{"id":16821,"date":"2020-02-04T14:09:05","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T13:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/?p=16821"},"modified":"2024-05-29T13:04:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T11:04:53","slug":"curtis-in-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elgarajedefrank.es\/en\/curtis-in-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Curtis’ concert (Madrid, 2020)"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 17, we saw the Belgian tribute band Curtis<\/strong> in concert during their visit to Madrid, part of a Spanish tour that also included Valencia and Barcelona. The concert, which took place at the Nazca Club, opened with the duo The Low Flying Panic Attack<\/strong>, which pleasantly surprised us. We were only present for the last three songs, but they didn\u2019t sound bad at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"After the typical break, it was time for Curtis,<\/strong> a band that formed for the premiere of the movie \u201cControl.\u201d Since then, they have continued playing, this being the fourth time they were in Spain. We were lucky that it had been 40 years of a mythical performance by Joy Division<\/strong> in Brussels, at the Plan K venue. It was the second time that Ian Curtis\u2019 group performed in the Belgian capital, after a previous concert in October 1979. On that date, Digital Dance<\/strong> was the opening act and it is not difficult to find a bootleg of the concert. At that time, I had just turned three and I was living at the other end of Africa, both reasons enough to prevent me from attending the concert. Taking advantage of the anniversary, the band played almost the entire setlist that the Mancunians had 40 years earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like that mythical night, Curtis<\/strong> began with the powerful \u201cDead Souls\u201d, in which we could already notice the band\u2019s favourable points: an ability to create impressive atmospheres, an outstanding guitarist, a great front-man with a different voice but that perfectly suited themes Joy Division<\/strong>\u2019s themes and the great attitude of a band that did not try to imitate but, reinterpret the themes. And well, the impressive songs of one of the most personal bands in the history of popular music. Already with this first theme, the public, quite numerous, began to cheer up.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

They continued with two songs from Unknown Pleasures<\/em> \u201cWilderness\u201d and \u201cInsight\u201d which they played with just the right amount of power, followed by some songs from Closer<\/em> (remember that it would be released a few months after the concert in Belgium, on July 18, 1980) such as \u201cColony,\u201d \u201cTwenty Four Hours\u201d and a thrilling \u201cMeans to an End.\u201d We were lucky enough to record on video (you can see it on our YouTube channel) 15 of the best minutes of the concert, when the band chained a powerful \u201cTransmission\u201d with \u201cAtmosphere\u201d and \u201cLove will tear us apart.\u201d While listening to the latter, I couldn\u2019t help but compare it to the time I saw New Order<\/strong>, now without Peter Hook<\/strong>, in 2012 tearing that same song apart, partly because of Bernard Sumner\u2019s already famous neglect. They continued with a couple of songs from the time when you could still feel the band\u2019s punk energy, and which Curtis<\/strong> managed to reproduce perfectly, like \u201cDigital,\u201d and \u201cWarsaw.\u201d The end of the concert was approaching and consisted of \u201cShadowplay\u201d where the guitarist really showed off, \u201cAtrocity Exhibition\u201d and, finally, the version of \u201cSister Ray\u201d from the Velvet Underground<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The audience clearly wanted more and the band returned to play a tremendous \u201cNo Love Lost,\u201d \u201cThese days,\u201d the always emotional \u201cHeart and Soul,\u201d and \u201cCeremony,\u201d a song that both Joy Division<\/strong> and New Order<\/strong> recorded, and that I saw Peter Hook<\/strong> playing in 2016, also in Milan, in a mile long set in which he played 26 songs by Joy Division<\/strong>, but at no time did I have the impression of seeing a band, but Mr. Cook<\/strong> surrounded by hitmen afraid to steal a few seconds of protagonism from their boss. After giving us the creeps with \u201cNew Dawn Faces,\u201d the band closed, this time for real, with \u201cIsolation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As I left the venue, I couldn\u2019t help thinking that, forty years later, I had been very close to that mythical January night at Plan K in Brussels.<\/span><\/p>\n

Translation: Joanne Gagnon<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n