Fifty years ago, Joaquín Sabina was looking for a life. Londonfirst as a waiter or announcer, then as a commissioned poet, and a trace of devotion remains for the city in which the artist we know today incubated. In 1970, “At the age of 20, Escaping the final blows of Francoism”, she found herself “learning the trade on the street, on the subway and in the worst slums”, sometimes even (she didn’t say that) pretending to be Mexican and singing ‘Cielito lindo’. “And even in my wildest dreams I couldn’t have imagined playing for you at the Royal Albert Hall.”
As part of his Against All Odds tour, the singer-songwriter gave a resounding concert at the Royal Albert Hall before an ardent Hispanic audience, where he combined his reflections on destiny and mortality with the biggest hits.
So it was with this British stop on the ‘Despite Everything’ tour this Friday, which represents Sabina’s big encounter with Serrat three years after the (real) setback that took them off their last date. As predicted in the unreleased song ‘Sentiendo lo mucho’, an expedition where he plays hide-and-seek with the passage of time and mortality is a kind of balance he jokes about with his life. hospital department and “even though there’s no more cartridge left in the rifle” appears in space.
be proud of the environment
As pensive and eager to summarize, there are still a few left: here was the first part of the concert, where that piece coexisted with ‘When I was younger’ and ‘I deny everything’. Striped jacket and this bowler hat one day inspired exactly by the British MPs, sit in a chair singing, sometimes almost reciting, throughout the concert and in that deep, rough voice that brought him closer to Tom Waits. noble room, full capacity (5,000 people) and offers an unusual sight: people overwhelmingly SpanishBoth Spaniards and overseas express their shared pride in the idea of capturing the British capital for a night.
The lady with the scythe reappeared in “Por el boulevard de los sueños ruptos” when she pointed out that “the worst thing about getting old is the great friends you lose along the way.” Chavela Vargas. But it was about singing to him “not to celebrate his death, but to celebrate his life,” he wanted to emphasize. As a change of tune, the rock’n’roll of ‘Llueve sobre mojado’ was beautiful with a very Argentinian chorus. Fito Paez.
spoiled by the gang
There was Sabina, who was moving with her back well covered. seven musicians enveloping and pampering him, giving him gas like a Rolls Royce and providing him with strategic pauses: moments of focus for singer Mara Barros, guitarist Javier Asúa (ex-Alarma) and his longest accomplice, keyboardist-guitarist Antonio García, are in Diego. And the clean guitarist Borja Montenegro, who occupied the place of the purged Pancho Varona and introduced him with explanatory words, praise for “the only new one on this tour”: “It’s always good for someone to revive us a little”.
Although the concert is usually presented in one go (these are just over two hours and 21 songs), at the Royal Albert Hall, there was a half-hour break due to local custom (in connection with the ease of spending and earning money), after which Sabina returned with “So young and so old.” As early as 1996, a piece that won the approval of those who speculated about his twilight due to problems with his vocal cords and knee. Yes, this Sabina opens the door to a more serious version of herself, even though she doesn’t let transcendence overpower her spectacle or her erotic-festive spirit. The synthesis of all this shifted to the reading of the poem ‘There is nothing around’: “The bow, the eyelashes, the pupils, the tibia, the tibia, the nose… The clitoris (applause), the soul, the tickles. It is my homeland,” she read. The Royal Albert Hall was already collapsing “A song for Magdalena” makes us understand that “the spectacle” is like that because of the duo “19 days and 500 nights”, “Princess”, “With you” or “Wedding nights / And they gave us ten”. Maybe one day it will be over, but not yet.