Bajofondo’s concert at The Fillmore on October 14 was an exciting and energetic spectacle that delighted everyone present from the moment Javier Casalla started the set with his violin. All of the 7 musicians – Gustavo Santaolalla, Juan Campodónico, Adrian Sosa, Luciano Supervielle, Martín Ferrés, Gabriel Casacuberta and Casalla put forth an intense repertoire and they showed their joy with constant grins of their faces and ovations to the audience at all times, signs of gratitude that one seldom sees these days from musicians. The quality of the sound was also at all times excellent, and not technical problems or bad audio posed any challenges. But of course, we couldn’t expect anything less from a band that has a heavyweight like Academy Award winner composer and producer Santaolalla as its leader.
The show was characterized by the fun and candid behavior from the Uruguayan-Argentinean collective, especially by Gustavo, who on stage behaved like a young child let loose in a toy store: making faces, sweetly mocking his fellow musicians with inside jokes and compliance. In addition, VJ Veronica Loza inundated the stage with powerful images that where screened behind the band on a wall-size projection, depicting textures of clouds and stars and often even going into the political with images of the US-Mexican border, masked protesters in what seemed images of Palestine, and of course, the ’beloved’ George W Bush and general symbols of capitalism.
The crowd remained cheerful but somewhat passive throughout the night, even with the subtle attempts from Bajofondo members to ignite the crowd. During the last song, the Bajofondo members resorted to letting totally loose and allowing the audience to join them on stage to sign, dance, and take close-up and personal pictures of the band. It didn’t seem as if Jackie Gleason’s stage floor was designed to hold so much weight — I went up there and could feel the floor tremble every time we all jumped to the tunes of Bajofondo’s electronic tango rock.
Major props to Bajofondo for putting on such an amazing evening. You left Miami loving you and expecting you back: we’ll know to let loose from the beginning for next time.
More photos in our gallery.