Satellite Stories – 31 March 2017 (Sala Bikini – Barcelona)

The Finnish Satellite Stories arrived to Barcelona as the second and final stop of their Spanish spring tour, just 5 months after their last visit to the city and only 3 months before their concert at Low Festival 2017 in benidorm. Has the Finnish band a high power of persuasion in Spain to attract so much public in such a short period of time? As shown in Friday’s concert, this spring visit was completely unnecessary despite the fact that in mid-May they will present their awaited new album Young Detectives.

The band in charge of opening the night were locals ¡Viva la novia!, that such good feelings had left us with their debut album ¡Viva! in 2014. In a total revolution that has given more prominence to keyboards and synthesizers, the band has lost the freshness and immediacy based on guitars and bass of their first album, in an attempt to sound something more danceable and approach proposals near the Basque band Grises. If we also add the incomprehensible decision to sing some songs in Spanish, since despite the impetus of Vera Gottschall it was difficult to understand the lyrics of the songs, this jump into the void that they do in this new stage is completely unfathomable.

The Scandinavian band led by Esa Mankinen jumped onto the stage with some delay and something cold, a feeling that perhaps was due to the fact of starting up with three unpublished songs like "All", "Miracle" and "Confetti". That did not seem to matter to a few rows mostly full of female fans who danced like there were no tomorrow, but the rest of the audience did not get into the concert until the choirs on "Heroine" or "Lights go low" kicked off the section of known songs.. With Marko Heikkinen guitars as protagonists and approaching that core idea that accuses them of having a too closer sound to Two Door Cinema Club, the concert was increscendo as they began to play songs as "Vagabonds", "Trap" or the Hit "Campfire," which in a faster-than-normal version unleashed madness. To our surprise, and after only 50 minutes of concert, the band left the stage thus concluding the concert..

That excessive brevity in the main show made them go back up to two more times to play some encores. The first one became the most satisfactory due to it was their first approach of the night to their debut album Phrases To Break The Ice (2012), where they played two great songs like "Sirens" and “Kids aren't safe in the metro”, which without any doubt was the peak moment of the night and also a big encumbrance for a second set of encores, that maybe never should have done if the main part of the concert would be longer.

So too fast soiree the one we lived in Barcelona, where ¡Viva la novia! disappointed us with their new proposal and in which Satellite Stories offered a concert that went from least to most, with a setlist full of dance rhythms that will surely delight those who enjoy them at festivals during this summer season, but who was not enough for a room gig, since the little over than 60 minutes of concert were insufficient for the price of the ticket.