Always stay with those who invite you to dance. Is there anyone less reliable than someone who doesn't dance? Those who don't dance are the ones who watch the world from the sidelines, the distrustful ones who judge, those who settle, people with a calculator in their heart and a computer in their head. Trust whoever dances the most, leave your children with them, your Visa pin, the TV remote. No one dances badly, there are only those who dance and those who don't, and that's how humanity is divided.
That's why musicians who make us dance are so important.
Dua Lipa had more than 56,000 people dancing (according to the organization) for 90 wonderful minutes on the first day of the Mad Cool festival, which almost reached full capacity. On a 30-degree afternoon, the last rays of sun were like the light of a giant microwave where the happy half-naked bodies of the audience were jumping around. A large human mass jumping like a pan of hot popcorn.
This was the only concert that the young British star of Albanian-Kosovar origin was going to offer in Spain this year and it served as a great start to the Madrid festival, which takes place until Saturday in a large venue between the Villaverde Alto neighborhood and Getafe. After months of controversies and back-and-forths between the Government Delegation, the City Council of Madrid, the Community, and the Mad Cool organization, access to the venue and mobility have flowed smoothly, which, although it may seem contradictory, is news due to the problems that occurred last year in this same venue and in its two previous locations. This year, the venue has a maximum capacity of 58,000 people, 12,000 less than in 2023.
Among the audience were the President of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and actor Will Smith.
Dua Lipa was the headliner of the day and one of the biggest music stars of this summer: her contract was one of the most sought after among Spanish festivals in 2024. She started and ended her concert with songs from 'Radical Optimism,' her recent third album: 'Training Season' was a perfect start of disco-pop nostalgia and super sexy seventies atmosphere, an invitation to skip the preamble and get into action, while 'Illusion' leaned more towards psychedelia and the nineties renewal of Daft Punk's disco music and the 'French touch' generation. In between, she included Calvin Harris' mega-hit 'One Kiss,' more eurodance with the same resonating bass (dark and obscenely sticky sounds). "Are you ready for a party?" she asked mischievously, with the most perfect smile in the world. In a quarter of an hour, the concert was already running downhill without brakes.
"I am very happy and grateful, I feel very lucky and blessed to perform in Madrid," she said in Spanish. "The people in Spain have so much light and love," she continued, and then switched to English. It was a long statement in which she showered not only her fans but also the country with praise. "Spain is amazing, Madrid is exceptional, I truly love you," she said emotionally. Throughout the concert, she appeared energetic and very comfortable.
Community of Madrid. 10.07.2024. Photo: Javier Barbancho. Mad Cool Festival Dua lt;HIT gt;Lipa lt;/HIT gt;Javier BarbanchoMUNDO
While not a bad album, 'Radical Optimism' has been a disappointment: its invitation to optimism is far from radical. But Dua Lipa's show at Mad Cool has been celebrated as an event accompanied by laser beams, confetti tornadoes, dozens of dancers, and a great live band. Aware of the strengths of her short career, the 28-year-old star anchored the 'show' on the repertoire of her previous album, 'Future Nostalgia,' a masterpiece of dance and hedonism from which she sang (with full voice) up to seven songs, starting with 'Break My Heart' and a glorious, bubbly 'Levitating,' even more influenced by Daft Punk, with vocoder in the last chorus.
Ironically, 'Future Nostalgia' was one of the pandemic albums. It was released in late March 2020, during the lockdown, and during that year, it grew to the status of a global phenomenon while dancing in public spaces was prohibited. Tonight, Dua Lipa's concert took the form of a DJ session in a club. Some of the songs had the energetic treatment expected on the dance floor, an extra kick of bass and drum. But it was also a concert with the appearance of a TV broadcast, even a music video, a show full of 'instagrammable' moments with choreographies executed with synchronized swimming precision. Very attractive, very effective, captivatingly carnal, but with little room for spontaneity, much less for improvisation.
It was a dance machine, which is consistent with songs like 'Love Again' (a bit electro, a bit disco, and a mischievously nu-disco production), 'Pretty Please' (minimalist, sensual, friendly, and with a remix 'housero' acceleration with cowbell) and 'Hallucinate,' which is, redundantly, something hallucinatory. These pieces work as clever mechanisms of nuclear precision that invoke body movement: it is essentially impossible to remain static in front of that rhythmic torrent.
In the final part of the performance, Dua Lipa interspersed some of her most successful collaborations ('Electricity' by Silk City, and 'Cold Heart' by Elton John), with big hits like 'New Rules' from her debut, or the recent 'Happy for You.' The final sequence was monumental. Summer is a time for dancing and easy music, often too easy, and that's okay, all for the sake of dancing! But a bit of ingenuity is not only appreciated but also a differential component. This summer there will be a thousand ways to get to the dance floor, but none as sophisticated and shiny as the song 'Physical,' an exotic anthem of 80s synth-pop with a heroic tone that invited collective karaoke and, well, letting loose. She followed it with 'Don't Start Now' for general delirium, her biggest career hit, a disco-pop gem. She ended with the phenomenal single 'Houdini,' not as brilliant, but equally effective.