Sala Bikini, Barcelona, Spain
14th September 2013
Mesh, Medievo, Some Electric Noise (S.E.N.)
The Sala Bikini is a club situated at the Av. Diagonal 547 which is a main street in Barcelona. The entrance is a bit hidden when the club has not opened, as it is a metal tube in the back of a shopping mall and you rather think that it is a tube of the air condition system. But when it has opened you have to walk downwards through this tube until you enter the venue which is really lush. Besides club nights for dancing they offer frequently special events as well as concerts. The venue has a capacity for 660 people and on that evening approximately 450 people showed up. http://bikinibcn.com/bikini/
Medievo
The Spanish duo opened the evening. Just founded in 2012 they do have a homepage and a Facebook site, but it seems that they cannot really be bothered to reach an international audience as the only language they use is Spanish. Actually I don’t speak any Spain but from what I could understand their music is about social political topics and this was proved by the videos in the background, where diverse politicians meeting each other, or addressing to an audience, were shown. I couldn’t even find out the names of the musicians. As poor as their internet presentation is so their stage appearance is as well. On the left stood the guitar player and in the middle was the singer who played every now and then the keyboards.
While the guitar player hung constantly over his guitar that you could hardly see his face the singer preferred to perform almost in the dark. As I don’t know anything of this band I cannot write down a setlist and there wasn’t any taped on the floor to take a photo of. Actually the music was not that bad at all, cold Electronic sound, apparently influenced by the music of the 80’s, but as they did not communicate with the audience, it is no wonder that no one of the few, that already appeared, showed great interest. They didn’t even get applause. http://www.medievo.org/ / https://www.facebook.com/medievos
Rating
Music: 4
Performance: 3
Sound: 7
Light: 4
Total: 4.5 / 10
Some Electric Noise (S.E.N.)
At short notice this band replaced the formerly announced band UNI.FORM who couldn't perform due to some logistic problems. The Spanish band founded in 2006 showed more stage presence and thus some more people showed interest in listening to them, although the venue was still not filled. Their music is a mixture of Alternative Rock and Post Punk which worked much better for the audience. The band consists of a singer, a guitar-, a bass-, a keyboard player and a drummer. Their concert was quite nice and acceptable as supporting act - even more after the previous gig - which was proved by the audience, who were willing to give them some applause. http://www.senband.com / https://www.facebook.com/pages/SEN-Some-Electric-Noise/220438837982369
Setlist
01. Grace
02. Extrano ser
03. Dias raros
04. Crimen
05.Primal fear
06. Primera evasion
07. Gran final
08. Viernes
09. Noticias de Dios
10. Nino
11. Hambre de Perron (?)
Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 5
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 6 / 10
Mesh
After the previous concerts the people were almost hungry for some really good and entertaining music. Although the concert was not sold-out, a good crowd of roundabout 450 people arrived just in time for MESH. That the guys from Bristol have a loyal fan base, willing to travel far distances to see them perform, was proven once more on this evening. In the audience you could find people coming from the UK, Germany, places in Spain that were more than 1000 km away. One fan even had a nice sign with the three B’s as he has been to the concerts in Bristol (UK), Bochum (Germany) and now Barcelona (Spain). For the guys themselves it is not the first time to perform in this club. Thus they appeared good-tempered, started the show and got the crowd going from the first tunes on.
And here, too, the audience showed that they have learnt the lyrics by heart as they were singing along with the band. The setlist was not that long like in Mannheim a week before but they had a good mixture of new and old songs. Once more it was shown that the ‘Intro + Adjust your set’ is really a good starter for their concerts and choosing now ‘You couldn’t see this coming’ as closer of the evening with MESH. All around me I could see happy faces, dancing and singing along with the band. Of course there was this singing ‘I need to start again! Take me far away!’ for an encore that now became a tradition since the release of ‘Automation Baby’. The sound quality in this venue was pretty good.
Unfortunately there wasn’t any meet and greet after the concert but I guess this is due to the politics of the venue, as they usually have other club events after the concerts and therefore want the bands to leave as quickly as possible. But the concert was great, we were exhausted but happy and it was definitely worth to travel to Spain. Well, not only as we were there for some sightseeing, too. http://www.mesh.co.uk/ / https://www.facebook.com/meshtheband
Setlist
01. Intro/ Adjust your set
02. Automation Baby
03. You didn’t want me
04. This is the time
05. Crash
06. Flawless
07. Never meet your heroes
08. You want what’s owed to you
09. How long?
10. Room with a view
11. Just leave us alone
12. It scares me
13. Everything I made
14. When the city breathes
15. From this height
16. Taken for granted
---
17. Born to lie
---
18. You couldn’t see this coming
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9 / 10
All pictures by morTICIA
Comments powered by CComment