By Santiago Rivas @rivas_santiago Photo: Oscar Perfer @perferoscar
The third day of Rock al Parque He was as politically active as the second. It's curious, because normally the holiday Monday of a festival is indulgent in many ways, with what is understood as "the general public". That usually means having bands less politically charged. But these are the times we live in. Sadly, most of the people who go to Rock al Parque are either abstainers or apathetic. Outraged but unwilling to do anything, like people on Twitter.
I was fortunate enough to arrive just in time to GBH, whom I was fortunate enough to hear for the first time. I liked them so much, I felt ashamed for not knowing them before, But that only proves how wonderful it is to have a festival where we can go and be surprised. street punk GBH's performance was exactly what I needed to hear at Rock al Parque: anarchic, fun, full of vitality and with a compact and powerful sound. “They lost their crest, but not their tricks,” as Hernán Sansone aptly put it.
They were followed by the Argentinian band Filippi's Hands. Sansone (a great festival companion) told me that they originally composed Mr. Collections, ...the song that made Bersuit Vergarabat super famous. He told me that One of them is a Trotskyist and the other an anarchist, both committed militants. I didn't know what to expect, but I also didn't want to wait too long to see them. Another one of the best bands at the festival. Combining rapping with very simple guitar tracks and patterns, some punk, some dub, some world music Where had they been all this time? His lyrics are combative and witty; his discourse is neither stale nor tiresome. We would do well if we listened to them more often.
Deafheaven That was another pleasant surprise. They're not my favorite band at the festival, not by a long shot, but they have something very interesting., far from his pose and his clothing (“They’re the hipsters who play black metal,” I’d been told). They don’t exactly play “black metal”; they have a black metal base, but its sound reaches certain gothic tones, With those long, voiceless valleys and those slow riffs, bordering even on emo. Don't get me wrong, not everything done in that vein was bad. On the contrary, if anything, This would be the salvation of that sound that was lost amidst sobs and ridiculous tear tattoos, thanks to the saving influence of black metal.
Burning Caravan They're a good band. They play beautifully, no doubt about it, and they write catchy lyrics that resonate with people. They are direct, and talented, each on their instrument. I, personally, still can't get it with the costumes, nor with them saying (I don't know if it's them or their fans) that it's a "balkan" band. To begin with, “balkan” is not a genre. It is, as much as "world music" can be. That is to say, it is composed of many genres (polkas, klezmer, tallava, manele, chalga, etc.) and also has a very complex instrumental universe., such as Latin Americans or even just Colombians. In other words, Burning Caravan is a good band. Excellent, in fact., and with a very wide margin of preference among the people. The problem is that poses (and dressing up as gypsies, balloon pilots, or interwar Europeans is a pose) don't last long. If they want to do polkas and waltzes and fanfares, that's excellent, but they should start to to plan an identity that allows them to maintain the quality of their music, because the theatrical experience runs out.
I was eagerly awaiting All Your Dead, responsible for so many great moments at parties since the late nineties, and which still liven up when you play them. I once heard three songs, I've had enough; A friend says they're reheated, and for me it's not that radical, but it's not far from that same idea. It's a shame, because they make good music. The problem is that They are frozen in time, So I left them floating somewhere between this Rock al Parque and the one in '98, and went to the other stage.
Baroness It's a great band. A GREAT BAND. They make rock music with every possibility at their disposal. Sometimes they play metal riffs, sometimes hard rock, and even softer arrangements, like something out of the eighties glam. The vocals are powerful, and they use just the right amount of electronic tracks, as if they have a perfectly clear idea of how they want to sound. At times they approach the epic sound of Muse, but they are nothing alike. The frontman looks like Pep Guardiola walked into "Duck Dynasty," the guitarist, incredibly virtuosic, seems to have stepped out of the eighties. They're interesting to watch as much as they are to listen to.Excellent group to close the Bio stage.
And finally, the main course, for real. I return to my old idea, of groups that are archetypal, and sound like an entire genre should sound, or like most of the bands that represent it aspire to sound. Suicidal Tendencies, definitely, is the archetypal group of hardcore, even more so than Sick Of It All, which leans more towards punk, preferring forcefulness over enjoyment, with shorter and more aggressive songs.
Don't think that enjoyment is foreign to genres like the hardcore. In fact, seeing Suicidal Tendencies is a pleasure, not only because they play well, with strength and rhythm. It's not just that they perfectly use rapping, phrasing, and gestures, that all the songs are fun to listen to, and that they are a legend in their genre. Seeing them is a celebration. They have fun, they interact with the audience, they give their all on stage, and all of us who were at Simón Bolívar Park last night can't help but be very grateful for the show they put on. That, and Dave Lombardo is a monster of a drummer. Monster. Giant. Yeti. Genie. It was an unusual ending, as our devoted hardcore fans aren't usually given such pleasure., But it was totally worth it.
That concludes my chronicles of Rock al Parque 2016. Thanks to everyone who gave me quotes to use in this chronicle, which I hope, as always, will be of some use to you. The drawings are on Zonagirante.com's Instagram account., so they can keep an eye on them. I'll send you my final thoughts on the festival soon.
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