Depending on who you ask, Sunday’s headliner at Low Festival was either Dani Fernández or La Casa Azul. They are both right. On the one hand, Dani Fernández attracted a considerable crowd, although he performed at a relatively early hour. The Blue House, on the other hand, offered the most ambitious production and was the great historical attraction of the poster, but it left at dawn, when part of the public had already started their return. After all, work was on Monday and many attendees had a car trip ahead of them from Antonio Soria Park, with the traffic that has marked the three days of the festival.
Both Fernández and La Casa Azul well represent the mix of pop and rock that has defined this first edition in Torrevieja. A poster that has not sought to take risks so much as to seduce the usual lower public and turn a hitherto unknown venue into a familiar and recognizable place.
Facing the afternoon sun, Sound Depression holds a concert for those who want to get the most out of their ticket. His usual repertoire of mechanized rhythms and melancholic lyrics would perhaps fit better at dusk or at night than in the middle of the afternoon, but precisely that makes the contrast with Sidonie becomes even more pronounced.
Sidonie’s live performance is pure pop, but from another era, and deliberately so. The group comes out on stage hand in hand, in a line; They all wear shorts in a boy band style and Axel Pi’s dances are framed, even more so considering that meanwhile he plays the scary drums, giving body and soul.
Then there are the songs, of course: a repertoire full of hymns, although Sidonie takes as much advantage of the gag-based format as the music. In one song one of the members stars in a false revelation; In another, Marc Ros goes down to the dance floor, stands on the shoulders of a collaborator and invites the audience to do the same, to the point that a spontaneous conga of people on the shoulders of others ends up forming. Another of the great moments comes when some cards appear with the lyrics of a song, in an obvious nod to the legendary Bob Dylan video.
Musically, the euphoria of ‘Fascinado’, the acoustic of ‘In my throat’, the mash-up of ‘Et puc odior més’ with ‘Just Like Heaven’ by The Cure or the classic moment of crouching before the collective jump shine. Everything responds to an almost nostalgic concert idea, as if time had not passed. Axel’s dances round off a proposal that featured ‘Catalan Graffiti’, although it almost seemed like an excuse to once again celebrate an infallible songbook.
The challenge of Natalia Lacunza is to transfer introspective and self-contained songs to the live stage that seem not to exist beyond their own room. Pau Riutort’s detailed production, so full of small nuances, does not fully unfold its full potential in a setting like that of a festival, and it is above all the more rhythmic songs, such as the guitar-driven ‘You know what’ or the electronic ‘Faber-Castell’, fused with ‘Cuestión deluck’, that best fit the context.
Natalia Lacunza’s music is still among the best currently being made in this country, but melodies as delicate as those of ‘You fell in love’ or ‘Mi Sitio’ are probably best enjoyed in a room, in a more intimate setting. Even so, Lacunza and his band – with Ganges and Mira Paula, who shines especially in the choruses of ‘Apego Fierce’ – offer the most contemporary and most 2026 concert of the entire festival. Even the set design, dominated by a blue sofa that reproduces the aesthetics of the album, contributes to creating its own universe.
What of Dani Fernandez It seems to have gotten a little out of hand for a long time, and the singer himself conveys a certain feeling of still dealing with the size of his success. During the concert he recognizes that that had been one of those days in which he had needed to “look in the mirror” and remind himself that he deserves everything that is happening to him. Afterwards, it also seems that it is difficult for him to leave the stage and stop soaking up the applause of an absolutely dedicated audience.
Their current tour presents a spectacular montage with an industrial and almost apocalyptic aesthetic, presided over by an enormous metal structure in the shape of a sun and a gigantic eye inside. The image is striking as soon as you see it. Afterwards, the repertoire is committed to unbridled emotion, with melodies taken to the limit and a rock attitude that at times can seem fake, although the public buys every gesture. Even songs that could occupy the last positions on an album end up becoming audience favorites.
Among the notable concerts of the night on the Radio 3 stage we must talk about Repionwho confessed to having “freaked out” with the number of people who had seen a concert that coincided with that of Dani Fernández. Their crystalline sound between pop-rock and nineties grunge came in as a respite from the intensity of the other stage, and the group did not fail to appreciate the warm reception throughout the performance.
Sunday’s covered headliner could have been Carlos Ares. The stage production he carries is surprising for an artist who has not yet had any great successes on the charts, although it is clear that his songs are catching on. The set, a kind of village hut from which the musicians emerge and which ends up opening with a jump, attracts so many eyes that Ares himself remains almost in the background. If the funk-rock of ‘Páramo’ works as a perfect introduction, melodies like ‘Rocíos’ already sound like an anthem. ‘La boca del lobo’ and the protagonism of some fundamental chorus girls also shine to give depth to a very careful show both scenically and instrumentally.
“And the Award” for discovery of the Low goes to them Aiko the group. Of course I had been following them for a long time, but their pure punk live performance is so fun that it is irresistible. They solve even a sound failure with sympathy and self-confidence, while they chain together great power punk songs, each one more deranged: from ‘K Pesão’ to the runaway synths of ‘Peña Castillo’ or ‘Modo Sigilo’, a preview of their next album. They also dedicate a song to a friend who saved them from a “shitty situation”, before finishing off with the punk-rock of ‘El Award es para’, the perfect closing to one of those concerts that reconcile you with punk because they remind you of what it is.
The challenge of The Blue House It was another: to raise the spirits of an audience that arrived at one in the morning and would last until after two. Any fan of Guille Milkyway knows that one hour is not enough to include all their classics, but the group manages to ensure that the concert does not feel short. Literally each song is a rush of euphoria, each chorus is an explosion of happiness and each number seems to deserve another shower of confetti. Personally, I have never seen so much confetti shot so many times during a single concert.
Without apparent concessions to the future ‘Fauna y flora subacuatica’ -unless ‘No Hay Futuro’ or ‘I promise not to forget’- end up being part of it-, the repertoire once again opts for a very recognizable setlist, designed to maximize shared happiness, only frustrated by a specific technical problem. For me, the most exciting moment comes with ‘The Happiest Moment’; The most chanted, without a doubt, is ‘It could be worse’, before the inevitable closing with ‘The sexual revolution’ and ‘Nobody could ever fly’.
The scenography helps turn the concert into an immersive experience. A large LED screen projects a universe of planets, galaxies and vibrant colors while the musicians are distributed on illuminated platforms with side screens. Guille Milkyway, as if he had just landed from another planet, is a constant explosion of adrenaline and euphoria. And yes, it successfully overcomes the challenge of awakening an audience that at first was tired. Since ‘The Moment’ the concert no longer loses strength. It is practically impossible to leave a La Casa Azul concert without a shot of joy.
