The seven members of Oques Grasses burst onto the stage of the Cruïlla DO Terra Alta dressed in a kind of uniform, with a dark robe, and modernist glasses covering almost their entire face. Group choreography and Josep Montero, the band leader, once again leading the way. Statement of intents. They debut their tour with their sixth album (Fruit del deliri) after three years without releasing new songs and they return with renewed energy. They will be one of the great bands at the next festivals in Catalonia.
To start they chose one of the new songs, Molta tralla. It’s a shame that Montero’s microphone failed and partially ruined the planned landing, in the middle of a much more spectacular scenery than the last one. The format is more ambitious.
The energy and desire to return with new songs on stage was such that it was not spoiled by technical problems, which were repeated in at least three songs and even forced the stop of one of the most anticipated songs, one of the hits ( Serem Ocells). “Everything is happening to us today, it tastes bad, thank you for putting up with it; the fucking microphone, the mother who gave birth to him,” Josep Montero said without concealment before an enthusiastic and generous audience, after stopping singing and waiting for the problem to be solved technical.
The microphone thing will surely remain an anecdote, even though more than one sound technician on the tour will have had a very bad night. The important thing is that Oques Grasses was able to verify with his loyal followers that the chemistry is still activated.
Surprising that in just a week some of the new songs are already being sung. The new album came out in one go after only previewing one song, Com està el pati. This song was one of the most celebrated and sung by the public yesterday, with Montero coming down from the stage to encourage his followers to sing, with microphone in hand, among the public. He put the microphone in front of his fans’ throats and they responded in a big way.
If what Oques Grasses wanted was to know how his patio was, they will have slept peacefully and happily tonight. They like and hook the new songs, more groundbreaking and formally risky than the previous five albums. In addition to Com està el pati, Pingpong, a heartbreak song with piercing lyrics, triumphed; Bambi, who recounts with trademark irony the management of recurring negative thoughts, as if the singer received a call from an angel and a demon over the walkie; Cap amunt, one of the group’s usual shots of energy, or Toca, which on the album they perform with Figa Flawas, one of the bands that have emerged in the last year and that today at vermouth time will perform at the Cruïlla DO Terra Alta. Last night they rocked it at the Sala Apolo in Barcelona, ??where they sold all the tickets in a few weeks.
They also hung the Oques Grasses sold out sign, with 3,500 people bouncing on the Batea soccer field, a town of less than 2,000 residents. Terra Alta, which has suffered from depopulation for decades, experiences the festival as a great gift, the event of the year.
Of the new scenery, what stands out is a huge circle on the stage, with a large video screen in the background where live images of the concert are projected, both of the seven members of the band and of the audience. More light and more color, thanks to the LEDs that surround the circle and also a few pieces of circles scattered around the stage. In a big way. Also the fire that came out at the foot of the stage to give energy in some of the songs.
As I said, there was a desire to return and they did so with a bang. The sweet moment that music sung in Catalan is experiencing, with The Tyets, Figa Flawas, Julieta or Mushkaa, now also in Spanish, achieving enormous successes will surely have served as a stimulus.
Oques Grasses gave his fans many of his greatest hits in an almost nail-biting hour and forty minutes of concert. Among the 23 songs chosen for their return and start of a new tour, there was no shortage of Sta Guai, Petar-ho, Elefants, Com el dia i la nit, which they performed with Julieta, which yesterday sounded canned, or La Gent que estimo, the song chosen yesterday night to close the concert. “Thank you very much for coming, for joining us on this start of the tour, we really wanted to see you again,” said Montero before finishing the concert. There will be many more concerts, but the one on the night of April 20, 2024 will be special and unrepeatable.
