“Good night, Peru salsero, bullfighting and bohemian”, said Andrés Calamaro and, as we suspected, the chords of “Bohemio” sounded. Thus began the concert that would end the Peruvian tour that led the singer to previously walk his voice through Arequipa, Cusco and Trujillo last week. Lima was his last place and, although his appearance on stage, minutes after 9:00 p.m., moved the public, his allusion to bullfighting surprised some fans. Surprise is a saying, because the singer’s bullfighting hobby is well known, however, although he continues to have a loyal audience, it is true that times change.
But let’s continue with what calls us: music. We give ourselves to her singing “When you are not”, “Verdades afiladas”, “No documents” —what a mess this song created during Calamaro’s time in Los Rodríguez continues to create and which will be 30 years since its release in 2023—“ It burns me”, “All U need is pop”, “So many times” and “Hostages”. Until then everything was rock and happiness. Andrés Calamaro was giving the public a good mix of his prolific production, moving between the ‘greatest hits’ and songs of a lower profile, but not minor ones.
The cell phone cameras were active and attentive, but they did not overshadow the delivery of the public. The play of lights gave us a blue shadow and “The Planes” began to sound, changing the tone of what had been experienced up to that moment. Melancholy broke through. Then ‘Andrelo’ returned to address the public. And he said: “More to the south of Peru there is no one who understands bullfighting and salsa.” Again, Andrés, the bulls. The applause was combined with some shouts of “Bullfighting no” that gave way to the chords of “Maradona”.
“Wait for me in heaven” followed and then the very popular “Aztec Stadium” that the entire square sang giving everything. How not? It is not necessary to know the real Azteca Stadium to feel like that child who was hard and crushed when he saw the giant. There is something in that song that hypnotizes and that Calamaro ends by saying “Thanks I give to life, thanks I give to the Lord / Because in the midst of so much rigor and having lost so much / I did not lose my love of singing, nor my voice as a singer”. Applause and more applause. Thank you, thank you, Andrés for taking us to the Azteca Stadium. And then, again the discord. “I want to compete the glory of the applause of you”, he says as he introduces his musicians…and suddenly alludes to Roca Rey, the oldest Peruvian bullfighter. Again blunders mixed with applause. But with him, it is not. ‘The salmon’ is still doing his thing. He says “Hands up Lima, this cumbia is Peruvian” and sounds “Yours always”. We Dance.
The chords of The Beatles’ cover “Nowhere man” precede a new batch of songs: “Hong Kong”, “My illness”, “You can’t live on love” (you can’t) and “Channel 69″. “Thank you very much Peruvian salmon,” he says. It’s 10:27 p.m. and the singer is on stage with his hands on two pianos. He speaks again: “Thank you very much skinny, skinny and skinny” and it sounds, of course, “Flaca”. This is going to end, I think. “High dirt” and “Paloma” sound. Andrés Calamaro bows to the public, thanks and says goodbye. But he doesn’t leave. “Perfect Crimes” was missing and, of course, “The Boys”, a beautiful way to say goodbye to the friends who left first.
And that was it, folks. Or well, almost. After grabbing the Peruvian flag and saying goodbye to a devoted audience, the salmon leaves the stage. Then, background music sounds… bullfighting. “Because you do that!” yell some attendees. It is what it is, the singer might say. Or, said in a millennial tone “If they know how I am, why do they invite me?”. The truth is that there was a lot and for all types of fans. Andrés Calamaro, at 61 years old, no longer saves anything. Although, come to think of it, did he ever do it?
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Andrés Calamaro in Lima and how his devotion to bullfighting divided the audience at his concert | CHRONICLE