“Violent times! They are here… Feel their breath! Today they are coming for you.” With that first warning attached to a phrase sung at the gallop of a thunderous distortion, Rata Blanca planted a flag. Because the current times are not only violent but also an era of artificialities, of new benefits, of course, but also of a constant risk of supplanting the authentic. For this reason, the raw, the vital, the visceral, were the primary ingredients of a special spell that brought a magical night to the city, full of power, but also epic personal and collective resistance to these violent times.
Rata Blanca, with more than 35 years of career, paradoxically did not remain in history. And although his repertoire is full of classics, that rock classicism magically leads them to generate an eternal renewal of himself. A rejuvenating loop that seems to feed on the energy emanating from the sound tunnels into which the masses are immersed in each of their quasi-perfect shows, like the one they gave in Corrientes on Saturday, May 20.
On stage, a magnificent combo: the incomparable voice of Adrián Barilari riding over the sharp distortion of the guitar virtuoso Walter Giardino, together with a trio with firm vertices that complement everything perfectly, with Danilo Moschen (keyboards), Fernando Scarcella (on drums) and Pablo Motyczak (on bass).
In this way, the quintet originally from Bajo Flores, Buenos Aires, presented songs from the latest album “Tormenta eléctrica” and from the other great works recorded in the different stages that this group went through, which is already a reference in Argentine rock. . Hence a bit of that rock potion that never fails and ends with an audience surrendered at its feet, satisfied, traversed by the (perfect) electrical storm of a powerful rock that in life renews energy… and hopes.
There were 120 minutes of a show that, despite the always inopportune sound problems, left another devastating step for the Rat in Corrientes, completing an exquisite trilogy for its local and regional fans, articulating perfectly with the well-remembered shows at Taragüí Rock September 2016 and, before that, in all that party that unleashed pure decibels at Club San Martín, in October 2013.
metal night
“Olee, olee, oleee, Rataa, Rataaa”, sang in chorus the impatient line of fans that extended for more than 200 meters 30 minutes before the scheduled time for the show, but still with closed doors and a delayed police device of income.
That rainy Saturday in the first part of the day, many spectators were waiting two hours to enter. A tameer only tolerated by friendly chat and anecdotes of recitals from the tunnel of time, nuanced with that particular barbecue atmosphere of the inevitable choripán stall, always next door to the point of sale of rock t-shirts and caps arranged in neat rows on the damp floor. .
After 9:00 p.m. the gate opened and the oil slick (for the most part dressed in T-shirts, divers and leather jackets of metal folklore) began to enter showing one by one the QR of the entrance ticket purchased online. After crossing that kind of corridor made up of security people and overcoming the always annoying police search, it was possible to access the huge shed of the “Yapiré Concept” complex, on Alfonsín Avenue, on the old grounds of the former racetrack.
It is that the show moved on the fly to the large covered place that usually works as a party room and bowling alley. The morning rains and the siesta forced the organizers to change the setting, since in principle it was decided to use the open field at the back of the property.
No night rains, but already with all the fire from the fans to see Rata, the place quickly began to fill up. In the preview: many selfies and also a lot of movement at the bar, to liven up the wait. In the vip as in the field, fans of all ages. People over 50 who fueled their rock since the band’s beginnings, to teenagers cultivating the legacy of their parents, many of them also present, recalling the group’s golden era. Three generations together in a concert that promised and fulfilled.
But for that, first you had to spend an eternal hour of waiting. In the face of so much anxiety, the fact that several rock classics sounded through the loudspeakers helped a lot and the climate in the packed warehouse reached the ideal temperature so that 15 minutes out of 10 pm Rata Blanca finally went up.
“A Little Rock and Roll”
The intro of “Michell, hates the dark” (from the album “The key to the secret door”) began to play and immediately a wall of luminous bricks with hundreds of cell phones filming the band’s entry formed over their heads. Hence the initial warning in his lyrics: “Violent times! They are here… Feel their breath! Today they are coming for you.”
Later, with an eighties metal riff came “Solo para amarte” and everything returned to the starting point: this song is emblematic of Rata’s first album, recorded in 1988 with the voice of Saúl Blanch (who would be succeeded by Barilari on the second album ). “Kissing your body from head to toe, you lose your voice. Days without time, nights of passion, feed our love. Your arms are my refuge, please give me shelter, take the cold out of my body and my pain” , chanted old metalheads.
“Sooooo good nooochess Cooorrrrientesssss. How are you!!!” were Adrián’s first words to welcome the show. “Well, fuck… we’re going to do some rock and roll,” he announced and from there a waterfall of classics for all ages.
“Agord, the witch” ejected the audience relentlessly, a song written about drug addiction although without making direct references (“Agord” is “Drug” written backwards). “Agord, the witch who came here, seeks brains to destroy. Thousands of zombies are her court, there are fools who have already lost their minds,” she says at the beginning of the song.
