Chemistry Portet
★★★★✩
Place and date: :
(6/X/2023)
Although it has hardly rained lately, many umbrellas have been soaked since Quimi Portet began his solo flight after the dissolution of El Último de la Fila: a quarter of a century, an anniversary that the singer-songwriter (voice, guitars) celebrated in style in his city, Vic.
He did it with his usual band (guitar hero Jordi Busquets, Antonio Fidel on bass, Ángel Celada on drums) as well as a nice list of guest artists: the poet Biel Barnils, Marc Parrot, Joan Garriga and Arnau Tordera. All of this in front of a large and enthusiastic audience that thoroughly enjoyed the songs, the jokes and even the ham raffle that was held at mid-gala.
It started with Quimi Portet alone performing El meu hamster va a Cuba, culminating over a hundred minutes later with La música dels astres. Recorrido exhaustivo (veinticuatro temas) por diez álbumes, con maravillas como Tinc una bestia dintre meu ("I go to the forest and I'm a forester / and in the villages I'm a villain / but I'm always dangerous"). Quimi Portet said a few days ago to this newspaper that his agenda can be a bit disturbed, and something of that is also in the wonderful If it rains, we will do it in the pavilion, where he asks: "can it be anything other than extremist?" Maybe not...
So Friday was in a way the day of the beast, although also the day of the great happiness that Quimi and company transmitted, well exemplified by La Rambla and the extra charm that Joan Garriga's accordion brought to the song. We were struck by the rock muscle of Pànic escènic and Festa major d'hivern, the electric and philosophical enthusiasm of Francesc Pujols or the absences that parade through Estampes de sants. Also Homes i dones del cap dret, where he tells us, oh, about this country of ours “vençut pel davant i pel darrera / d’atrotinada dignitat”. And, of course, Sunny day, performed as usual in the key of a parodic-humorous crooner, although on the other hand it is also one of the most beautifully sad pieces that yours truly knows. Here's to another twenty-five, inter-regional star!
