izal He was the last artist to perform at the Palau Sant Jordi before the covid, in February 2020, and on his return to the same room, this Saturday, we could see him a little changed: more vulnerable, compensating for his tendency to ostentatiousness with sensitive incursions, a reflection of his latest album, the cozy ‘Home‘. Concert with other nuances, to which was added an extra layer of emotion derived from his announced farewell to the stage. “We have been holding the tears well the whole tour & rdquor ;, that big man with a hurricane voice named Mikel Izal made known by biting the heart.
The group leaves him, yes, after 12 years, alleging personal concerns of its members, and it does so in a sweet moment in artistic terms. It was suggested by the six songs from ‘Hogar’ that dotted the repertoire, from ‘Fotografías’, this very canonical one, a passing thanks to “the family, the usual ones, my dearest crazy people” (for “jumping into this pool without knowing if it was full”), to its reverse, the insinuating ‘Meiuqèr’ (requiem backwards), a song that alluded to the ravages of the virus (“a year of doubt and silence / of hangover , whip and salt”) resolved with plots of clinical minimalism.
a bit of humor
Mikel Izal kept in mind that this was his last time (in Barcelona). “Aquesta nit will be incredible & rdquor ;, he bellowed in Catalan before puffing out his chest. “Thank you for giving us our first ‘sold out‘ of history at the Palau Sant Jordi”. He appreciated the sense of humor when dedicating ‘The beings that fill me & rdquor; to “the companions” from their fans, friends or boyfriends who did not know a single subject. “This is love!”
Certainly, the music of this formation created in Madrid has always been a bit impenetrable to the uninitiated, with its thick architecture and flowery literature with philosophical outbursts. It’s about getting rid of sonic vibration with which songs like ‘The Well’ or ‘Wormholes’ pass you by. Material with physical power, fattened with layers of electronics, which was balanced with the balladism: there were new songs like ‘He returned’ and ‘Inercia’. In the latter, perhaps drawing a parallel with the fears that can accompany the group, Mikel Izal let us know that, when the routine sets in, “you have to abandon ship”.
The ‘indie’ and the ‘mainstream’
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But these 12 years have gone a long way, among other things, to liven up the debate about what is ‘indie’ and what is ‘mainstream’, and if both categories are useful for something at this point. As a testimony of this exciting era, the past repertoire that Izal handled remained, with anchor points such as ‘Copacabana’, ‘Autotherapy’ or ‘The incredible story of the man who could fly but did not know how’, themes to put on “the companions” with eyes as wide as saucers: labyrinthine, but sung from top to bottom by the crowd, arms raised.
Izal is that group that (like, a little earlier, Vetusta Morla) has been able to read the legacy of the ‘radiohead generation‘ in an exponential and invasive way, with epic and collective dance, twisted ‘riffs’ and black bass drum. From there came the letters that consummated his farewell to Sant Jordi, such as ‘El baile’, ‘Qué bien’ (which Mikel Izal sang in the audience) and ‘La mujer de verde’. Themes that left a trace of the end of the cycle, beyond the twilight of Izal, now that rock bands move away from commercial centrality and the reggaeton star takes power.