Cruïlla Festival 2024 – 12 July 2024 (Parc del Forum – Barcelona)

There are few sensations that give me such a clear sense of being in the middle of summer as when I see families with children queuing at the entrance to Cruïlla to attend the first festival of their short lives. This year marks the 14th edition of the festival, but over the years the sense of enjoyment for all audiences in a safe environment, together with attractive line-ups, have undoubtedly been the hallmarks of the Catalan festival.

Cruïlla 2024 – Photo courtesy of the Festival Cruïlla organisers

After being unable to attend the first two days, which focused on urban and Latin music respectively, our first contact yesterday, Friday, was with the British band The Kooks, band who, in 2006, even became the ringtone of this writer’s mobile phone with “Ooh La” and that was one of the reasons why I went to FIB 2006… Despite all the hopes for his comeback and how well that wonderful debut album Inside in/inside out (2005), has held up, Their concert went from highest to lowest, ending in a small debacle with accelerated melodies and forced offtimes in the last songs.. The voice of Luke Pritchard is still a hook with that characteristic sharpness, and the beginning with “Always Where I Need to Be”, “Sofa Song”, “Eddie’s Gun”, “Ooh La” and “She Moves in Her Own Way” made us enjoy a first 20 minutes that took us back more than two decades. But the house of cards was falling down at a dizzying pace due to the band’s determination to play the rest of the setlist in strange times, leaving as the only salvageable song of this second phase of the concert a ‘Seaside‘ with Luke alone on stage accompanied by a guitar. Unfortunately, ‘Naïve‘ or the guitar one ‘See the World‘ were far from the minimum quality to be enjoyed…

The Kooks, Cruïlla 2024 – Photo courtesy of the Festival Cruïlla organisers

After the Brighton band had finished, it was time to say goodbye to Rayden, who is leaving his singing side to concentrate on his literary side. After starting off with a more rocking style, reminiscent at times of Def Con Dos in ‘No hago rap‘ and ‘Pólvora mojada‘, the concert moved towards quieter rhythms, leaving a slight feeling of monotony at times. As the concert progressed and Rayden’s own vocal presence diminished, the crowd began to move to other stages, missing the final tracks where the power of the drums and guitars once again dominated the stage in ‘Multiverso‘ and the already distant ‘Matemática de la carne‘.

Rayden, Cruïlla 2024 – Photo courtesy of the Festival Cruïlla organisers

With the whole crowd on their way to the main stage to see Avril Lavigne, in the huddle of friends beyond the front rows, most people were wondering: What was the last song by the Canadian that they remembered?… And it is true that in the collective imagination there are still those songs from the early 2000s on channels such as MTV2 or the German VIVA and her video clips of skaters and striped T-shirts, so the Canadian decided to bet on a winning horse and focus a good part of her setlist on her first albums.“Girlfriend” and “Complicated” kicked off a concert full of confetti and fire, video projections of years gone by and a slight feeling of autopilot in all songs.. A full-blown “let’s work” in which, apart from speeches from the microphone, uncorking a bottle of cava before “Here’s to never growing up” or inviting the audience to come up and get signed skateboards (sic), there was little musical substance, as evidenced by the fact that one of the most chanted songs was a cover of Blink-182‘s “All The Small Things“. Sure, there was some jumping and mass karaoke in ‘Sk8er Boi‘, but the overall feeling is that of a decaffeinated coffee with a strong focus on a fanbase that has already been won over the beginning. Special mention should be made of closing a festival concert with 3 ballads in the encores, capable of bringing down even the most cheerful of people..

Avril Lavigne, Cruïlla 2024 – Photo courtesy of the Festival Cruïlla organisers

The opposite was then demonstrated on stage by the Aragonese band Amaral. Theirs was undoubtedly one of the two great concerts of the night, with a spectacular Eva in her role as the show’s director and a much more powerful and rocking Juan Aguirre than we are used to. Truly, the current level of this Zaragoza duo is outstanding, dominating every aspect of the show; Eva with her usual clear and powerful voice, but also with a stage presence that at times reminds us of the late Tina Turner, and Juan with a total uninhibitedness that makes him visible. Add to this a series of hits sung to exhaustion by a devoted audience, and the perfect storm was unleashed on the Occident stage with songs such as ‘Días de Verano‘, ‘Moriría por vos‘ or the chained “No sé qué hacer con mi vida / Estrella de mar / Hoy es el principio del final”. It is true that we missed more songs from their latest albums, but that aspect could only be the icing on the cake of an unforgettable concert..

Amaral, Cruïlla 2024 – Photo courtesy of the Festival Cruïlla organisers

Unfortunately, the fact that La Paloma came out a little late on the Vallformosa stage didn’t allow us to enjoy more time for their show, as it coincided with our big show of the day, the British band Kasabian. A few days after the release of their eighth studio album, Happenings (2024), and for the first time in Barcelona without singer Tom Meighan, who was expelled from the band for abusing his wife, the Leicester band gave a great show that confirmed that Sergio Pizzorno has become a first-rate frontman after some hesitant beginnings.

Kasabian, Cruïlla 2024 – Photo courtesy of the Festival Cruïlla organisers

A stunning start with ‘Club Foot‘ and ‘Ill Ray (The King)‘ kept the crowd jumping and dancing thanks to little pills in the form of hits like ‘Shoot the Runner‘, ‘Underdog‘ and ‘You’re in Love With a Psycho‘. With newcomers ‘Coming Back to Me Good‘ and ‘Algorithms‘ bringing a much funkier 80’s vibe, the madness would be unleashed with an incredible final 25 minutes where the band introduced a few tracks with classics from Faithless, Fatboy Slim or Beastie Boys. With these intros we would jump into “Vlad the Impaler“, “Empire” or “L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)” to end on a high with encores like “Reason Is Treason” or “Fire” and show the non-believers that doubting the live performance of the band led by Sergio Pizzorno is a big mistake.