By Steven Burgess
This year, I decided to study abroad through Rice in Madrid. During a free weekend, I got tickets to an annual music festival here in Madrid called Tomavistas. The festival lasted two days and consisted of a 4-stage setup with multiple bands playing throughout the day. I had the pleasure of seeing four acts at Tomavistas, which was celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
Derby Motoreta’s Burrito Kachimba
The first act I caught at Tomavistas was a band by the name of Derby Motoreta’s Burrito Kachimba. This band, hailing from Spain, performed a set consisting of hard rock tracks that fused its sound with a unique blend of psychedelic rock and flamenco. The band had not been on my radar until I walked into a record store and I asked a random customer if there were any acts he would recommend I see live from the lineup. After conversing with him, he told me that I could not miss this group for how eccentric they were. What I appreciated most about Derby Motoreta’s Burrito Kachimba is exactly that, how eccentric they were on stage.
The lead singer, Dandy Piranha, would belt over fast guitar and bass sections drenched in pedal effects. The crowd was loving the frantic vocals and fast tempo because they began to start a mosh pit and rammed into each other with no cares in the world. I had a good time and thought the band put on a fun show, but I did think that some of the songs blended together at times.
Belle and Sebastian
UK collective Belle and Sebastian was the second act I got to see perform at Tomavistas. I absolutely loved how interactive the band was with the crowd! Frontman Stuart Murdoch would go into the crowd multiple times singing and showing a lot of care towards the fans in attendance. The backing band were fantastic with a great rhythm section helping create such an atmosphere filled with dancing and fun.
During “The Boy and the Arab Strap,” they invited about 25 people to get on stage with them and dance in a truly euphoric moment. Tracks such as “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying” had the crowd singing along to every word. This was my favorite crowd out of the entire festival because of the amount of dancing, clapping, and positivity radiating from everyone. I seriously doubt that anyone left this performance without a smile on their face.
The Jesus and the Mary Chain
Jesus and the Mary Chain was the next act and they were as loud as they were melodic. The Scottish post-punk band formed by brothers Jim and William Reid played their entire set as silhouettes on stage with most of the stage videos playing abstract images of light or flashes of all their album covers. Jim’s vocals were low and moody, pairing well with distortion-filled guitar and booming drums really bringing out the essence of songs like “In a Hole” delivering a wall of sound.
The crowd was put into a trance during songs like “Just Like Honey” with many swaying and singing along to the lyrics. The atmosphere was like that during most of the set, even on their more upbeat songs like “Happy When it Rains.” One of my favorite moments was the duet between Jim and Rachel Conti on “Girl 71,” with a great chemistry on stage delivering a beautiful, oddly optimistic performance. Overall, the Jesus and the Mary Chain delivered loud and moody tunes that also paired well with the more tender cuts from their discography.
Phoenix
The last act of the night, Phoenix, had no shortage of energy and presence on stage. From the first notes of “Lisztomania,” they had the crowd in the palm of their hands and they played with flying colors! Phoenix, based in France, sounded exactly as they do on record, but with an amplified sense of energy in concert. I love how interactive the band was with the crowd. One of my favorite bits that Phoenix pulled during the show was when the lead singer, Thomas Mars, got a pair of binoculars and looked into the crowd with playback on the stage screen of him looking into the crowd. The stage was set up with so much eye-catching imagery from the use of kaleidoscopic museum-like imagery to the colorful wash of light on the band members.
The power of the band’s set lay in the fact that Phoenix made it impossible for the crowd to not want to dance with the upbeat tempo and bright instrumentation on songs such as “Entertainment” and “1901.” Everyone on stage looked like they were having fun and matching the energy of the crowd. The show ended with Mars being crowd surfed next to an inflatable palm tree.
Overall, the festival was jam packed with great acts and food/drinks. It was so much fun to make friends with different concertgoers from around the world (Mexico, UK, etc.) and be able to make some core memories. I definitely recommend this festival because I never felt overwhelmed by the lineup and I was able to make it to all the live acts I wanted to see.
