A Festival (during which I apparently become a music critic)

Last Sunday, I went to a little heavily Heineken sponsored music festival at the Matadero Madrid venue in Legazpi. I had no idea what the Matadero was until I just looked it up now, a nice group of quite ornate, low warehouse type buildings with a large courtyard between them. Turns out it used to be a slaughterhouse. Only in Spain.

Anyway, the weather's been scorching here and Sunday afternoon was no exception. It must've been getting up to 35C, and so when we walked into one of the indoor stages just in time to catch Lykki Li playing Dance Dance Dance, the heat was intense and the atmosphere sweaty in the extreme. Looking across the crowd, it looked like each person was accompanied by a large moth because of all the flapping fans, programmes and in some cases just desperate hands. Lykki Li and her band didn't seem fazed and were pretty tight, and the two percussionists work well with her occasionally beating on a cymbal herself as well. To me, her black cape get up and wrapping-herself-in-a-black-curtain schtick seemed a bit put on and try-hard though.

Having purchased an €8 'mini' of beer (actually a litre – beware ordering a mini spirit and mixer!) from the roaming beer man, we left gasping for air after she'd finished. What we'd really paid the €15 ticket price to see though, was Janelle Monae. They'd put her on in the sunset slot on this fantastic evening and it was a great setting to see any band (although this all seems a bit dark now I know what the place used to be!) but I did doubt that Janelle Monae had the tunes to carry off a festival slot, her album being pretty experimental and uneven. When one of her nattily besuited band members took to the stage and declared “The following is a motion picture presented to you by Janelle Monae” however, it was clear this was going to be more of a performance. This was only confirmed when more and more band members arrived on stage, completed by three cloaked figures, hoods up, for an atmospheric introduction before Monae sprang from one and launched into 10 minutes of energetic brilliance. I counted 15 band members, including horn and string sections, backing singers and dancers, all immaculately turned out in smart black and white and giving it their all. Each song seemed to work its way to a frenzied crescendo before neatly seguing into another. After what I think was a slight technical problem forced her to sing a more downbeat tune only with guitar accompaniment, she won other the unsure Spanish crowd with a pitch-perfect cover of the Jackson Five's I Want You Back. Even her odder numbers like Mushrooms and Roses were really brought to life and sounded very fresh, in that case with her painting a canvas live while singing. I began to think that the singles Tightrope and Cold War might feel a little lightweight in comparison to the rest of her material that really comes to life on-stage but they too built into greatness, Tightrope ending with a shower of black and white confetti and Monae crying, James Brown style, “One more time for the Tightrope!” Bang! “One more time for the Tightrope!” Bang bang! When they returned for an exstatic encore, both crowd and stage erupted to a bounce-tastic version of Come Alive (War Of The Roses) until she was piggy-backed off stage by another ebullient band member to rapturous applause. One of the best, tightest and simplistically creative live acts I've ever seen. If you have the chance this summer, see her!

Unfortunately, the other band I wanted to see, Caribou, were never going to live up to that, and although I can see the logic behind it given their latest dancy album, Swim, they did make quite odd and rather melancholy headliners, and sitting in and inward facing circle, at times it felt a bit like more of an experimental jam session than tight headline set. Leave that overdrive pedal alone will you? It's a cool venue though, the Matadero, and lovely on a hot, clear Spanish evening with the sun going down. Not so much the indoor stages however, especially now that I know what they were previously used for!

On Saturday, me and Kate had gone for a walk in Casa de Campo which has changed dramatically since spring when it was all greenery and soft grass. It's now dry and golden, but still a beautiful escape from the bustling city, right there on our doorstep. Walking through the golden grass in the afternoon sun was really fantastic, although beware the seeds and burrs which stick in clothes and blankets like hooks.

Why walking and not cycling though? Well, I've already sold my bike! Having bought it for €90, I optimistically put it up on segundomano.es for €140 on Tuesday, having fitted new tyres, pedals and replaced the back brake cable. A few emails and calls later it was being cycled down the street by a man named Alvaro by Friday evening. I think in total that means I spent about €50 to have pretty decent a bike for about 5 months. Not bad!

I don't think I quite emphasized enough in the last post (not quite the last word as it turns out) how much travelling around Madrid is involved in being a freelance English teacher (which is really what I am, getting some classes through the agency and some myself). This gives you the opportunity firstly to be late several times a day, and secondly to obtain thighs as hard as a leg of jamon from all the metro staircases and escalators you run up trying to avoid the former. This picture of my knackered shoes (new when I arrived) should illustrate this adequately.

Lastly, while I'm rambling, if any fans of the TV show Lost are reading, I can reveal where the sound effect guys found the ominous ticking sound made my the 'smoke monster'. It is in fact the noise made by the receipt printers in Madrid taxi cabs, which has been known to make me get a little jumpy when walking past a taxi rank.

Word of the Day: Matadero - Slaughterhouse