Rosalía declares herself a work of art in Lyon

Décines-Charpieu (France)The LDLC Arena in Décines-Charpieu, near Lyon, is the venue Rosalía has chosen to kick off the most ambitious tour of her career. Maximalist by nature, just like the album. Lux (2025), the artist from Sant Esteve Sesrovires has lived up to expectations with a spectacular concert, both in terms of staging and sound. In a way, he has transcended the album's conceptual framework, from which he performed fifteen songs; he only left out a few. New World, Jeanne and MemoryIn return, he has recovered a few from the stage Motomami, and head ofThe ill willIncidentally, perhaps because of the melodramatic weight of Lux It leaves no room for the material from that album. All of this was presented with a main stage, where she and the dancers from the French company (LA)HORDE primarily performed, and a secondary stage in the shape of a Latin cross in the middle of the arena where the chamber orchestra played, with strings, winds, and percussion essential to pieces like Berghain, clear.

By escaping or downplaying the spiritual trappings, she has created a show that has more to do with Rosalía as a work of art, a show that amplifies Lux with dance and staging, with choreographies that draw on diverse classics and with an operatic dramaturgy, not only because of its segmentation into four acts, but also because of a set design of large mobile blocks and enormous curtains and because of resources taken from operas such as ToscaFor example, the way Rosalía threw herself backwards into the void at the end of Focu 'ranniExactly like Puccini's suicidal heroine. As in the opera, there were also surtitles (in French) so the audience could follow the lyrics of all the songs. And no cameras on stage, except for a few specific moments, as if she wanted to make it clear that she had turned the page on the motomami image, or that she had evolved into something else without forgetting the past.

The concert combined solemnity and lightness, both in just the right doses. At 8:51 p.m., the large curtain, which looked like the back of a canvas, opened. On stage was a crate like those used to transport works of art. Rosalía emerged from inside, like the delicate figure of a ballerina. Thus, in a tutu and with balletic steps, she sang Sex, violence and tires and Relic While the stage elements were being set up: a golden circle, a staircase... The first ovation from the audience that filled the venue was like those received by great stars.

The feeling in this first act completed with Divinize and the lyrical rag of Porcelain It was that Rosalía was giving her all, because of the balance between the orchestra and the electronics, because of the delicate choreography, because of the power of the performance. And then, freed from the tutu and dressed in a white habit, she sang Mio Cristo piange diamantiThe silence of the audience was much more than respect. The way she approaches this type of aria live is very clever, because she tones down the lyrical affectation (a complicated register with amplified live sound) and brings it closer to a ballad, albeit one sung with raw emotion.

It must be emphasized. This first act seemed unbeatable, Rosalía's peak. And then came Berghainwith Rosalía dressed in black and involved in a choreography between the Black Swan from Darren Aronofsky's film and the fatalism of a requiem. That is, the staging elevates the song, conveying a genuine emotion that transcends musical brilliance. Rosalía has cleverly linked the touch radish of Berghain with danceable pieces from the era Motomami as Saoko, Fame and The Versace combo, with choreographies that attempted to combine the world Lux and the Caribbean world, a syncretism to which he has added flamenco Early morningAt this event, after the ovation that crowned SaokoRosalía placed her hand on her heart and smiled. It was the satisfaction of a job well done, and something more: the connection with the audience she was experiencing live once again. A very diverse audience in terms of age, with a significant Catalan presence already noticeable in the streets of Liège that morning.

A great version with great choreography

The third act brought a surprise: a version of Can't take my eyes off you by Frankie Valli. Surely inspired by Eva Green's role in the film DreamersShe sang Bernardo Bertolucci's film, her voice magnificent, framed like a painting in a museum and contemplated by the dancers. It was the most explicit moment of the concert: the self-awareness of a work of art, with a touch of irony. To ease the dramatic tension, she then staged a (somewhat lengthy) confessional conversation to introduce The pearlThe drop in voltage was temporary, because, as happened in Berghain, the staging of the interpretation of The pearl It was another of the night's highlights thanks to a choreography that played with Rosalía's body and the colors black and white, with Venus de Milo, and again Eva Green, as a reference. Suddenly, the song was something else entirely. Right after, she sang Sauvignon Blancaccompanied on the piano by Llorenç Barceló. It was another dip in tension quickly overcome by The jugularOnce again, with a final-act aria staging: alone, descending the stairs, walking towards tragedy. Rosalía, with her most intense emotions, has gained consistency.

As she had already demonstrated in the second act, Rosalía knows how to blend different aesthetics without losing coherence. She also did so offstage, when she crossed the floor to sing with the orchestra and flamenco percussion. God is a stalker and The rumba of forgiveness and then pick up the pace with CUUUUuuuuuute while a kind of botafumeiro Techno moved over the crowd. Or how to go from spiritual doubt to infernal celebration in five minutes.

Back on the main stage, he contributed to the resurgent Lyonnais excitement. Last night, Little cake and Despehá, hedonism with angel wings before assuming the end in the most operatic way, tragic set design and grand curtains, to interpret with Focu 'ranni and Magnolias1 hour and 45 minutes mesmerized by Rosalía's art. And the tour has only just begun.