In famous scenic farewells like the one that took place yesterday at the Palau Sant Jordi, with grandfather Serrat saying goodbye to all this, the elegance of the Catalan great man of the 20th century who decides against all odds not to fall apart is not what is always expected.
And it is not morbid to see the divo divided in two, nor is he eager to carve out a headline at the expense of his emotional integrity. It is the thirst for the authentic, for that unfathomable tremor of the ageless man –his spirit is that of a 25-year-old singer-songwriter– who finds himself before his audience for the last time, singing his songs for the last time wrapped up by his faithful Kitflus (of the mythical Pegasus) or Ricard Miralles. It is the thirst for the jolt that the artist supposes to embrace his collaborators for the last time with the adrenaline of the live performance, who have received from him kisses and uncorks of champagne as well as sudden fights that just as they arrive they leave. The genius of the creator.
What does this 79-year-old Serrat bear better: the pain of writing or the pain of not writing? The one not to act or the one to continue on tour?
“It really seemed very far away that day when I started this tour in April – he began by saying -. It's a pleasure to have kept the appointment and to be here, but the feelings are a bit mixed. Thank you to everyone for joining me on this night in which I solemnly proclaim my farewell of my own free will [Applause, whoops from the audience]. But I have come to say goodbye with joy, it will be the last concert but I want to have a fucking time. Ladies and gentlemen and impartial in the matter, put aside the threat of melancholy, this is a party. And as Mr. Núñez would say, pulután, I ask you to maintain your composure”.
Serrat opened fire ready to experience what could be a great night. The atmosphere was heated, the 15,000 civilized people who occupied their seats at Sant Jordi received him by rising to the force of a collective applause. Just before, some of those souls had whistled at the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who was saintly in considering Serrat's farewell a national matter.
Serrat said goodbye to Barcelona with a bilingual repertoire, half in Spanish and half in Catalan, almost the same list that he had already reeled off on Tuesday. He started with Temps era temps, a timely tunnel to those memories of his, Elena Francis and that famous football verse... “Basora, César, Kubala, Moreno i Manchón”. And after Cançó de bressol and the Carrousel del Furo, a nickname from his Aragonese grandfather that was transmitted to him by inheritance –“What the poor man will not be able to know is that he had a grandson who turned him into a fairground for a day”–, Serrat included Pueblo Blanco, a moving story of people swept away by progress and left aside.
It was also the last time that Joan Manuel sang Seria fantastic, Me'n vaige a peo (what a good voice he retains in that "saying goodbye to a door that closes... the road is uphill and I'm going on foot" !) and also I don't do anything else but think about you, a moment in which I took the opportunity to present to you. "I won't miss them so much because I think I'll see them very often", he pointed out. David Palau on guitar, Úrsula Amargós on viola, Vicente Climent on drums, Rai Ferrer on bass, José Miguel Pérez Sagaste on sax and clarinet... and "on keyboards and electronics, maestro Josep Mas, Kitflus , and in command of the ship, the captain, Ricard Miralles!”
With an attractive set design with an artistic tinge that varies from images to each song –as in Pare's environmental proclamation–, Serrat was for the last time on stage the social justice of Algo personal and Cançó de matinada. The debtor of Miguel Hernández in Nanas de la cebolla and Para la libertad. The costumbrist of El meu carrer, Barcelona i jo or La tieta, and the enthusiast of Hoy puede ser un gran día or Mediterráneo... a moment of absolute collective delirium... Goodbye to all this, alas.
The long-awaited Serrat, who sang as if the elderly were not with him, faced the final stretch with Plany de Mar – about the refugees in the Mediterranean – and signed off with the Cantares de Antonio Machado in a happy tone, which in this Spain of open wounds continues to be an act of protest. "It's good that things end well (...), these have been years that have made me meet so many people and understand so many things," he said before encouraging the audience to sing Paraules d'amor and reaching the end of what big with party
The political elite had come to dismiss Serrat - President Aragonès had attended the day before - headed by Sánchez and Mayoress Ada Colau. Three ministers arrived with the former: the Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, together with the general director of Inaem, Joan Francesc Marco; that of Universities, Joan Subirats, and Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and of the Generalitat, the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga.
The Valencian and Aragonese presidents, Ximo Puig and Xavier Lambán, traveled, invited by the artist, who also invited people from the song: Raimon, Marina Rossell –Maria del Mar Bonet caused her to leave at the last hour–, Joan Isaac, Sílvia Pérez Cruz, the Estopas, Judith Neddermann or the legendary Guillermina Motta. But also from sport: Ona Carbonell or the agent Josep Maria Minguella – the one who brought Messi to Barcelona–, the writer Javier Cercas, the filmmakers Manuel Huerga and Isabel Coixet, the photographer Colita and faces from TV and theater: Xavier Sardà, Toni Cruz, Mercè Sampietro, Mario Gas, Paco Mir...
Jordi Juan, director of La Vanguardia, and faces of journalists such as Josep Cuní, Vicent Sanchis, Antoni Bassas, Julia Otero, Gemma Nierga or Justo Molinero were not missing. Publicist Lluís Bassat or Jaume Roures and Tatxo Benet, from the audiovisual industry.
