The lights turn on. The Lemon Twigs concert ends and we attendees leave the Sala Copérnico in Madrid in an orderly manner. We're talking about how good the harmonies sounded, how anachronistic the outfits were, and how the four members “were totally clear about what they were doing,” when the magical intro to 'How Can I Love Her More?' plays out of nowhere. Quickly, everyone realizes that the D'Addario brothers have forgotten to play the single. This final candy was, like everything that came before, a delicious mirage of an unrepeatable era.
Among people with sideburns and striped T-shirts, I was transported to the 60s. The only elements that took me out of my illusion were, obviously, the constant cell phones, and Taylor Swift. “I think the key is the connection with the fans, man,” they commented next to me about the inescapable singer.
Brian and Michael D'Addario, like the rest of the band, are completely old-fashioned, to the point that they don't mind walking around the stage minutes before the show to check that they have everything in order. Their attire – Humana would like it – and presence framed them as time travelers. It was almost surreal.
Brian, namesake of one of his great references, fires off the powerful chords of 'Golden Years' and what follows could serve as a definitive compendium of the pop sounds and currents of an entire decade, or two, if you hurry me; channeled into brothers aged 27 and 25. The psychedelic Beatles, the cool Beatles, the Beach Boys of 'Smile' and 'Pet Sounds', the freshness of 'Odissey & Oracle', the creativity of Todd Rundgren… I'm not done. We are talking about the fact that, if all these songs were 50 years old, they would be indisputable classics. That's the material, but also live they defend it as if the future of rock depended on them. And who knows, that may be the case.
The repertoire spanned the duo's four albums, but songs from the last two ('Everything Harmony', 'A Dream Is All We Know') shined especially dazzlingly. The vocal harmonies of 'In My Head' or 'Any Time Of Day' made it impossible for the audience not to surrender to them in an explosion of applause and cheers. The same thing happened with a renewed 'I Wanna Prove To You', the song that works best from their first album and which marked a before and after in the concert. From here on, the public-artist connection was total. The jokes between brothers – “I'm going to try to play this, it looks like a violin,” Michael said, pointing to a bass -, the perfect naturalness of the band and the very successful version of 'I Don't Wanna Cry' by The Keys – “Wow!” “The Keys should play here!” – they fell in love with everyone who had previously resisted.
The Lemon Twigs made the encore one of the absolute highlights. The whole band leaves, only Brian returns. He takes the electric guitar from him. They had chosen the funniest cuts from their discography for the main section of the show, but they were missing the ones that touch your heart. If someone had yelled something stupid while Brian was singing 'Corner Of My Eye' and 'When Winter Comes Around', that someone would have eaten a chair. How beautiful, and how long it has been since I saw something like this at a concert. Were they really like this before?
The only thing I can blame the 'twigs' is that they didn't end with 'Good Vibrations', and in Lisbon they did. It would be the closest thing to seeing The Beach Boys at their peak. Concerts like these take away the urge to see a great music legend live. No problem. I haven't seen The Beatles, but I have seen The Lemon Twigs.
