Freezing night next to the Bilbao estuary. On Friday, winter reached one of its high peaks in one of its cold snaps. Through the glass of Nave 9 you can see some brave people who use the bar’s terrace, without giving up any of the layers of warm clothing they are wearing.
Inside the climate is very different, and not only because of the air conditioning system, but also because of a group of five Italians who move to the warmest sounds of primitive ska. they are The Magnetics, a group that returns to the same Bilbao venue where they played less than a year ago. From that time, part of the public was surprised by such a discovery, now, in this second time, knowing what Italians are capable of causing, a good part of that public repeats.
Without new material published, they continue with the tour to present their “Cocktails & FaryTales”, an album made up of eleven songs, each of them named after a famous cocktail. On Friday they performed several of them such as “Campari”, which was played at the beginning of the performance or “Cuba Libre”, which teleported the room to the Atlantic island with almost bolero sounds.
From the beginning, The Magnetics They made the cold disappear from the public, both literally and figuratively. Everyone present moved to the rhythm of the Jamaican ska from which almost all of their songs spring. As the concert progressed, the required and imaginary delimited space of each attendee increased. The first row broke its somewhat static formation and ended up dispersed and dynamic.
The style of The Magnetics He went through genres such as the pop of “Gin & Tonic”, “Cinderella” or “Johanna” from his album “Coffe & Sugar” from 2019. Soul had a journey in “Fix It” and “Candy Man” and rhythm and blues in two versions, one by Tina Turner “Shake a Tail” and another by Solomon Burke “Cry to Me”.
The Italians made good use of their time and talked just enough to not break the dynamic and festive atmosphere they generated. This worked in his favor and the connection with his audience was total. Half a song (of the two he played) was enough for the keyboardist to put the audience in his pocket. His charisma, his voice and his games of conversations wrapped in stanzas, made him the showman of the evening.
The night did not lack their versions of “Bella Ciao” that started almost at the impulse of the public, “Tuyo” by Rodrigo Amarante (popularized by the series Narcos) or “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu” (better known as “Volare”) by Domenico Modugno and which was one of those that received the best reception among those attending.
After finishing the repertoire that they had rehearsed after almost an hour and three quarters, they had to do a second improvised encore, this one, to definitively close their performance with “Highway to Heaven”, a ska with the band’s imprint. Definitely, The Magnetics They managed to turn winter into summer and night into day thanks to their musical proposal. A summer love that is expected for three hundred and sixty-five days.