The Catalan band Love of Lesbian has decided to take an indefinite hiatus after 25 years. In a statement published on social media, the group, led by Santi Balmes, affirms that the time has come to "lower the curtain for a while." "It's not goodbye, but rather a long-awaited 'see you soon.' We want the silence that will follow to be as honest as the noise we've shared," explains Balmes. The temporary farewell will have to wait until after their concert tour planned for 2026. They will begin in March with a trip to the Americas.

"It blew my mind like no book had ever done before," says Santi Balmes, the singer of Love of Lesbian, referring to Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, which he read when he was 16. He was struck by the fact that in 1931, eight years before the Second World War, the English writer had been able to predict such a distant future with such accuracy (the plot begins in London in 2500 AD). "Only a genius could do that." Balmes explains that the beginning of the novel is devastating and addictive, and that he has not found another book that presented the story in such an interesting way.

The 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.

Good news for the live music sector. The results of the pilot test at the Love of Lesbian concert at the Palau Sant Jordi conclude that, if carried out with control measures such as those implemented in this event, mass concerts "are a safe activity". This was stated by Dr Josep Maria Llibre, one of the researchers at the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital who led the experiment. A posteriori, we have diagnosed only six positive cases among the participants of the concerts, of which four were not infected at the concert," explained Llibre. This result is equivalent to a rate of 131 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and is a magnificent result"

The first shout was subdued: "Negative! We've got it". You don't have to ask for much of an epic at half past eight on a Saturday morning in front of Barcelona's Sala Razzmatazz. Everyone was looking at their mobile phones waiting for the negative result of the antigen test that would allow access to the Love of Lesbian concert at the Palau Sant Jordi, a venue with no musical activity since Izal's performance on 29 February 2020. The second cry, this time collective and cathartic, came at half past seven in the evening, when the band from Sant Vicenç dels Horts came on stage. "Welcome to one of the most exciting concerts of our life", said singer Santi Balmes. "I'm very excited. It's been a year and a half since we've been on stage as a band. Today the whole world is watching us, really". And aware of the great responsibility, he added: "Have the best time possible, but don't take off your masks, s'il-vous-plaît”.