived at the festival as part of their great hits tour A todo láser, a very appropriate title because the group led by Nacho Canut and Alaska offered a great display of light, with a profusion of visual colorists and , of course, incisive beams of lights. They are also accompanied by two guitarists, as an effective counterpoint to the predominant techno nuance of the arrangements, and a transvestite body of four dancers. It goes without saying that Alaska becomes the main protagonist – changing like a diva several times – from the exultant and striking beginning with a medley of Fiesta en el infierno, whose lyrics speak of love as “ a bourgeois construction”, and Iluminados, which combats “the dark nights of the soul” based on techno pop and postmodern disco music, all this with great eloquence.
Arriving at Electricistas, they proved to be pop alchemists who have learned a lot from Pet Shop Boys. Already 60 years old, Alaska has a very masculine voice singing “carpe diem es la única verdad” in techno and at the same time rocker Momentismo absoluto. The title Spectacular does justice to a show in which the only thing that falters is the unwieldy dance corps.
As is logical, they remember the repertoire of Alaska and Dinarama, starting with a Cómo pudiste hacerme esto a mí that they combine with the melodramatic ¿Qué séría de mí sin ti? , another memory of the late Carlos Berlanga. Other essential themes from the Movida era are the anthems Bailando, Ni tú ni nadie and ¿A quién le importa? , received with great satisfaction by a rather large audience. Another very significant theme is a heartfelt Spanish version of David Bowie’s Heroes.
From Fangoria’s repertoire, they also highlighted the disco air of Mi burbuja vital, with the dancers dressed in fluorescent dresses, the glam pop accent of Un boomerang, the romantic Miro la vida pasar, the spite of Retorciendo palabras, served with a techno rock arrangement, a Dramas y comedy s in a house key – with the dancers practicing break dancing between projections of a psychedelic nuance and a repeating lyric “no quiero mas dramas en mi vida/solo comedias entrenetidas” – and a Polysentimental Geometry with visual colorists living up to the title to show that Fangoria are still kings of glamour.
