Calle Real Sigue Rompiendo Murallas en Estocolmo

Calle Real at the Stockholm Kulturefestival

Calle Real played the Stockholm Culture Festival at the big stage at Gustav Adolfs Square on Thursday, August 12, 2010. It was a bit surprising to see them without bandleader and tresero Patricio Sobrado, but he is on vacation in Chile and the show must go on! So it was a actually a bit of a rarity that we saw the other night. You could "hear" the absence of the tres and the synth Patricio plays on some of the songs.

The square was packed with a mix of Latinos and Swedes, some who are diehard fans and others who were getting their first look at Calle Real. The band couldn't have asked for a better night. Sweden is notorious for rainy summer festivals but the day was sunny and warm without being too warm

There were some issues with the audio at times, certain instruments were quieter than one might wish, but with the speed that the stagehands switch from one band to another, it's just about impossible to get everything right. Still I thought all in all the audio was pretty good. And the lights were brilliant (pun intended)! You could tell that they have their own light technician who has matched the lighting effects to the songs. This band is serious about giving the fans a professional show.

The playlist was surprisingly heavy on the old repertoire. They performed 4 songs from the new CD "Me lo gané" and 5 from their first album "Con fuerza". The opening was the very beginning of "Somos Calle Real" which then segued into "Somos familia". Next came "Amigo José" a popular song from "Me lo gané" that has even made it onto a Timba mix CD sold by the quemadores on the streets of Havana for 3 CUC. Of course this is illegal and to add insult to injury they didn't even credit the song to Calle Real, but at least it's flattering to know that the Cubans think it's by a Cuban group.

The laid-back "La rosa" from "Con fuerza" slowed things down for a moment only to have the concert rev into high gear again with the title track from "Me lo gané". Check out the video below and you can see what I mean about the light show!

Me lo gané

After "Me lo gané" they played their oldest hit, the song that made them famous and has been covered by different salsa groups in Latin America and the US, "Princesa". The song never fails to please the crowd and there was much dancing, clapping and general manos arriba . They followed this perennial favorite with my new favorite "Ábreme la puerta", which is actually a re-arranged version of one of their old songs. Despite its rather unenlightened view of gender relations, I can't help but love it.

Then came something I wasn't expecting. They played the son "Ya lo sé" even though Patricio wasn't there. On this song normally Gunnar moves from piano to guitar and of course Patricio is on tres, but tonight Tomas played guitar and Gunnar took the tres. This is probably pretty much a one-time occurrence. Instead of playing a guitar solo, Gunnar did a solo on the tres.

Tomas & Gunnar play guitar and tres in "Ya lo sé"

The show was winding down, it was only an hour performance and they closed with one of the most hardcore songs in their repertoire, "Rompiendo murallas". I know none of the guys are rock fans but I swear this song has the same aggressiveness as rock. Just listen to the bass intro. Here I would like to make the point that indeed Calle Real has worked hard and steadily and really broken down the walls. They have succeeded in bringing timba to a wider audience than just the typical salsa fans with their style and their persistence. Their wide range of fans proves that timba can be enjoyed by non-Cubans and that the audiences are not too dense to "get it". Check out the video below.

Rompiendo murallas

Kafri, Tomas & Michel

Of course as you can imagine the fans were not satisfied with only 60 minutes so they yelled and clapped until the band came out for an encore. This time they played "Somos Calle Real" in its entirety. It would have warmed the heart of any timbero to see how the audience of Latinos and Swedes alike sang along with the band during the ay con fuerza vamos, ay con fuerza sí coro. Well OK, so you can warm your hearts too, check out the video below.

Somos Calle Real

I don't know how plans are going but I do know that there are plenty of fans who are impatiently awaiting a Calle Real tour of the Americas. Hopefully that will happen in 2011. Until then I hope these concert reports and videos help to tide you over.

The fans