Rosalía, yesterday during the first concert in Madrid.
The Catalan singer unleashes euphoria with a fun, powerful and emotional show in which her dancers’ body shines
Rosalía didn’t have to do much to warm up the Madrid public who yesterday awaited the landing of her Motomami World Tour at the WiZink Center like rain in May. Even before the Catalan jumped on stage, the last song of the musical thread, a Japanese tune already at full blast, had raised a devoted audience from the first moment, while on the simple stage -an open space with three screens vertical, one in the center, somewhat larger, and two on the sides- the smoke cannons did their thing. At 9:37 p.m., the lights went out and a deafening shouting began, only muffled by the noise of hyper-revving engines, so loud and brutal that it seemed that the seats of the sports hall were going to take off. Several ghostly silhouettes entered the stage, with their backs bent and fantasy illuminated motorcycle helmets, until among them stood the first, a Rosalía in a red leather jacket and miniskirt who, to the beat that marks the addictive line of bass played by the piano of ‘Saoko’, finally showed her face to a devoted audience during the hour and a half nailed that the recital lasted.
Three images from the start of the concert.
It did not matter that the direct did not start off on the right foot. It is already known that from the sound table the beginning of a concert is almost a toast to the sun because until the crowd starts to roar one does not know where to put the volume of a voice as beautiful and exciting as Rosalía’s , that the same tears your very entrails that raises you to the heights. And the technician was skillful because after two first verses hidden between the bases of the powerful piece that opens her latest album, her voice emerged with the necessary force. And as soon as he arrived, he stopped hearing. Completely. Rosalía was screaming, but only the pre-recorded choirs were heard. The audience waved her finger away, as if she wasn’t noticing anything. But she gave in, her face said it all. She changed the microphone and the thing remained the same. But for some reason no one hit the stop button. Fortunately, as ‘Candy’ progressed, the second song of the show, Rosalía’s voice regained her presence on stage and would never leave it.
Everything on this tour revolves around the Catalan and her prodigious voice. The stage is a blank canvas but little given to flourishes in which the projections – not counting the live production, quite powerful – are conspicuous by their absence. They are the artist, the fantastic body of eight dancers -they do everything, from drying the floor to manipulating mobile cameras that project live images on the stage screens, including introducing props on the scene- and the steady cam operator , with whom the singer often plays. The result is a concert whose visual part moves between the cinematographic and the touches of amateur video, like a social network, for a fun, powerful and, at times, very emotional musical show. After ‘Candy’ came the fun ‘Bizcochito’ and ‘La fame’ and what better way to sing the latter while wearing sunglasses and displaying attitude -Rosalía has gained a lot of strength on stage- while the dancers acted as paparazzi.
With four songs in the body, it was time to stop a bit, drink water, wipe off the sweat and put on a black Gibson Les Paul. “Whenever I come here I feel very loved,” he thanked the respectable. «Look, the truth is that since I started making records you have given me a lot of love and every time I come back you make me very happy», he said. And he went further: «In fact, ‘Motomami’ is different from any album I’ve made and I feel like I have the best fans in the world because whatever I do you always support me and give me love. As an artist there is nothing greater than that. It is a blessing to feel that you support me with all my crazy things. The public melted.
Shortly after, he was strumming the chords of ‘Dolerme’, an unedited song that he composed during the pandemic and that he is now performing live, like many others, for the first time. The complaint from Rosalía’s previous tour is still there. On stage, only the guitar and a rickety amplifier, in the background it is not clear whether it is a rhythm base or someone playing drums behind the stage. Undoubtedly, Rosalía’s albums have a minimalist spirit: her voice is the center and a synth, a piano or a bass are the only mattress she needs to shine, but live, especially in some songs, sometimes she knows little . There were those who thought that the one from San Cugat del Vallés pulled ‘playback’, but no, it’s simply a trompe l’oeil due to the use of pre-recorded music and choirs. That sometimes the image on the screens was out of sync with the sound didn’t help either. It would not be the only time that she would play an instrument: she performed ‘Hentai’ on the piano, in another beautiful and exciting moment.
A tribal dance
After this drop in rhythm, the night became intense again: he played ‘From here you don’t go out’, the first song he sang from ‘El mal Quiero’, in which the stage was flooded with red, something that he would later repeat with the hypnotic ‘Diablo’, where the singer cut her braids and let her hair down. ‘You don’t get out of here’ she paired perfectly with ‘Bulerías’, another of ‘Motomami’ hits. It was ten o’clock at night and Rosalía was unleashed, playing with her braids, as if it were a whip, while all her dancers surrounded her in a tribal dance, the same as in ‘Motomami’, the piece that gives the album its name , built with their bodies a motorcycle of flesh and blood on which Rosalía shredded the song full of rage.
Then came what for many was one of the most emotional moments of the night, the performance of ‘G3 N15’. “There are many things that I can only say if I sing or write them and this is one of them,” she said about one of the most beautiful songs on her latest album.
One more speed had to be added and that’s where ‘Linda’ or ‘La noche de anoche’ were dropped. For this, Rosalía herself, mobile in hand, came down from the stage to sing with her fans while she projected them on the screen or read some of her posters. The emotion could over the voices, but what fan would not be excited if Rosalía had just dedicated the song to her for her twentieth birthday.
From ‘I think of your look’ to ‘Abcdefg’ with that M “for Madrid” as well as “Motomami, motomami, motomami”. And from there to ‘La combi versace’, which made her dance and tap her heels, leaving the microphone to one of her dancers. Then the moment with the most perreo of the night would come with songs like ‘TKN’, ‘Yo x ti, tú x mí’, with touches of ‘Papi Chulo’ and ‘Gasolina’, and ‘Despecha’ and dozens of followers dancing on the scenery. That had become a party to which we were all invited.
The calmer ‘Aislamiento’ gave way to the electro pop of ‘Blinding Lights’ and ‘Dinero y libertad’, but things got really serious with ‘Como un G’, ‘Malamente’ and ‘Delirio de grandeza’. “The night is coming to an end,” he said shortly around 11:00 p.m., “but before it ends, I would love for us to end it with a bang.” Indeed, ‘With height’ was the resounding theme with which Rosalía and her dancers left the stage.
There was one encore left. The departure of the nine, on skates, was simply spectacular. What better way to present the playful ‘Chicken Teriyaki’ than gliding across the boards of the WiZink Center! There would be one last emotional moment, that of ‘Sakura’, with, this time, a musician playing the electric piano on stage. After an hour and 25 minutes, Rosalía’s voice was still bordering on the sublime. She certified it with a thunderous and spasmodic ‘CUUUUuuuuuuute’ that lasted long enough for the singer to say goodbye to her and continue dancing to the beat of the drum. “Madrid, thank you very much and good night!”, She said goodbye after a huge concert that she knew little by little.