Rosalía, The Spanish Tsunami | standard

Rosalía stands alone on stage, with a ten-meter black lace train strapped to her leather bodysuit, and shouts “de plata”. Flamenco is played so violently, on such a bare acoustic guitar, that it sounds like metal. The result is great. It’s also a little nod to any critics in the room that the Spanish singer could sing a little.

It was one of her best performance moments on Vorst Nationaal Monday, if not her most typical. Those were Rosalia’s songs booty Shake to pump up reggaeton, or sing the question-and-answer with chicas In the hall – the performance was also a New Year’s party for all Spanish speakers in the country. Flamenco is only part of it. on me Motomamiours year record, offering an amazing mix of reggaeton, punk, ballads and flamenco. On stage, it’s translated into an equally ambitious mix of contemporary western dance, a bit of manga and outfits that are sportswear and superhero outfits.

Make-up

At Rock Werchter 2019, there are still gaps between her songs, as if we are watching separate videos. In 2022, Rosalía’s performance is a relentless tsunami with a few tricks—Rosalía does her make-up on stage during “Diablo,” medleys, and very short versions of good songs, like “Chicken teriyaki.” The show has already started on the festival grounds, and see: Rosalia at Rock Werchter 2023.

It did so without musicians, except for Llorenç Barcelo on piano on “Sakura”, the penultimate track. The rest was on tape, even the clasps in the medley of the flamenco songs “De aqui no sales” and “Bulerías”. Is this cheating? That’s probably better than playing Aldi’s versions of those masterful vintages and samples on classic instruments, a problem that’s killing many pop shows these days. Just a good drummer a couple of times, or a copious battery of Brazilian percussionists, that would have been great.

melting men

But Rosalía coo and cheer as easily as she gets off the ground, so there was a lot of vocal highlight. Sexy Linda. The interesting and poignant electric flamenco of “Malamente”. “Hentai”, the funniest and most sensual song Motomami, which I brought to the piano—there was nothing left of the men in front of me but a puddle after that. And the pure emotion of the ‘G3 N15’ — read: Genis, her 11-year-old nephew. In a room full of fans from Costa Rica or Chile, she shared how she missed her family when she was stuck in the US during the pandemic. Here and there someone sheds a tear.

This was indeed a concert, with it kicking off right from the stage. First and foremost because Rosalía brought in eight to ten dancers, who mixed experimental dance with flamenco in “Poleiras”; The wildest image of the night was the human motorcycle they built so the singer could ride on their backs.

Personal Photos

They used only the middle part of the huge stage, literally in an intimate circle. The photographer would walk among the dancers, behind or directly in front of the singer—sometimes in the way of the audience. That earned her the sarcastic comment in Spain that she was giving a ‘selfie concert’, but the screens by the stage didn’t accidentally resemble large cellphones: this was a concert for fans who grew up on social media. When Rosalía jumped into the audience, the cameraman jumped. Does the camera tilt? Then just lean.

During “Malamente” it becomes clear how much this cheerful pastime was just a ruse to make the concert seem more intimate and smaller. Suddenly a camera is hung from the ceiling to take beautiful pictures of the dancers circling around Rosalía.

A lot of ingredients, a lot of ambition, but Rosalía pulled it off. It was also, to put it in “Hentai”, “Very well”.

Rosalia, seen on the Forest National, Monday, December 12th