As we said in the previous one, the Jardins de Pedralbes Festival resumed the flight of normality. Unamuno did not have to go on stage in front of the Palau de Pedralbes to attest to this, but it was the 3,400 devoted fans who enjoyed the concert that James Blunt offered to kick off the festival. A start also with all the tickets sold for a long time, which also showed that there was a desire to return to savor the atmosphere and the mode vivre that complete the festival's proposal.
The former British Army officer, resident of Ibiza for years and possessing a solid career as a singer almost always on tour, will go down in posterity for the mainstream public as the one who sang that You're beautiful... 18 years ago! ! (and whose lyrics, according to his own explanation, “are about meeting my ex-girlfriend on the London underground with her new partner, whose existence I did not know”). But tonight he has once again shown that his baggage goes far beyond that title and that his way of feeling and expressing his music is far from limited to soft pop synonymous with syrup. No, throughout nearly twenty Blunt songs, and starting with Breathe, he went through titles of a long recording career, although focusing on his albums Back to Bedlam, All the lost souls and Moon landing.
Armed with his voice and his guitar and, on occasion, the ukulele, and backed by an effective band, he exuded energy, conviction and the desire to share emotion and, above all, joy before the unconditional fans who filled the stands, seated, and the dance floor. , standing. Dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans, he explained the effects of the pandemic on his personal life, with irony and humor, and demonstrated his enormous empathy with an audience delivered in advance.
And it is that after two years of pandemic abnormality that were reflected in the mask, social distance, capacity and presence of numerous foreign artists, this Tuesday it was possible to begin to savor a poster packed with numerous foreign stars and, above all, the environment and the space that houses the festival. This means, beyond its natural appeal, the village area, its restaurant area and, so to speak, relaxation. Without forgetting the two stages that welcome emerging, promising or already consolidated artists who seek visibility at that event. In this sense, tonight, the opening day, the magnificent Bahian singer Mirla Riomar performed on the Casa Seat stage –the largest–, who already left her mark on the 2019 edition. And on the Alhambra stage the acoustic duo did the same- Vocal Jo Jet and Maria Ribot.
In the package of measures that the promoter Concert Studio has to take to continue managing the festival that she founded was the containment of capacity or the protection of some especially sensitive spaces in the park. This has led to exchanges of areas within the enclosure that have reduced the space to locate chairs and tables, all more crowded but that has not harmed the operation and enjoyment of the village. Even so, before the concert began, the festival director, Martín Pérez, appeared on stage, apologizing because “today everything has changed and we can do better”. It must also have referred to the queues that formed at the entrance of the park, since this year it has been delayed by half an hour, from 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and many attendees had not been aware of it.
The public, however, waited outside and, once in the village, also in front of the food and drink stalls. And it is that the gastronomic proposal is not minor, and you only have to see the demand that accumulates in the different and selected stalls-restaurants. The public has already assimilated going to the festival soon to make use of the village in that aspect, unlike the first editions.
And as for the capacity, the organization has decided motu proprio to dispense with the double type of ticket in this edition, that is, the one valid for the entire venue as well as to attend, logically, the main concert, and another one only to access the village area, including its two substages. In this way, the organization has anticipated possible demands by the Administration responsible for the gardens to reduce the capacity to some limits. Thus, and taking into account what happened in the last normal edition (2019), there were days that there was an added attendance that could easily range between 2,000 and 400 people.
In any case, and apparently, the logistical and spatial developments do not seem to have affected much because the 3,400 attendees seemed delighted with life and the dolce far niente well served. And this Wednesday, Simply Red.
