Norwegian rock band Pristine in a performance at Rock & Blues ahead of the pandemic shutdown. Photo: The Penthouse of Vicenzo
Ehe March 11, 2020 was the last concert at Rock & Blues Café, since then, total silence. But, after more than a year of “nightmare” due to the pandemic, live music will play again in this Zaragoza room starting this weekend. The mythical band Los Deltonos, formed in 1986 in Muriedas, Cantabria, will be in charge of reopening the program.
“We are very excited. People had been asking for many months when we would schedule concerts again. There was a lot of desire,” says AraInfo Patxi, owner of Rock & Blues Cafe, one of the flagship bars of Zaragoza, and the concert promoter Sweet Caroline, one of the most active on the Aragonese scene. In fact, all the tickets for the first Los Deltonos concert, on Friday, have been sold, so they will repeat performance on Saturday, although only a few remain unsold.
The return of live music to Rock & Blues – with all the safety and health regulations on the table, 50 tickets, 50 seats – is one of the few good news that we have been able to tell in these times of pandemic. “If we did not return, people would forget what concerts are. Besides, musicians and technicians also have to work to eat,” adds Patxi.
After Los Deltonos, Los Majaretas del Planeta (Tomasito & Pepe Bao) will pass through the Rock & Blues stage in June, flamenco from Jerez on Friday 4th, and if they sell all tickets they will repeat on Sunday 6th; rock from Madrid by Pardos Bross (Sex Museum), on Saturday 5. The Sevillian band O’Funkillo will land on Friday the 11th and Saturday the 12th in an acoustic concert. For the weekend of June 17 to 20, the performances of Julián Maeso -rock / American from Toledo- are scheduled, which will repeat on Friday the 18th if tickets run out; Malaventura -rock zaragozano- on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20. In addition, Sweet Caroline plans to bring Los Mambo Jambo to the Delicias Civic Center on June 26.
The hope is that the programming can continue in time, if the pandemic allows it, acknowledges Patxi. And, since the last live performance of the Americans Solomon Hicks, in March 2020, the situation has been a disaster. Rock & Blues was able to reopen on June 18, but only with its cafeteria activity, and intermittently due to restrictions. On October 26 of that year he had to lower the blind again, and could not raise it again until December 15. Turnover fell by 85%, fully affecting the entire staff of the Café.
“We can no longer bear to stand still”
The situation of Rock & Blues is similar to that of many other Aragonese venues and promoters that will take months to get back on their feet. And that in the best of cases, since most musical venues are still closed, and institutional aid is very insufficient for a sector hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis. “We have had to go into debt to survive a problem for which we are not responsible,” laments Patxi.
Concert producer Comunica N’Roll is another example of survival in times of pandemic. With a lot of effort and wear and tear, he has been programming performances in Zaragoza, a city accustomed to live events. 13Krauss, Manolo Kabezabolo, Del Desierto or Hamlet, have been some of the bands that have filled a very dark tunnel with light. The next appointment that Comunica N’Roll is preparing is with Talco Maskerade, the Italian band will present their new show (LockTown) on Thursday, May 20 at the Teatro de las Esquinas.
“That we announce these dates does not mean that we are ‘going back’ to work, but rather that we can no longer bear to be ‘unemployed’. That, even if it is a ruin and multiply by ten the usual headaches of organizing any concert, We threw ourselves into the pool. Let’s see if this way the psychological and emotional breakdown is more bearable “, explains Jaume, musician and coordinator of Comunica N’Roll, to AraInfo.
The Love of Lesbian macro-concert pilot last March in Barcelona, with almost 5,000 attendees without social distance, has shown that large events can be safe. But as long as a determined and serious support of the institutions for culture is not activated, “most of the concert halls will continue to be unable to work, with their doors closed, unable to carry out their activity,” the Red Alert denounced the unification movement. sector of the Show and Events industry. We still have in our memories that ‘Last Concert’ of November 28, when dozens of artists in 125 rooms simultaneously showed the future that awaits them if the administrations do not take urgent measures.
In a survey carried out by Red Alert, it is noted that more than 60% of the professionals of shows and events “have had to ask for some extra help in order to survive” and 94% “cannot afford basic expenses. of each month with the benefits and aid received “. The anger and discontent with the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports and its head, Minister José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, is enormous. “Despite the words of support, these have not been materialized in changes in the regulations, restrictions or calls for aid. This situation is unsustainable”, therefore, they claim “more deeds and fewer words“.
“The music and culture sector has been an absolute example of security and responsibility during the pandemic,” they underline from Red Alert. However, the future remains very uncertain. In Aragon, the suspension of the patron saint festivities until August 31 has been another jug of cold water for the sector. To this, join the lukewarm aid from the Government of Aragon, or the anti-cultural policies of municipalities such as Zaragoza, in the hands of PP and Citizens and supported by the far-right Vox, whose vice mayor, Sara Fernández, has left 700,000 “unspent” euros in Culture “in one of the worst years for the sector”. A counselor who even insulted and vetoed the live music sector.
With everything that is falling, news such as the return of live music to Rock & Blues, the concerts programmed by Comunica N’Roll, the birth of the musical promoter from Zaragoza Laminero, or the return of festivals such as those of Mozota, L ‘Aínsa, Sonna or Periferias, they show the light at the end of the tunnel. And, although it is true that I don’t know what to be at a rock and roll concert sitting down, with a mask, keeping distances, without physical contact, without receiving a stomp from time to time, it would be sadder not to be. Sadder would be life without live music. For that reason, eternal thanks to the people who dare to program in times of pandemic, to the bands, to the halls, to the and the techniques that make everything sound. Put that music back on, it’s a lot of memories sang Barricade.
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