In Rosalía's always calculated genius, improvisation is an element that does not tend to find its place. It is not present in the meticulously choreographed movements that the Catalan artist executes with absolute precision since her previous tour. It is not present, of course, in the vocals with precise arrangements corresponding to each of the four acts that make up her remodernized opera. And even less so in the planning. The Lux Tour, whose aesthetics traverse all states of the religious, making its appearance in Spain during Holy Week is not just a coincidence but rather another piece in the machinery of everything that this project entails.
But chaos, so indistinguishable from the very condition of being human, always finds a crack to seep through. Even that plays in favor of Rosalía today. The Catalan artist appeared - and the reflective aspect matters - this Monday at the Movistar Arena in Madrid from a box transformed into a cross after an indisposition that forced her to end her concert in Milan prematurely. Therefore, taking advantage of the dates, we could say that Rosalía resurrected in Madrid. And she did so unleashed before a fervent legion witnessing how her wounds opened and closed on stage with powerful falsettos interspersed in Sex, Violence, and Tires and Relic. The initial pack of her album Lux, with an identical and precise transition, also served as the opening of a performance by a poignant dancer.
Madrid, where the crowd outside the Movistar Arena oscillated between outfits suitable for World Youth Day attendees and an Ibiza beach festival, is the fifth stop of a Lux Tour that still has three more dates in the city before moving on with the same four nights in the singer's native Barcelona after a brief stop in Lisbon. After Lyon, Paris, Zurich, and the unfinished Milan, the capital is the first stop that Rosalía's tour makes in Spain. The singer was clear that this was something to capitalize on.
"I am very happy to be here. Last week I was feeling a bit under the weather, but I am much better now. I love being back here, it's been over a decade since I started coming and I have a lot of affection for this city," said Rosalía, draped in a veil during her first interaction with the audience. "I have many memories here, one of them is from a time I visited Casa Patas. There I felt the duende like nowhere else. Who would have thought that a decade later I would be filling this place. I am very grateful to share this with all of you."
The show that Rosalía has designed, with the help of Dimitris Papaioannou, Charm La'Donna, and the (LA)HORDE collective, consists of four acts, an operatic structure with intermezzo as a statement of intent. The first act, in a constant vocal display by the Catalan artist, comprises entirely of five songs from Lux, perhaps the most melancholic and sacred ones, which Rosalía performs accompanied by a 20-piece orchestra - crucial throughout the concert - integrated in the middle of the cross that connects with the stage and divides the audience. She appears dressed in a huge tutu and ballet pointe shoes. Delicate as Porcelain, one of those initial songs where only the first notes could be heard over the ovation, and already confident in the chorus of Divinize.
It is a powerful version ofBerghain, between the original and a devastating remix, that opens a second act where the singer fully immerses herself in the joy that characterized Motomami, the tour that introduced her as the global star she now aims to solidify. But this version is nothing like her previous tour, where Latin rhythms and agile beats prevailed, as the orchestra is integrated into songs where rapid syllables used to dominate. This element is still present because otherwise, a hit like Saoko would not make sense, serving to revisit a previous stage of the singer from which Fame -enhanced by the orchestra's string section- and La Combi Versace also emerge. "Tonight is special because it's the first night in the capital. For all my chulapos and chulapas."
The rendition of the classic Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You by Frankie Valli, accompanied by a Da Vinci-esque performance where the singer transforms into a cabaret Gioconda, leads to a wild cameo by Esty Quesada and one of the concert's peak moments, also a highlight of the album. The Madrid audience energetically sang along to every syllable of La Perla as if in the mind of each of those individuals their ex -and probably in many cases it was-. Meanwhile, Rosalía swayed surrounded by the 12 dancers accompanying her in a stage setting designed by Papaioannou, one of the world's dance authorities, reminiscent at times of the Transverse Orientation show he brought to Madrid.
This is the playful moment for the artist with long black gloves that she gradually removes. It is then that Rosalía revels in the verse of It's a pearl / no one trusts it / one to be very careful with, which seems to have a clear recipient -oh, Rauw Alejandro- even though she has insisted that several men inspired that song. From there, the singer delivers a delicate version of Sauvignon Blanc perched on a piano and another equally delicate rendition of La Yugular amidst snow to lead into the final act.