Like a train without brakes, the musical panorama of 2024 is full of dates that certify the good health of live music. What seemed like a rebound effect of the pandemic that filled the year 2023 with previously suspended tours has become a clear trend that pushes the holding of more concerts in increasingly larger spaces. Given the lack of income from the sale of physical albums, artists have hit the road and the public has responded without the increase in ticket prices slowing down the pace.
It’s not just that Bruce Springsteen sells out his tickets in hours, the Estopa also dare to go to the Olímpic while the Palau Sant Jordi programs more than 40 artists in its two rooms. An offer that complements the festivals, with Primavera Sound settled on a single date after giving up the Madrid edition and RockFest announcing its return to Can Zam park. Meanwhile, the Alma Jardins Pedralbes festival consolidates its presence in Poble Espanyol, sharing dates with the Nits of Barcelona, ??proof that the summer musical demand is greater than expected.
Everyone knows that the eldest Farelo has a genius, including Rauw Alejandro, who saw it firsthand when he tried to twerk with her at a concert. The Catalan is counting the days to publish La joia, the debut album of an artist who has been moving sensually around the stage for years performing hits like Fiebre or New York to which she will now add 13 songs in which artists like Morad, Tokisha or Quevedo collaborate.
They caused a sensation at the last Primavera Sound, so it is not surprising that tickets for the Palau Sant Jordi flew out in a matter of hours. Dave Gahan and Martin Gore continue in top form both live and in the studio, where this year they gave birth to Memento Mori, a tribute to Andrew Fletcher, the third member of the band who died last July, for which they created a dark and industrial album that It does not clash with the sound that elevated them as fathers of electronic music.
The expectation to see half of El Último de la Fila after the release of the couple’s new album has led Manolo García to announce a second date in November, after selling out the tickets for the concert he will hold in May. After overcoming the acute myocarditis that kept him from the stage last year, the one from Poble Nou returns to present the two albums published in 2022, Mi vida en Marte and Desatinos deplumados, one electric rock, the other acoustic dominated by the Spanish guitar. Ample repertoire to which I may add some of the new versions created together with Quimi Portet in his Pyramid Disruption.
At the top of the Primavera Sound poster this 2024 will be Elizabet Grant dressed as Lana del Rey to present Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, the ninth album by the New Yorker full of intimacy and nods to her own story, not in vain Their first song is titled The Grants. Topics that will be combined with hits from her career such as Ultraviolence, Norman fuckin Rockwell! or Blue jeans, from the album Born to die, which last September reached 500 consecutive weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart.
With only two albums on the market, Solána Imani Rowe aspires to be crowned at the next Grammy gala where she has nine nominations, more than anyone – and that nobody includes Phoebe Brigdes, Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo – including those for best song for Kill Bill and best album for Sos. With or without gramophones, the artist from St. Louis, Missouri, will defend her crown of soul, hip hop and r at Primavera Sound.
The Mexican quartet is on its way to celebrating 40 years on stage, an excuse as valid as any other to celebrate the México Lindo tour in 2024, with which they will return to Spain 6 years after their last visit. A tour that will start at the Palau Sant Jordi and for which, in the absence of new material (their last album dates back to 2015) they will draw on the sweetened hits that elevated them on the charts in the 90s and 2000s, such as Clavado en un bar, Lips shared or En el dock of San Blas, to remember the years when Latin music was not only synonymous with reggaeton.
The German metal group will turn the Olympic Stadium into a cauldron to present Zeit, the second album in four years with which they close the decade of silence (and the rumors of farewell) of Till Lindemann and company, who surround each other in their live performances. of fire, lights and all the paraphernalia that the Berlin sextet usually performs in their concerts. The industrial sound based on heavy guitars and epic sound remains a benchmark for the heavy scene once the accusations of sexual assault against its leader have been overcome after the Berlin prosecutor’s office closed the case. A controversy that adds to the decision to suspend their concerts in Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The new round of concerts with which the one from New Jersey returns to Barcelona – this time with a triple stop in Madrid – raises doubts about who misses him more on stage, the fans or himself. There will be many followers who will return to the rock gathering (some more than once and four times) to enjoy the three long hours of timeless hits among which the Boss will sneak in some songs from Letter to You and Only the Strong Survive, his last two albums accompanied by the well-oiled E-Street Band.
The high-pitched and unmistakable voice of Billy Corgan will be heard again in Barcelona, ??where the Smashing Pumpkins return as part of The World is a Vampire tour to present their latest album, Atum, at the Cruïlla festival, with which they culminate the trilogy begun with the groundbreaking Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in 1995 and Machina/The Machines of God. Corgan will be accompanied by his squires, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlain, with whom he will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Siamese Dream, seminal works by the Chicago group that revolutionized music in the 90s along with bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
Six years later, Deep Purple returns to a Rock Fest that recovers its usual location in Can Zam park with a lineup of metal classics. Having passed the age of 70 (the decade is already far behind them) Ian Gillian, Ian Paice and Roger Glover continue riding the galactic highway without giving up the new songs with which they add to the long career of the British fathers of hard rock.
The Muñoz brothers barely needed 12 hours to sell the more than 100,000 tickets for the concerts at the Olímpic and the Metropolitano, the first ones they announced of the tour with which they will celebrate their 25 years of life. A milestone for the duo from Cornellà, the first Spanish band to fill these spaces as they have also done with La Cartuja de Sevilla, proof of the drawing power achieved by music in Spanish. In addition to Vino tino, La raja de tu skirt and Como Camarón, David and Jose will return to the stage with a new album, Estopía, which will be published in March although a couple of songs have already been heard, El día que tú te marches and La rumba del Pescaílla, a tribute to the Catalan rumba and one of its fathers, for whom they have sung for the first time in Catalan.
17 years have passed since the last visit of the Manchester boy band to Barcelona, ??a period in which the quartet currently formed by Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen has published 6 albums, the last one last November under the title This life, recorded in part in Barcelona by a trio that has already blown out all 50 candles (like their former partner, Robbie Williams, who filled Sant Jordi this year).
The voice and soul of Extremoduro – a group that was recently terminated – returns to the Barcelona Forum with a new album, Se nos transporte el aire, following the parameters that Robe Iniesta has set for his solo career, where he is accompanied by violins and keyboards without forgetting the rock guitars and, of course, the shaggy voice with which he still wonders at concerts how much more he needs to be God.
To the rhythm of a Sardana epic, the duo from Maresme has become the benchmark for urban rhythms in Catalan, attracting new generations, young students and not so young, some already with children. With their second album, Èpic solete, Oriol Ramon and Xavi Coca have taken a leap in quality that has led them to success in Madrid and London with Coti the two concerts announced at the Sant Jordi club.
Those who defend that rock is not dead have a good argument in Arde Bogotá, who with their second album, Cowboys de la A-2. has completed a spectacular tour throughout Spain with a solid live performance, capable of bringing together several generations of lovers of the guitar sound under one roof in addition to achieving two nominations for the Latin Grammys. The Murcian quartet has decided to raise the level with a double concert at the Sant Jordi Club to see if Antonio García’s voice resonates as seriously in front of more than 4,000 people.
After filling the three dates announced at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium at lightning speed, the brand new winner of the Latin Grammy for album of the year has announced the celebration of two concerts in Barcelona, ??still without a date although it is expected that they will be held at the Estadi Olímpic before she performs in Madrid, where she plans to close the tour Tomorrow will be beautiful, to present her self-titled album, which includes the collaboration with Shakira, TQG (Quevedo and Bad Gyal are also present), crowning herself the new queen of reggaeton.