All of us who loved ‘Essex Honey’ last year knew that Blood Orange’s concert at Primavera Sound was going to be special, especially if we managed to see it in the room, since Dev Hynes was one of the confirmed artists in the parallel programming of Primavera a la Ciutat and had not performed in Barcelona since 2019. Furthermore, the material on ‘Essex Honey’ is particularly intimate and biographical, and witnessing it live – and it is not a listening party – in a venue more welcoming than the vastness The Forum promised to be a different experience.
And so it was. The Paral·lel 62 received Dev Hynes this Tuesday two days before his presentation at the Fòrum, on June 4, and the synergy between artist and audience was evident. So much so that Hynes himself expressed his emotion at the warmth of the audience and stated that playing there “is a blessing” and that their reaction is a “great reaffirmation” of why he loves his profession.
His words did not arrive until after performing the popular ‘You’re Not Good Enough’, already halfway through the concert, but it was almost not necessary to hear them to perceive it. Hynes’ presence is hypnotic. And that, going from the guitar to the keyboards and walking from one end of the stage to the other, he is barely fixed in one position: it is difficult to even record a video or take a decent photo.
Armed with his recognizable helmets, Hynes appeared on stage completely alone, carrying an electric cello, to perform a version of ‘How Soon Is Now?’ of the Smiths. A strange start, but when his band came on the scene – which includes Tariq Al-Sabir playing various instruments, as well as backing vocals from Ian Isiah and Eva Tolkin – everything began to come together. The melancholy-laden melodies of ‘Look at You’ and ‘Somewhere in Between’ marked the start of the concert before ‘Jesus Freak Lighter’ provided more electric textures closer to indie rock, in a show where guitars, keyboards, drums, backing tracks and samples sounded with the same good taste as in the recordings.
And, true to the philosophy of Blood Orange, the repertoire moved fluidly between genres: from the disco music of ‘Uncle ACE’ to the tropical rhythms of ‘Best to You’ and the hypnotic lullaby of ‘Mind Loaded’ – where I thought I heard the pre-recorded voice of Caroline Polachek in the background -, always transmitting that feeling of deeply authorial and unrepeatable creation, and of New York sophistication despite the fact that Hynes is British.
Perhaps my favorite moment was the wall of sound of keyboards and guitars that Blood Orange and his band built in ‘Charcoal Baby’, where it felt like the concert was reaching its boiling point both instrumentally and emotionally. Although I’m sure many songs would have benefited from more instruments on stage – ‘Essex Honey’ is very rich in instrumental nuances – and fewer pre-recorded elements, the instruments sounded impeccable and the backing vocals of Ian Isiah and Eva Tolkin had several moments of prominence.
The closing with ‘The Field’ was ideal to remember what album Blood Orange is coming to present. However, it is striking that the repertoire of ‘Essex Honey’ did not even occupy half of the set: including the Smiths version that opened the concert, there were more old songs than new ones. If I missed something it was precisely a greater presence of the songs from ‘Essex Honey’, although it is also understandable that, after seven years without performing in Barcelona, Hynes chose to balance the repertoire between his new work and the most beloved songs of his career.
