At first it was a catchy catchphrase and then, with tickets sold out over two months ago, it became a consummate certainty. This Saturday, on the Vélez pitch, La Konga and the quartet made history with a show that will mark a before and after both in the band’s career and in the almost eight decades of life of the Cordovan genre by definition.
What happened at the José Amalfitani stadium in the city of Buenos Aires was, in short, a dream come true for a project that is about to celebrate 20 years of career at its undisputed peak of popularity and centrality in terms of social conversation.
That Fabián Cubero, idol of the Liniers club, harangued Nelson Aguirre, Diego Granadé and Pablo Tamagnini in a previous video that was projected on the screens was another indication of the transversality achieved by the group from Villa Dolores at the audience level. Then, the presence of other famous-fans such as Juan Sebastián Verón, “el Pollo” Álvarez, Ricardo Caruso Lombardi, Matías Alé, Lourdes Sánchez or Camila Homs finished underlining it.
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In addition, the fact that ushers, security managers and other members of the extended production staff who circulated in the stadium sang the songs and filmed what happened on stage -like any of the thousands of fans present- speaks of the magnitude of the phenomenon.
La Konga already transcends the natural borders of the quartet and has managed to establish itself at least in the same place as the great bastions of our popular music. If we talk about the Leo Quartet, the Golden Quartet, “La Mona” Jiménez, Trulalá, Chébere or Rodrigo to explain the evolution of the tunga-tunga from 1943 to this part, in this debate we must also include La Konga, the group that managed to fill a stadium in the Argentine capital for the first time with paid tickets. And boy was it a party that lived up to that condition.
A leap in scale: passion in the form of a full stadium
The late afternoon in the far west of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires left clear clues that what was going to happen on the Vélez field was a true leap in scale for the band. The number of people crossed by the songs alternated between Aguirre, Tamagnini and Granadé is no longer surprising, but showing that the previous movement typical of an international concert had those from Villa Dolores as the object of desire was strong in every sense.
For those who have not seen the group live in recent years, it is difficult to imagine what that growth has been like, which in the last year first prompted them to fill 10 Gran Rex theaters, then three Movistar Arena and now this same stadium that recently housed Lali and Duki. Even more so if one takes into account that in January 2022 the band was still playing in the Sala del Rey, to cite a medium-sized quartet room in the Cordovan capital.
The rise was exponential and accelerated, yes, but again the explanation must be found in the repertoire and in the way of interpreting it. If even Lionel Messi fell in love with real great songs like Parallel universe o I’d lie to you (to cite a couple of cases) and gave another boost to the career of a project that today literally seems to have no borders.
For this reason, when shortly after 9:30 p.m. the lights went out and more than 45,000 people filled the Buenos Aires night with ecstasy and fruits, the sensation that flew over the sector where the relatives of the musicians were located was one of absolute pride.
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In that first section, La Konga came out with the plugs on point and, after an introduction that showed from the outset the ductility of the band in instrumental matter, they peeled off a string of connected songs with almost no spaces between songs. so they passed if you say yes, I’m going to forget you and the celebrated I need to see you.
Then came the turn of the first guest, Damián Córdoba, who joined in to sing You got lost my love with his usual charisma. By now the band was sounding tight and loose as usual and No more It was another confirmation that the group of 12 musicians that accompanies the three singers literally do what they want. Cuts, dynamics, forced and different games for the ear and the rhythmic pulse followed one another in absolutely all the songs.
In addition to this commitment to the organicity of a band that plays everything, the staging with visuals and thematic digital stages definitely added to the intention that this would have the dynamics of a Cordovan dance but the flight of a scale artist concert. world.
Precisely, La Konga filled Vélez in the middle of Lollapalooza Argentina and there revealed another impressive gesture: it brought together half the number of spectators than an internationally renowned festival with weight artists such as Tame Impala or Twenty One Pilots and an endless number of accessory proposals to music.
You are so Lolla, I am so La Konga in Vélez
— solange ♡ (@solcivelazco) March 18, 2023
Instead, La Konga was just that: music. You have to see what the people who follow the band sang when, after Aguirre’s first greeting, they arrived Dueles, The Cabin, I do not ask the moon o I love you (front row). After that came the first words of Aguirre. “Thank you for receiving us in this way. It is a very big emotion. Our first stadium, the quartet makes history, ”said the singer that he even has his own characteristic dance pass.
“It’s a dream. Good evening Velez. Thank you for leaving the blood for us. Hold on to the music, hold on to the quartet, hold on to La Konga ”, added Pablo Tamagnini before he and his partner attacked with I already found out. even if you are with him, convince me y perfect They were the final touch of this first part. Then came a small reinterpretation of the beginning of the Argentine National Anthem and three more songs, but this time directed by Granadé: Five minutes, beats y Mira.
Star guests: La Konga and her friends
After several songs without the voices of others, Nicki Nicole’s participation in Another night inaugurated the second part of a concert that was also a parade of references linked to the group. That was how, for The world (“momento para capar”, according to Tamagnini), Sergio Dalma was present with a recording and the Mexican Cristian Castro joined in present for a version of his song I wanted.
Before, Aguirre had the luxury of playing on the guitar, and on the catwalk that extended the stage, a version of the night without you which ended with a rock pulse and illuminated cell phones from the stands and the field. “20 years fighting and rowing it, and here we are,” summarized the singer before that most introspective moment.
After and how is he y Forget (though without Rusherking), Tamagnini dispatched with not leaving, another of the most chanted and celebrated, and said: “It’s a pleasure to sing for you.” There she began the final stretch of a show almost without rest, and that she had saved “the best for last”, as they say.
The introduction by the electric guitar that revealed that the beginning of Parallel universe was imminent left everything served for one of the biggest ovations of the night. Nahuel Pennisi (who couldn’t be missing, of course) settled on a stool and played a fragment of the original theme. Then, together with Granadé, they sang what was undoubtedly the most popular piece of the night from start to finish.
Immediately afterwards, with no respite for agitated hearts, it was the turn of the successor in terms of popular impact, don’t come back anymore. And there was also another gigantic sign of affection for both Luck Ra and Emmanuel Noir, from Ke Characters. With the voltage at maximum and the emotion once again roaming the entire stadium, that theme gave way to I’d lie to youanother of the great favorites that served to announce that the end was looming in a matter of minutes.
“They have made us very happy,” said Tamagnini after a short pause and before facing the same air, which closed an unbeatable list of 27 hits displayed in two hours of partying. At the end, the pieces of paper arrived first and then the fireworks, which were a perfect metaphor for the moment the group from Villa Dolores is going through.
That feeling that there is no roof in sight, plus the uncaring joy of all the members of the group when it was all over, synthesize what La Konga is today: a group whose limit seems to be the sky, but which has its feet firmly planted on the earth and knows that its greatest weapon is the synergy between all its parts.
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