So, spring is here and with it, a new bunch of gigs in Barcelona, starting at the La Nau venue, courtesy of promoters Houston Party. La Nau is a complex of rehearsal spaces close to the Barcelonan coast which also has a small yet cosey venue, perfect to enjoy musicians up close, like Billy Nomates, with Alan Neil, on Wednesday, March 22nd.
The night began with solo singer-songwriter Alan Neil. Hailing from Madrid, the queer artist (taking the definition from our admired J GRGRY) displays a cheeky approach to techno, dance, house and ‘90s Mákina music with witty lyrics about sex, partying, drugs and all its dangers. He also mixes all that with drops of flamenco and one could even say his powerful voice makes him the first techno flamenco diva ever. If you dig the first years of Pedro Almodóvar, and that extremely funny chaotic, nocturne, urban debauched decadence, Alan Neil is your diva.
Shortly after, Billy Nomates took the stage for her first gig in Barcelona. A very welcome surprise was the beginning with the lovely quiet strum of “Fawner” to a marveled audience. Then, her strategy was to slowly intensify the set, with “Black Curtains In The Bag” and the lovely bittersweetness of “Blue Bones (Deathwish)”.
“No” was the first nod to her debut record and from then on the relentlessness displayed in her sophomore album was in full swing. “Vertigo”, “Cacti”, “Petrol Fumes” “Saboteur Forcefield” or “Hippy Elite” were some of the songs the few hundred fans danced along to during the hour+ of the concert.
A trait some may not think about but that it’s crucial to a gig by Billy Nomates is that she endlessly moves around the stage. Dancing barefoot, sometimes twisting, sometimes writhing, sometimes gesturing like she’s in a play, shy, beaming, sexy, the moves we can all see in her videos make total sense onstage and intensify the pace, tempo, cadence and meaning of the songs.
Like showing all the different sides that make up her personality, Billy Nomates creates a unique world with her presence onstage, without alienating the audience, to whom she constantly looks in the eye making them understand their presence is paramount, completing the meaning of the whole gig: telling stories of joy, sadness, death, independence, love, duality, balance, unbalance, anger, reflection and sharing them.
Yes, that may not be anything new but her messages are received, understood and assimilated and the charm with which she delivers them set her apart from many of her contemporaries.
This is an artist that will have a long career, the kind of musician we will keep talking about in years to come. And thankfully, a lot of people are beginning to understand that.
