By the Zonagirante.com team @spinning zone
We said it before: If you have any doubts about the relevance of rock music in our times, go listen to (or watch) Capsule, the Argentine band based in the Basque Country, and feel hope and euphoria in your body again. We said something similar when we saw them on the Lago stage at Rock al Parque, back in 2015, and we repeat it again, when we witnessed their concert commemorating David Bowie, in December 2011, in Vitoria, more precisely in the prestigious concert hall Hell Dorado, with a packed house. Yes, we're talking about a performance that took place almost nine years ago., but it was released on YouTube by the band just a week ago.
The band, led by Martin L Guevara and Coni Duchess, never denied their love for the Chameleon. The name of their group is a tribute to Major Tom, the one from Space Oddity. Based in Bilbao for over twenty years, the duo spent their entire career building their sound, described by the prestigious Rolling Stone magazine commentator, Mr. David Fricke, as «"garage-glam paradise on a platter"» and then calling them «"A dynamic compression of The Who, sonic cramps and youth in a high tide of psychedelia"» (In short, for those who aren't looking for labels, all this talk just means "good rock"). Fortunately, after all this time, Capsula has proven to maintain that essence that elevates them, and the audience can verify this by listening to their latest album., Bestiary, published last year.
But let's get down to business: Almost a decade late, Capsula has decided to make its presentation of its tribute to Bowie, and more specifically to his 1972 album, publicly available., The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars. This concert, filmed with multiple cameras and featuring a simple yet stunning stage design, It presents a more aggressive, more punk-like version of the work, but respecting the original meaning. These aren't just covers. Capsula isn't just any tribute band, the kind you see listlessly playing in bars all over the world without changing a single thing about their idols' original recordings. Here it seems that the whole band, especially Guevara, the frontman, possesses the right spirit to take on such a challenge and brings the repertoire to fruition with glory. The best moments are felt in Starman, Ziggy Stardust and, especially, Suffragette City, where the ecstasy of the band and the audience reaches the peak of the event. A few months later, Capsula released, now with studio recordings, and pressed under the label Hotsak, This tribute, with which they are undertaking an intense tour of European territory.
Under the title of Dreaming of Ziggy Stardust, we have on our screen a sixty-two-minute documentary that can brighten our confinement for several days. Enjoy it, remembering that rock, thanks to characters like this couple and their companions, is still alive, despite the sabotage of some mindless radicals.