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

River and Forest by Bike

Just when I thought I was getting to know Madrid quite well, maybe that the shine had come off it a little, I went for a little explore in the warm evening air on my bike in my new free time now that I quit my evening job and discovered a whole new aspect of the city, right on my doorstep.

Little chapel thing

I cycled down to the river, past the little chapel thing not far from my apartment and north along the lovely recently landscaped pathways with trees on either side, what look like amazing kids adventure playgrounds, and the Palace and Cathedral glowing in the sun overlooking them from the top of the hill to the east. There's a lot of work going on further south where they're building a park around the river too. Actually, I say river but it's not really a proper river, the Manazares, not like the Thames or the Seine, it's just a trickle really but they block it up with wears to make it look bigger. I cycled further up the river, with the forest a couple of streets away on my left, under the cable car line that goes out to Casa de Campo over people's houses (see below), past quiet little fishing spots and over little footbridges, all overlooked by the ubiquitous four- or five-story apartment blocks. Suddenly everything started looking quite familiar and I realised that I had got to the place the bus I take to work in the suburbs leaves the city proper. I'm still continually surprised by how small the city centre is and how close together everything is! That'll make a nice 10 minute cycle, rather than a sweaty 20 mins on the metro when the weather's nicer.

I turned back and went back down opposite Principe Pio and turned off into Casa de Campo, the big forest in the west of the city. (I wrote about Casa de Campo before, but that was the actual metro stop). I cycled up through the trees on a potholed road and stumbled across the lake which I'd heard about but never been to, with a huge jet of water shooting into the air. My flatmate had said he had been there on the metro (Lago) but that there wasn't much to see apart from a load of prostitutes hanging around in the trees, but went I went there it was really nice. Beautiful scene with people canoeing on the lake and restaurants around the edge. It's like being in the country apart from you can see the city landmarks in the background. No prostitutes to be seen though, I think he might have got his words mixed up - "No Lee, those are parrots mate!"

 

I continued going uphill, getting quite out of puff (it's been a while since I rode a bike, ok?) past rabbits casually lolloping about in the scrub-like foliage and finally reached a plateau as the sun was hazily setting. Looking back over the city in the dusk was maybe one of my highlights of living here so far. It was a lovely moment of tranquility that I think I needed after dashing around the busy city on packed buses and metro's for months. In fact, I can't believe it's taken me so long to find this place. It'll be fantastic in summer too, and only about a 10 minute cycle from my flat. I was so busy looking back at the city that it took me a while to notice the dark haze of the mountains to the north, which on a clearer day there'd be a great view of too. Speeding back down the hill through pockets of warmer and cooler air towards the city justified the €90 I spent on the bike all by itself.

*****

I'd love to leave you with that image, but I feel I should write something about the poor American lad that went missing last week just around the corner from my house. Missing posters were posted all over the city and trails played on the metro TV channel after Austin Taylor Bice, an American student, dissappeared on a night out after being turned away from a club next to the Manzanares for being drunk. Sadly, authorities found his body nearby on Tuesday after draining a section of the river, and it appears he fell in. My heart goes out to his family and friends who showed how much he was cared for with their efforts to locate him.

The Parrot Invasion and Other Bird Mysteries

After breakfast on the roof terrace under more perfect blue skies, we took a trip out to Casa de Campo yesterday, in what Madrileños seem to refer to as 'the forest' to the west of the city. It's one of Madrid's many strange features that make it different to other European capitals (can you imagine the entire of west London being given over to a massive forest? Didn't think so). The metro goes out to the southern edge of it so you emerge with it stretching out in front of you with the Sierra in the background. It's a very Spanish looking landscape, quite dry and sparse with relatively small trees. We set off for a walk through said trees in the bitter cold and in under a minute had spotted some little green parrots. I'd glimpsed some before in amongst some pigeons but thought they might be quite rare, but not here! After walking a little further we came across literally hundreds of them squawking noisily from the trees, ground and air. They're a brilliant green in the sunshine, with blue/grey wings that flash when they fly. My picture doesn't do them, or the number of them, justice unfortunately as they're very hard to photograph and fly off easily. I thought they might be native, but I've just looked it up on the internet and found this article from 2002 that says that they're Argentinian and people bought them as pets, set them free because they were too noisy and now they're flourishing. From what we saw in the small section of the forest we explored they certainly look like they have been dramatically increasing in numbers, but you still rarely see them in the city centre.

This isn't the only bird mystery I've been wondering about. What are the huge flocks of birds that fly in formation over west Madrid towards the Sierra every evening and where are they going? Why do wood pigeons skim the trees at dusk, gathering at the Palacio Real in a massive flock? If anyone can tell me I'd greatly appreciate it! Anyway, Casa de Campo's nice for an escape from the bustling city, and I'm sure will be great for a day out picnicking when its a bit warmer.

After a sucessful wander last Saturday, this week we decided to do it again but to make it more interesting by picking a random metro stop out of a hat along with a 'mission' to complete and splitting into competing teams. We met in Sol and Chueca was picked out with the task of getting a photo with the strangest looking person so off we went. I must admit, my team got a bit sidetracked by coffee and sheltering from the cold, but we did explore a new bit of town between Chueca and Alonso Martinez. My flatmates, however, excelled themselves with a series of photo's including one with the pointy-bearded barman in El Tigre to claim victory (drinks were on me), despite Luke being on crutches due to a knee operation. (Sidenote, many Metro stops have lifts, but those that don't aren't easy to negotiate on crutches with small flights of stairs all over the shop). Unfortunately we decided it was too cold and late to do the next mission (find the best thing for free around Gregorio Marañon) but are going to have round 2 next week.

Lastly, I'm on the job hunt again as my language school job isn't giving me any hours due to lack of students, so more info on that coming soon...