Although etymology does not play in favor and avoids the option of lending a hand, when one launches into the most exact search possible for the term ‘riff’, always within the framework of rock and heavy metal, the map leads directly to the following definition: a short musical phrase that is repeated often throughout a song and can be either a chord progression played by the accompaniment section or a pluck. Well, once the commitment to the strict dictionary and the most neat literature has been fulfilled, it is time to open up your chest to explain, or try to do it in the best possible way, what this artistic idea can really be in a context like the of the Rock Empire.
And it is that, on its second day, the festival reminded us that a thousand and one stories fit in a riff. A thousand and one memories. A thousand and one emotions. One thousand and One Nights. That a riff is also an earthly miracle for those who only believe in toasting with the Holy Grail of songs and an infallible way to stop time and turn silence into fire. That a riff is a formula in which the minimum is gigantic until touching the full moon with the fingertips of a hand in the shape of a horn. That the riff is an infinite road that takes you back to that room in the house of adolescence where you burned records and vinyl without rest, memorizing lyrics, humming notes and resurrecting in choruses. That in a riff the past and present of a shared memory are cited. Fair notes to stimulate impacts as definitive as, for example, those caused by Europe on Saturday night from a Cartagena surrendered to her talent.
Held in that temporary space where the sun hands over the witness to the moon after having waged another bloody fight in front of the huge audience that, once again, packed the park on the slope of El Batel, the concert, one of the most anticipated of the day , complied comfortably with the illusions generated. In addition, it was about, at least, repeating the success obtained in this same venue last year, which increased the pressure and the weight of expectations, but the feared uncertainty was squandered from the welcome with the atmospheric ‘Walk the earth’ .
A beginning that could well serve to summarize what was the complete performance of the Swedish group at Rock Imperium, that is to say, an enormously enjoyable exercise in balancing and understanding between the most effervescent melodies and the sonorous bravery found in the magnificent ‘Rock the night’, ‘Cherokee’, ‘Let the good times rock’, ‘Sign of the times’, a ‘Superstitious’ with nods to U2 and Bob Marley, among others, and those inexhaustible ballads titled ‘Carrie’ and ‘Open your heart ‘ to his ultimate accomplices.
A path traced throughout his extensive career and led by a great Joey Tempest that concluded, how could it be otherwise, with a tremendous ‘The final countdown’ that aroused general delirium from the moment its unmistakable opening notes sounded. Yes, a riff can also be a massive bang. An unbeatable closing concert with a song that, like the band that signs it, does not understand fashion or extinction.
And we didn’t leave Sweden because, just before the appearance of Europe, their compatriots from HEAT had been revolutionizing the respectable since the Estrella Levante Stage. Not even those of us who sought refuge in the shade could avoid the fiery gale of epic unleashed by Kenny Leckremo, a tremendous frontman, and his crew throughout a captivating and fast-paced show marked by the impetus of a hard rock designed to be chanted until the exhaustion.
Each piece flowed with a fairly even degree of high energy in just under an hour and a half that left you wanting more, similar to what happened with The Night Flight Orchestra. Also coming from the Swedish country, everything stays at home, the band led by Björn Strid convinced thanks to its particular (and radiant) way of shaking a glossy cocktail of styles including funk, soul, disco, rock and pop. Eighties echoes, fun staging and desire to put together a good riot. irresistible.
#Rock #Imperium #succumbs #superpower #riff