The ninth edition of Mallorca Live has arrived with programming changes, mainly the reduction of the lineup to two main days – Thursday has been eliminated – and the addition of a “closing party” on Sunday headlined by David Guetta’s DJ set. The start on Friday had 18,000 attendees who have blurred what it means to be a national or international headliner.
Because until the arrival of Prodigy at 2:00 at night in Calvià many things happen, from end to end of the venue, from the dancing on the La Plaza stage to the intimate concerts of La Isla, by the way, highly recommended to get closer to less crowded but very suggestive proposals, such as that of Carmesí, or even a popup of the well-known Espresso Concerts that are conquering the island.
In fact, although Prodigy are clearly the international headliner on Friday, their late schedule – in accordance with their proposal of industrial rave electronics – means that on this day national names also gather a considerable density of attendees, and there we must especially talk about Dani Fernandez.
The performance of the man from La Mancha is especially anticipated since it is only the second after the shoulder operation he underwent after his fall last April. At one point in the show, Fernández asks that we not take him into account if he has to stop playing, but no one would say watching him perform that he has recently undergone surgery: his performative intensity – especially vocal – remains intact and his ability to lift the audience as well. Sometimes that intensity seems too much: Fernández interrupts the concert at one point in the show so that an assistant receives medical attention.
Presenting emotional songs like ‘Everything changes’ or lively songs like ‘Bailemos’, Fernández offers emotional pop-rock and a curious staging made up of several graffitied concrete walls, evoking the typical walls of humble neighborhoods as if remembering where it comes from, and has words of gratitude for the festival organization, the health team, and for the public who “spends money to see live music.”
I am suddenly immersed in a British section of Mallorca Live, as I briefly escape to see The Paisley Daze on the La Isla stage, who are a rock ‘n roll torpedo and raise the temperature of the venue thanks to their energetic songs, garage guitars, and the evident charisma of their vocalist, who at one point throws water from a bottle at the audience, as if possessed by excitement.
And when I realize, The Libertines They have taken the Es Jardí stage. Late into the night, Pete Doherty and Carl Barât display their characteristic decadent and British elegance before their most loyal audience. The guitars with a classic and blues flavor continue to be his trademark, as well as the punctual trumpet played live, and both the ‘shoop shoop’ of ‘What Katie Did’ and the sober ‘Merry Old England’ make up a fairly calm repertoire in which Doherty’s crooner voice sounds especially controlled and clear.
The fluidity and proximity between stages makes it easier to approach different concerts during the day, although my experience of the concert in Samurai It is limited to two songs ascribed to her pop-punk style – by the way, highly chanted by a dedicated audience that fills the Mallorca stage – and an unexpected shower of balloons towards the audience, whose origin not even Samuraï herself can explain. Samuraï’s concert precedes that of Long live Swedenone of the busiest of the day, although that is no surprise: in this medium we have grown tired of reporting on the commercial rise of Viva Sweden and the different record distinctions they accumulate.
The hymn-like songs like ‘Pain and Glory’ or ‘Leave a Light on’ once again structure a show focused on the most epic and victorious pop-rock song, with echoes of Bunbury in melodies and voices, and a well-worked staging with different visuals with colorful graphics.
Viva Sweden’s set develops with that emotion and stylized epic that is so characteristic of it, combining Herculean melody and danceable rock rhythm; and has several guest artists: together with Hoonine they perform probably the best chorus of the concert, ‘You and I against the others’, and then Dani Fernández appears acknowledging that at first he was going to stay in the dressing room, but that in the end he could not resist the heat of the audience. Especially interesting is the intervention of Samuraï, whom Rafa Val thanks for making them discover that “age is sometimes at odds with maturity”, a lesson in emotional intelligence channeled in their joint song performed for the first time live, ‘Melancolía’, with Val on the piano.
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In contrast to the pop-rock sobriety of Fernández and Viva Sweden, the set of Belen Aguilera -who releases EP this Friday, ‘mediterrania’-, is totally theatrical and performative, presented with a staging that catches the eye and that perhaps represents a drifting ship -symbolized by a mast that presides over the stage-, but also a high school concert, to which the string ensemble -violin and cello- takes us, the stylized keyboard with pipes as if it were an organ, and the body of dancers simulating a cohort of nymphs that support -physically and emotionally- to a Belén Aguilera who performs with rags and barefoot, hair flying in the wind, as if she were a lyrical heroine in the middle of a ritual shipwreck.
The concept behind Aguilera’s show is based on a repertoire that crosses the different emotional “facets” of her proposal: from the electronic dance of ‘Galgo’ or ‘Licántropo’ – with a sample of ‘Thriller’ – or the beautiful ‘Eclipse’, to the emotional ballad of ‘Soledad’, dedicated to her grandmother, or the chanted ‘Mía’, passing through a surprising sample of ‘Moi… Lolita’ by Alizée. The show is aesthetically 100% contemporary due to its mix of urban codes and classic pop. Performing in front of a fluid audience – perhaps too much so -, Aguilera gave herself vocally and to her elaborate choreographies – which sometimes have her dragged along the ground or elevated into the air -, as if she were in the same Movistar Arena that she filled months ago.
At two o’clock at night, the atmosphere became devilish with the set of raver and industrial rhythms of The Prodigywhich, reconfigured around mastermind Liam Howlett and veteran MC Maxim -in charge of live vocals and supported by Rob Holliday on guitar-, after the death of Keith Flint in 2019, offer a set that does not disappoint.
Arranged on stage in a schematic and almost militaristic way – each member plays on his own platform, while Maxim moves from one side of the stage to the other -, the group turns Calvià into a mine of sound bombs, firing their exciting industrial beats, radioactive synthesizers and spectacular visuals that undoubtedly steal all the attention, being the absolute visual center, especially those imposing floating rifles in 3D design that seem to be physically on the stage.
With a Mallorca Live surrendered to the sonic power of The Prodigy, the set, which opens with ‘Omen’ and continues with the explosive ‘Light Up the Sky’ or ‘Invaders Must Die’, does not skimp on enveloping laser beams that bathe the entire track in threatening green and red lights. The group finishes with the apotheotic ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ just before the encore, and I can’t help but remember that tATu hit that was so inspired by her. For many, ‘Not Gonna Get Us’ was our gateway to Prodigy, without knowing it.