Almost breathless they did “Coming home”. That song from the album “El camino del fuego” (2002) tied to neighborhood and proletarian rock that claps, accompanies and gives hope. “Today I am going back to my home; the night is coming and the noise of the train made me sleepy. Today, like a dog I worked, to bring home some money and pain, from the hard city. From you, I will drink a little of peace; it’s all so fast, please come,” Adrián sang and then chanted until exhaustion: “Angel… she is an angel. She has the key that returns the illusion.”
“Olee ooolee oleeoleee, rataaa rataaaa”, was the first reaction of the public attacked by the powerful start.
Barilari-Giardino and company continued with other rock gems such as “La otro cara de la moneda” and “Talismán”, before giving way to “La canción del Guerrero”.
This ode to the eternal fight for the truth, a pillar of the album “El camino del fuego” (2002), says: “Everyone reproaches me for what I did, but nobody tells the truth here. They think that life is eternal, they believe they have everything , but it is not like that. And it takes courage to be able to continue carrying this weight in solitude, “expresses the song at the beginning. “Mute, blind, foolish, foolish man, when you open your eyes it will be too late,” he warns to later challenge: “I’m waiting for revenge, they won’t be able to defeat me, I am reality. The battle will be as dignified as the truth. I have always fought until the end final”.
Everyone present undoubtedly felt like a warrior clenching one fist and sheathing an imaginary sword in the other hand. But there was no rest in the war and “Callejero” appeared, another song from the early days and as a metaphor for a toast to freedom.
The calmest segment came with “Ella”, a ballad recorded in 1997, which with pure poetry decompressed the fire generated in the public by the devastating block at the beginning that was apotheotic despite the notorious sound problem that put it in second and even in a third plane the incomparable voice of Adrián. A sacrilege. Something that no one could understand.
classics of classics
The serenity immersed in an environment of blue lights and more acoustic guitar, barely lasted the four minutes of the song and then the final segment would begin in which Rata Blanca unloaded his entire arsenal. And he did it with the songs that everyone expected.
“Guerrero del Arco Iris” was sung from start to finish. The well-known song is part of the group’s third studio album released in 1991, at the height of their career. But what is distinctive is that it marked environmental awareness more than 30 years ago, when very few talked about it.
“Suffering our unconsciousness, maybe I can die. The earth is bleeding today. What will you do without its existence? Help me, your being is also from this world. Your children will not be able to live in pain,” he questions.
Right away, Rata proposed more vertigo with “Amo del camino”, an inevitable ode to speed and irons historically linked to rock. The power of that Rolls-Royce engine that Adrián has in his voice made everything frantic.
Throughout the show he showed that he is still more current than ever. Perfect, strong and powerful… even he was able to maneuver like the best pilot in the world the huge sinkholes -caused by the damn sound imbalances- that appeared on the way. He came out unharmed and was on the podium without a doubt.
Thus they reached the final stretch of the show with the inevitable “Lover Woman”. That arch-classic hit that he describes in the opening fragment: “I feel the heat of all your skin on my body again. Shooting star, ignite my thirst. Mysterious woman.”
With their throats on fire and almost at the limit, the audience’s chorus continued to accompany in “El círculo de fuego”, “Endorfina” and “Aún estás en mis sueños”. A trilogy with full throttle.
The guitar and the six arms
At all times, Giardino revalidated his title of enormous “Guitar Hero” and more… That enormous figure of 1.93 meters tall, a mixture of a rockstar from Los Angeles from the 80s and a silver violero spreading virtuosity, displayed on stage his own Show. At the moment there seemed to be five guitarists in one. Walter’s is unique, because Walter is unique. But he can generate that mirage of appearing as a huge mythological being discharging a multiplicity of sounds, as if he had six arms.
Thus, with that magic, at the end they took the public to a magical world with “The legend of the fairy and the magician”. The unmistakable intro made a bridge to chant: “It tells the story of a magician who cried one day in the enchanted forest of him. Because despite his magic he had not been able to find love.”
The same for the huge sung scene: “It was one afternoon that the magician, walking in the woods, caught sight of the sweetest look he ever knew in his entire life.” And then lead to the most tense segment of the song: “And the evil that always existed, could not bear to see so much happiness between two beings. And with its hatred it attacked, until the fairy fell into that fatal dream of not feeling.”
The see you soon
Among medieval warriors, drivers of sound cars, with wizards and fairies, the end has come. Almost two hours of a review of the history of a group that is more present than ever, uniting generations.
In those final moments, from the edge of the stage, the five warriors (or magicians, as you wish) embraced and bowed in reverence to an audience that did not stop clapping, shouting and filming with their cell phones.
Thus, smiling, satisfied like the people, they said goodbye to Corrientes. Adrián and Walter, those two 60-year-old men who rejuvenate at each show, did not stop thanking each fan by looking into their eyes.
That way they also said goodbye and see you soon. That’s how this group left, a mixture of rockstars and bloody rock warriors, always ready to fight until the end in violent times and Artificial Intelligence. His weapons: music, poetry and the genuine, unique and natural feeling.
Always, of course, with arms raised and rock swords shining in the night.
2023-05-28 07:36:06
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