Energetic and disarming: Rosalía sings with tireless passion in Afas Live

To cry. Tears run down Rosalía’s cheeks during ‘De Plata’, an older song for which she just got a black dress with a train of at least ten meters that covers the entire stage. We don’t know where the tears came from – maybe there’s a special meaning to her behind the intense song, or it’s the grueling tour, maybe she accidentally enchanted herself a little. In any case, she was not the only one who was hit on Saturday night in the Afas Live in Amsterdam.

The Catalan singer, who already moves like a chameleon between genres and styles on her albums, switched just as easily between different moods live. In a fairly bare decor – a white background with a troupe of dancers and two large screens – she was free as a bird. Very seductive at times, crawling on the floor, buttocks in the air, exciting look in the cameras buzzing around her. Then again unapproachably tough and strong, sitting on a motor formed by her dancers with their bodies. And also very disarming how she addressed her audience, and how spontaneously she dealt with a sudden marriage proposal from a Hague fan to his girlfriend (she said yes). And you saw how she sometimes seemed to realize for a moment: it worked. The mission of the girl who, at the age of eight, already made family members cry with her voice, was ridiculed on national television and worked hard to be where she is today, a global superstar. And so, perhaps that’s why, sometimes fragile as a freshly picked poppy.

Read also: Rosalía mixes styles and genres like a musical alchemist. Who is she?

Unbridled energy

Her radiant personality on stage largely made up for the somewhat unbalanced hall sound, in which her vocals sometimes drowned. The sound could also have used some depth from live musicians. The balanced setlist that leaned fully on the unbridled energy of the last album Motomami It did help, as did the audience: probably not so many Spaniards have been together in the Netherlands since 1588. Even before the concert started, three-quarters sang along with the Aventura classic ‘Obsesion’, played in the hall, and the atmosphere could not be broken anymore . During the concert, the audience regularly rose above the singer, with songs such as the explosive opener ‘Saoko’, ‘Malamente’, ‘La Fama’ and the yearning ‘Hentai’, with Rosalía alone behind the piano. It’s also wonderful how it reacted to the cleverly tied together songs ‘De Aquí no Sales’ (from 2018) and the beautiful, newer ‘Bulerías’. Even the spoken ‘Abcdefg’ – an album snack in which she lists an abc of matters important to her – became a great moment live, partly thanks to that experience in the hall.

Two hours later, what Rosalía does is quite incredible: despite the intense show she just put on, she sings the delicate “Sakura,” in which she compares the fleetingness of a pop star’s success to momentarily blooming cherry blossoms, deep from her toes. “You’re not a pop star forever / You can’t keep shining like a star,” she sings with improbable, tireless passion. She may be right, but that message is lost to the enchanted hall.

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