Manu Chao - click image for gallery

When I entered Rock City that night, I wasn’t sure what to expect from 46 year old Manu Chao, who's been touring Europe for the past few weeks to promote La Radiolina, his new and probably last album.

I wasn't the only one curious to see Chao's live perfomances. The concert sold out a month ago, and the room was rapidly crammed with a very cosmopolitan crowd, which isn't too surprising considering how multicultural the band and its tunes are. Still, it was a little weird to see balding people, local crusties, French and Spanish people, girls with posh outfits, etc, all united for the same show.

The supporting band, London-based Peyoti For President, did its job well enough, despite a pretty poor sound setting which forced me to migrate from the aisle. Their mix of latin and roots music was the perfect way to set the mood, but their set felt a bit too short.

The line up of Radio Bemba Sound System tends to change, and this night there were five musicians on stage to accompany Chao, including two drummers. The energy they displayed for two hours was incredible. Far away from the almost-accoustic style of Chao's studio albums, the performance they gave us sounded a lot more like Mano Negra (Manu Chao's first, and higly influential, punk-oriented band). All the songs were reinterpreted in a much more energetic fashion, which was enjoyable for those (myself included) who think that Chao's tendency of reusing old tunes over and over is a waste of talent.

A warm welcome for Manu Chao - click image for gallery

The enthusiasm of the band was matched only by the atmosphere in the crowd. Pleased by the amazing and wide song selection, people jumped around, clapped hands, sung along, and warmly welcomed Chao's new tunes. There were no low moments or dead air, since Radio Bemba played with no interruption for an hour and a half, and did not play any song soflty for more than two minutes. Two encores followed the band's departure, the first one featuring one of the drummers taking the mic to sing a moving Arabic song, and the hyperactive Manu Chao replacing him behind the drums. The second encore gave the band an opportunity to play Mala Vida, my all time favorite and one of the first songs ever written by Chao.

Manu Chao played at Rock City on Wednesday November 7th 2007.

Photos by Al Greer (c)

Manu Chao website
 
Comment (0) Send to friend Print Add to Facebook Socialise