Jack Flash Jr wrote
That train is brilliant.
If you want to add another low key concert to your itinerary I think Manowar is playing in Spain same time you're there:
LOL. Well... The gigs we saw were low key publicity wise and in small venues. It all left me wondering how these guys keep on going, but let's give thanks that they do.
Those of you who have read Joe Boyd's book will have noted that he puzzles over why the English mostly don't like their own folk music. Well Spiers and Boden, who we saw in Banbury, made that quite a pointed question. The two of them built their second step into this unstoppable riot of dance music. Given the way they packed us in at the venue actually getting on your feet would have been difficult as well as anti-social unless you had some empty seats around you, but the energy was convincing and the performance was mighty.
Last night we went to a little venue by the name of Cafetin la Quimera in Madrid. Now.... I don't speak much Spanish, and the performers and most of the staff didn't speak much English. We were with Spanish or Spanish-speaking friends, but it was an unplugged gig and everybody was requested to not talk during the performance, so there was lots going on that I didn't understand. But my oh my! The energy that poured off of that stage. Truly thrilling. It seemed largely improvised and almost informal in the way the performers (two dancers, a singer, a guitarist and a sort of MC who also sang one number) would exhort each other. I tried to have a word with the guitarist at half time. He speaks no English, but the manager did. I had noticed the way the guitarist was constantly watching the dancer's feet, rotating his seating position to keep them in view. The lady manager told me that the show was indeed improvised - she said not just parts of it, all of it - and that the dancers and singers lead and it was up to the guitarist to take that lead and find something appropriate but still "flamenco" to play.
I felt that he could have done with some amplification. At times with both dancers stomping their feet, castanets being played and the singer clapping (not just clapping along, but a proper percussion part - which I thought was much the case with the dancers as well) the guitar got overwhelmed. It may have been a function of our seating place - near the front but to the side. For the encore the guitarist played standing up (no strap!) and walked around the stage and his volume was changing noticeably as he did so.
But... minor details! Tremendous performance full of authentic, convincing energy.
I was struck by the similarity of the vocals to North African music, but given Spain's history this shouldn't have been a surprise.
I was reminded of another electrifying gig that Mrs X-rated and I saw a few years ago. Martin Carthy in London. At that show there were a bunch of Spanish people who had a translator who would try to tell them something about each song just as it ended. Like everybody else in that audience they got caught up in the emotion that was unleashed by a man truly committed to the performance and to the songs. Last night I was on the "non comprende" side of the audience, but still had a great time as the energy dial got cranked up and up and eventually hit 11.
There are universal truths in music, is what I think.
I can't tell you much about the artists, I'm afraid, and I didn't take a camera with me. But here, courtesy of a friend's cell phone, is the board outside the venue...
I did some googling based on that board and found this photo
Which has three of the artists (the three on your right) that I saw. Different guitarist though. I think the guy at the right rear is named Antorrin Heredia.
