There were just a few minutes left before the concert began, and the audience began to shout “Manolo”, “Manolo”, turning the most common of names into a war cry while the last rays of sun filtered through the windows of the Palau Sant Jordi . Quite casually, the nine members of the band calmly appeared on stage when it was ten minutes past nine, the lights went out and the person being questioned, Manolo, appeared, putting an end to a long wait forced by health problems. which forced him to suspend the tour.
The musician from Poble Nou came to present two albums in one go, published in 2022, and he did so after having suspended his performances that same year due to heart problems that ended in nothing. The public that filled Sant Jordi cared little, 18,000 dedicated souls who apparently would have filled it even if there was nothing to present, attracted by the pleasure of seeing the clay birds pass by, the San Fernando train and the silver planes that carry Flying to the Back of the Line.
There are too many years of hand in hand with these songs to back down for a take away that myocarditis, which Manolo García successfully overcame to jump on stage with Insurrección, fist raised and Palestinian scarf around his neck, a coded message to his audience to confirm If necessary, I knew what they wanted and I was going to give it to them: a three-hour concert – including a 12-minute break – where there was time for everything, even for the new Mi vida en Marte and Desatinos deplumados, discographic duality between rock and flamenco, proof of the precocity of an artist who, if he wanted, could live richly off his past successes that are still valid even though some are approaching their forties, like the youngest representatives of the public gathered this Saturday on Montjuïc mountain.
“Up those palms” asked the 68-year-old musician with Never Time is Lost, and the attendees responded in unison, returning the energy that the Poble Nou singer transmitted from a small, packed stage. “Visca Palestine lliure” he shouted, then threw his jacket to the audience and put on the guitar with which he played Ten Thousand Summers, the first of the seven new songs he performed during a marathon performance in which there was time to review the entire song. musical career of the protagonist, both the solo years and the time of El Último de la Fila, which starred in the last part of the evening, where the donkey tied to the door of the dance did not miss its appointment in a revamped and rock version.
“I’m sweating like a chicken,” said Manolo shortly after starting the concert, which he dedicated to President José Mújica, to the farmers, ranchers and the self-employed, “we deserve decent treatment, that they comply with us, damn!” He blurted out without mincing words. The pleas at the beginning of the concert for people not to take pictures with their cell phones were of no use, as so many did when he approached the audience to sing Llanto de Passion, which brought the entire audience to their feet, happy with the proximity that he conveyed. the artist throughout the performance. Her unmistakable voice and in good shape set the seal on Como que da un soda or Rosa de Alejandría, and she adopted Andalusian overtones in Azulea and La Maturranga, a new production, or Labyrinth of dreams, performed with the presence of a dancer over the town. stage, where at times nine musicians gathered.
The arabesque guitar of Hombres azul marked the meridian of the evening, which gained renewed strength with the appearance of the poet Ivette Nadal to perform the alirón “Believer under high tension towers”, dedicated to music in Catalan, with a special reminder to Jaume Sisa and the Platería orchestra. “The language is the first, it is the culture of a town,” she stated even though she sings in Spanish, “I am a charnego, a friend of the whole world.” And to drive home the point, Manolo García went down to the dance floor to sing Pájaros de Mud and A theatrical turn accompanied by an ecstatic audience that jumped in unison with Lápiz y papel.
Without losing his smile, Manolo swore, made up stories and spoke through a funnel (literally and metaphorically) in the rocker Somos levidad, backed by three electric guitars with long solos and tapping included, as if he hadn’t already had a two-hour concert behind him. without using lights, visual effects or large screens that no one missed. A handful of balloons were enough to turn Sant Jordi into a playground while A San Fernando was playing… and he told social media to take over, “Youtube, screw it.” It was the umpteenth example of the musician’s loquacity, who closed the concert with “El rey” and “La bamba” after midnight, the lights of the pavilion on, the stands full of dancing and the certification that he has a heart capable of encompassing everything. the music you feel like singing.
