Love of Lesbian and 'trikinis' Jan Laporca at Cruïlla

BarcelonaThe third day of Cruïlla at the Parc del Fòrum began this Friday with a typically Barcelona atmosphere. "You should tell the foreigners that the word is sha-fo-gor," Santi Balmes later recalled during the Love of Lesbian concert. Before that, shamanic rituals and the overflowing fanfare energy ofThe Devil and the Witch Africa Express opened the performance, a torrent of Mexican and African rhythms. The former, in keeping with the album's material, Bahidorá (2024). Africans, as the founding thread of the project launched by British Damon Albarn, leader of Blur, in 2007, after seeing the underrepresentation of African musicians at some Western festivals. The proposal is a constant dialogue between musicians of diverse origins, now also from Central America, with Albarn occupying a discreet space on the Western stage behind the keyboards, and with stellar appearances such as Malian Baba Sissoko and Mexican Luisa Almaguer. The impact often depends on the soloist, but as a whole it works as an exultant machine of rhythms and refreshing sounds because they challenge the hegemonic patterns at festivals, and for the emotion of the more reserved moments, such as the forays into Tuareg blues of Imarhan, the bolero duo between Albarn and Alma.Goodbye friends, a collision of Mexican and West African sounds soaked by the violins of the American Joan as in Police Woman and the Mexican Bruja de Texcoco.

Walking between the stages of Cruïlla involves coming across spaces belonging to the sponsors, whom the festival has thanked for their collaboration over its fifteen-year history. There are many extra-musical elements common to other events, but also expressions of popular culture that Cruïlla has always championed, such as the human towers. On Friday, the mid-afternoon spotlight fell on the Colla Jove de Barcelona, from Sant Andreu, who performed a 4 out of 6 with Pilar. There's also a Dibumaton (a man who makes mini-caricatures) and a wide range of food options, including codfish fritters with romesco sauce (9.50 euros), trikinis Rigoberta Trufini and Jan Laporca (9.50 euros) and a vegetarian burger (12 euros). There's even a "quiet space," a little corner with hammocks and pillows designed for "anyone who feels overstimulated, saturated, or overwhelmed" and "specially designed for neurodivergent people, but open to anyone who needs a break." The only noise is the voices of the comedians on the comedy stage and the murmur of concerts at the Vueling, like Ben Harper's.

"Netanyahu, asshole"

After fifteen minutes of playing his usual blues-rock, many people were calmly approaching the main stage at the Estrella Damm, reserved for Love of Lesbian at 8:30 p.m. The band's good rapport with the Cruïlla venue led to two concerts, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first, a regular one, was part of the album's tour. Salvation Army (2024). The second, with all the collaborations. in crescendo which gives title to the latest album. "We sing as if the world had to end," he exclaimed before making Reversible nights and after lamenting the homicidal unpredictability of some rulers. He didn't name any, but it wasn't hard to think of Donald Trump. They were only three songs in and the audience was already warning that they would sing every song and every lo-lo-losIn this favorable context it is accepted that they do Contradiction with the recorded voice of Rigoberta Bandini and her image projected on the screen at the back of the stage. However, to make What are you going to know?, who sings with Eva Amaral on the album, asked the audience to take on the role of the Zaragoza singer. In fact, they sang all the parts.

Not all the concert maintains the same intensity; frontman always generous with the audience, like when he came down from the stage to sing The brotherhood Among the crowd. A bath of the crowd without fear of contact, sweat against sweat in the heat of the Forum.

The performance, peppered with pieces from the latest album, moved towards the most popular repertoire, that of songs like 1999, which Balmes recalled they played at Cruïlla in 2010, and Belize (with the nocturnal breath of the keyboards), after which Balmes snapped: "If you want us to continue, you have to say: 'Netanyahu, bastard.'" And they continued with There where we used to call.

Towards the end, after having words of Condolences to the family and friends of Toni Cruz and before the usual apotheosis of John Boy Fan Club, Balmes noted that in the front rows there were fans of Thirty Seconds to Mars, actor Jared Leto's band that was performing at 11:20 p.m. on the same stage. He then asked: "What does Jared Leto have that I don't?" "Twenty complaints," replied guitarist Julián Saldarriaga, recalling that Some women have accused Leto of sexual abuse..

Thirty Seconds to Mars: Flames and a Hollywood Star Show

Jared Leto appeared on stage shooting flames, wearing dark glasses and the pose of a rock (or movie) star who gazes at the horizon even when speaking face to face. Despite defending the idea of a group, Thirty Seconds to Mars' stage position is that of a narcissistic solo artist. To the left of the immense stage was his brother, drummer Shannon Leto, and to the right and somewhat towards the back, guitarist Stevie Aiello. Everything else was the domain of Jared Leto, who came out with the impetus of songs like Up in the air and Walk on water, alternative rock with pre-recorded beats and duplicated vocals played at 11 volume levels, propelled by choruses that ended with "oh-oh-ohs."

The audience participated eagerly in this start that foreshadowed a powerful concert. But the Leto brothers don't play well with dynamics, and the pauses and drops in musical tension soon arrived. In return, the actor who played the Joker in theSuicide Squad He takes advantage of Hollywood charisma to make decisions such as signaling some spectators to come up on stage to experience the song. Rescue meAt the end of the show, he repeated the operation, but with about fifty spectators, whom he kept in a corner of the stage surrounded by security personnel. It felt like they were in a corral with no chance of not immortalizing the humiliation on their cell phones. Only one man escaped control. Dressed in a Motörhead T-shirt, he obtained Leto's permission to release a woman, whom he then, on one knee, proposed to.

The Thirty Seconds to Mars concert was a repeat of what often happens at many festivals: the further you get from the front rows, the more the audience's interest wanes, like the shares of a company with no future. And the further you go back, the more people's conversations take center stage. At Cruïlla, the audience is very talkative, yes, but they also know how to maintain silence when the artists are really hitting the nail on the head, which is what American Leon Bridges achieved on the Vueling stage. His weapon: bluesy soul with funk excursions that connect with sixty years of African-American music history. There's something retro about the aesthetic, and the music as well, but the Texan singer defends his approach with an elegance and emotional depth that captivated audiences who had turned their backs on the Leto brothers' pyrotechnics.