The Blue House performing at the WiZink Center, formerly the Sports Palace, is not something that many of us would have opted for 25, 20 or 15 years ago. Now it seems easy, but all of us who were there then know that his thing could have ended more or less than where Astrud, Them or The Good Life. It would be ugly – it would be very un-Guille Milkyway – to name names, but many of his contemporaries who have survived will never perform in this place.
The success of The Blue House is not due to luck or because circumstances have changed at the will of chance. It is due to the way he has grown as an author, surpassing ‘Near Shibuya’ with ‘Superguay’, and surpassing ‘Superguay’ with ‘The Sexual Revolution’. Afterwards he did not surpass ‘The Sexual Revolution’ but he did build a new repertoire that made him forget the previous one. Furthermore, despite his shyness, he has dared, even if it has been in fits and starts – his albums are released every 6 or 7 years – to take steps forward. The candidacy for Eurovision and the Goya for the rumba ‘Yo also’ were decisive, as was later his appearance in Operación Triunfo.
Guille Milkyway never really enjoyed being a public figure. Deep down, I still wonder if he can enjoy it today. What is certain is that the great pop genius showed up at WiZink very willing to convince us all – after years of convincing himself – that it was his night. There were many “thank you, Madrid”, a Guinness record for confetti cannons was broken, but above all, Guille was more vocal than I have ever heard him, risking putting himself above the music in the mix. , therefore placing enormous weight on his lyrics.
And his lyrics have served as therapy for two, almost three, generations already, practicing self-help work, trying to reaffirm the self, cornering inferiority complexes, insecurity and that low self-esteem that seems inherent to the underground. In a moment of sincerity, Guille Milkyway commented that for much of his life he had put on a shell that prevented others from entering, and I am sure that has been the case of many people who have clung to his music like a nail. burning, because in his environment he was not able to express his emotions.
That is why the La Casa Azul concert is so symbolic. It is not only the triumph of pop, but also a defeat for toxic masculinity, a victory for all those who opted to make public a certain sensitivity, vindicate innocence and good work. When their show can fill the last stands of the Palace (the WiZink format was 10,000 people, not bad), Spain will definitely be a better place. At the moment, and due to current threats, we are still on the path.
As a 25th anniversary concert, the setlist contained songs from all eras of La Casa Azul. It began with ‘La fiesta universal’, with Guille approaching to bang on the drums of one of his half-dozen musicians; He continued with ‘Chicle Cosmos’, skillfully converted into collective karaoke thanks to the projections of the chorus; and immediately ‘No más Myolastan’ and ‘The boys will jump onto the dance floor today’ came on. There were many songs from their last three albums, although if there was something special about the concert, it was because of the trip to their beginnings.
There are those who go to a WiZink Center to show off guests or set up. In this case, what was exceptional was the recovery of songs that do not usually play so much in their repertoire, such as ‘C’est fini’ or especially ‘Por si ever te vas’. The La Casa Azul band enjoyed this beautiful country: if Guille Milkyway had ever sounded like Juan y Junior I had completely forgotten.
As for their first demos, ‘Tang de orange, colajet de limo’, after some excited screenings by Juan de Pablos and even the tune of ‘Flor depassion’, was incorporated into a medley with songs from “El sonido efervescente”, among which ‘Today you said hello to me for the first time’ was dedicated to Luis and Montse from his Elefant label, who have accompanied him all these years. That part was brief, even more so than the album itself, although luckily ‘Cerca de Shibuya’ did play in full. Specifically after ‘Superguay’ and accompanied by screenings from Japan.
Guille Milkyway doesn’t usually play it anymore nor did he plan to do so in his 2 hour set, from what he had told us in a podcast. And he knows very well what he is doing because it is no longer one of the best-known songs of La Casa Azul (exactly it is only the 42nd most listened to), but a 25th anniversary concert could not be understood without this song that was so popular in the early years of Ochoymedio, when Ochoymedio was the promoter of this event. His music, after all, has been “an invitation to travel to a new world” for 25 years. As a note, the concert started at 8:55 p.m. instead of 9:00 p.m. so it could end at 11:00 p.m. as scheduled (LOL).
‘The moment’ or ‘Tonight they only sing for me’, with projections now of Amaia and Sophie, in addition to the usual artists, were among the most chanted moments, reserving for the end, as expected, the big hit that everyone was waiting for, ‘The Sexual Revolution’, with an exquisite nod to The Chi-Lites; ‘Nobody could ever fly’, a bomb of a live song that many of us didn’t see coming; and how could it be otherwise, ‘Como un fan’, which had also disappeared from their repertoire at a given moment.
This was not a strictly nostalgic La Casa Azul concert. Several of the singles from their next album were played. In particular, ‘Let’s forget’ with Soleá Morente as a guest, appearing after the very exciting piano version of ‘Yo also’, represented the future. But some lyrics from La Casa Azul, chanted last night by 10,000 people, highlighted the extent to which they have been a method of survival for the artist and his fans for 25 years. 10,000 people who have built their own “world in a ray of sunshine”.
Guille stated on two occasions that he was very nervous, but it didn’t show. He is no longer the one who trembled on TV next to Raffaella Carrá, nor the boy who let the audience sing when he, almost always hoarse, couldn’t. Last night there was no trace of his hoarseness, and in ‘Like a fan’, he also took off his helmet and those glasses behind which he now hides. Part of the audience once again shouted viciously that Ben Folds Five “weren’t IN-DIES enough”, just not in a small or medium-sized room. Pop had triumphed.
