Everything is more exciting and more fun with Maria Arnal and The Ludwig Band

BarcelonaThree concerts by La Ludwig Band. Three. A moving finale by Maria Arnal, with the audience stunned by the choreography of La Veronal's dancers. The heartfelt intimacy of Edna Bravo before a baroque altarpiece. A crowd watching Ouineta sing while perched on a horse on the big night of pop. queer in the Sucre. The writer Tuli Márquez plays the rhapsodist in an anarcho-syndicalist musical, shouting "the revolution will be ours or it won't be, it will be from Gaza or it won't be." Biznaga unleashing impeccable and ferocious punk rock in front of the cathedral. The romanticism of Marco Mezquida and Lina. The poetic depth of folk music by Asturian singer-songwriter Lorena Álvarez... And above all, a city devoted to music, giving meaning to music, making music important for thinking, laughing, dancing, and marveling. All this and much more is part of the 37th edition of the Vic Live Music Market, which concludes this Sunday with a Mishima concert.

The new directors of the Mercat, Jordi Casadesús, Rubén Pujol and Joan RialThey began their new era by building on the consistency established by the previous team led by Marc Lloret and Oriol Roca, especially in the professional field. Since then, they have proposed a few changes. The most successful of all: opening two stages and giving central focus to the axis formed by the Plaza Mayor and the Plaza de la Catedral. It was in these two spaces that three spectacular concerts were held on Friday, each with its own artistic themes, but all with the same respect for the audience.

Maria Arnal had a bigger challenge than it seemed. It wasn't the first time that The Badalona artist performed at the Market, but it was the first time she'd done so in the Plaza Mayor; that is, she had to win over a very diverse audience, among whom fans were certainly not the majority. Plus, with the added complication of giving a concert dedicated exclusively to one album, Love, which has not been published. More or less, he did the same show as at Sónar (and in three other concerts since June), with five dancers and a vocal and choreographic display that has nothing to do with the most common codes in so-called urban music. And she soon had the audience mesmerized, especially the younger spectators, open-mouthed by the danceable pop of this explorer of sounds and emotions who pursues beauty in everything she does. The concert confirmed the nature of hit of songs like What are they taking away from me? and Little corners, and the power radish of Tico touchIt is also worth highlighting the feeling that he put into the lullaby. My girl, a piece that took on another dimension if you looked at the enormous Palestinian flag hanging from the facade of a building in the square. But what was striking was the encore, off-script. "I want to dedicate to Marc Lloret a song he really liked," he said. And he sang In life, by Ovidi Montllor, honoring the memory of the former director of the Market and founder of Mishima death at the beginning of the year. For all these reasons, one of Maria Arnal's most important concerts.

Win over the audience from the first riff This is what Biznaga did, one of the best punk-rock groups in the state, a condition strengthened with the album Now! and songs like The enthusiasm and Political outrageIn a packed Cathedral Square, and taking advantage of the stage's excellent sound system, they launched a repertoire with instrumental precision, a stage presence reminiscent of the Clash, and class consciousness: in the opening bars of the performance, they asked for applause from all the market workers. Next year, many groups will have to fight to get booked on this stage, or on the Dolors Church stage, the other new feature this year. It's a church with excellent acoustics for performances like that of Edna Bravo, a singer-songwriter with a musical sensibility close to Rita Payés; however, the sound isn't as successful with electronic performances that demand high volumes and project thick bass.

The most stimulating triplet

Encouraging the audience and making them feel essential to a concert is the specialty of The Ludwig Band. After the memorable concert in Martyrs' Square in 2022 and of The stage insurrection in Atlantis in 2023, it was time to plant the flag in the Plaza Mayor. Solid as ever, fun as ever, and combining saxophone, guitars, and keyboards with enviable ease, they performed a dozen songs, including Better with him, which they released in May and which audiences have already identified as a favorite: in Vic, they sang it from head to toe. Nothing prevented the apotheosis, not even the hoarseness caused by the sore throat suffered by singer Quim Carandell. They remain something extraordinary, the instant restoration of confidence in live music.

We mentioned at the beginning that The Ludwig Band had performed three concerts. The first was in the afternoon, at Celler de Vic, a small bar, where they performed two new songs: Rapunzel, irresistible folk-pop, and another as yet untitled one that humorously and astonishingly explains the experience and circumstances of attending a Mushkaa concert. The third concert was in the early hours: after playing in the Plaza Mayor, the musicians headed towards the river to play at the Adoberies Fest, a off del Mercado, which celebrated its tenth anniversary with groups such as Tarta Relena, Tiger Come Zebra, and Extraño Weys. These are close-up concerts, with musicians and audiences on the same page, a context that La Ludwig Band embraces with even greater enthusiasm.

Musicians like Joan Colomo and Guillem Caballero also share the wild, ramshackle (but well-organized) spirit of the Adoberies. However, this year they performed in the Atlántida auditorium. As part of the Les Solidàries collective, they premiered Durruti, I love you, a musical project about the anarcho-syndicalist leader with lyrics by writer Tuli Márquez. Still with dramatic elements that need polishing, and surely in need of more choral work, this type of pop-opera has very stimulating aspects, such as the interplay of trombone, trumpet, and bass that elevates the anarchism of the heart as Billy Bragg, Beautiful South, and the Redskins did with socialism, and good reading. Join us which are best when utopian poetics doesn't cling so tightly to biographical detail. Long live projects that break away from the conventional wheel.