On April 6th we experienced the most exciting A.K. that's taken place in its new home in the Apolo.
Tremendous energy in the club, tons of talent onstage, sold-out tickets... All in all, three-plus hours of truly incendiary entertainment.
The only sour note of the evening was the sudden evacuation of the club right when the show ended, due to disturbances that were taking place in the street right outside the club. But as the Apolo club has since explained in an official statement to its patrons, this was an exceptional event that we trust will not happen again.
Apparently, a crowd of over 1,000 out-of-control clubgoers were trying to force their way into the club. The amount of security wasn't adequate to handle the situation, and both branches of local cops -- both the mossos d’esquadra and the guardia urbana -- were called upon to contain the situation. Because of these security concerns, those in charge at the Apolo that night decided to evacuate the club immediately following Anti-Karaoke. However, as they've explained, the post-show policy will continue to be as it was before: the audience is welcome to stay for the Nasty Mondays DJ sessions in Apolo 1 and 2 until 5 A.M. at no extra charge.
Nor is there reason to fear that Anti-Karaoke tickets will sell out this coming Monday. Last Monday's sell-out was also exceptional, due to the Semana Santa holiday, and many visitors to the city decided to come to A.K. and enjoy an absolutely atomic evening.
Rachel began this very memorable A.K. by singing Creedence Clearwater Revival's “Fortunate Son” and Beck's “Loser”.
It was great to see Rock Queen again in the show.
In her comeback performance, she sang one of Def Leppard's anthems from the '80s that, for some reason, hardly ever is performed in A.K.: “Rock of Ages”.
El Artista Anteriormente Conocido Como Enrique offered an impeccable version of one of the definitive rock ballads of all time: Aerosmith's “Dream On”.
For those who first discovered Aerosmith in their post-”Get a Grip” phase, it may be difficult to imagine what it meant to be a fan of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry in the 70’s and 80’s. (Sometimes it's hard for me as well!) But it used to be a point of pride to buy all their records as soon as they hit the shelves. Times have changed and Aerosmith is no longer the group it was, but it's always moving to listen to songs like “Dream On”, “Back in the Saddle” or “Last Child”.
Laya también interpretó un clásico inmortal del Rock, “Good Times, Bad Times” de Led Zeppelin. Gran voz y mucho estilo el de esta mujer.
The words of Mazafaka before commencing his performance anticipated a whole lotta noise and attitude: “Do you want to hear shitty Thrash Metal?”.
On this occasion, Maza dusted off the old Anthrax song “Got The Time”, originally written by Joe Jackson but appropriated without any problems by Scott Ian and company many years ago. A great performance by Mazafaka.
Marina debuted in Anti-Karaoke with a very sexy “These Boots Are Made For Walking” by Nancy Sinatra.
We hope this woman comes back to sing in the future.
Burney & Teddy, also debutantes in A.K. this evening, interpreted “Toxicity” by System Of A Down.
Contemporary metal that provided a breath of fresh air to the show.
Lula Mae rendered tribute to this beloved human cartoon known as Billy Idol, one of the 80’s rock stars por excelencia, with “Rebel Yell”.
In his first performance in Anti-Karaoke, Juan Pedro sang a song that had never been sung before in the show: “People Are People” by Depeche Mode.
Frank SinAnthrax is a man who does not fear formidable obstacles. Only a couple performers have ever dared to interpret the theme song from the movie “Flash Gordon” in A.K.
As we all know, this song is almost impossible to perform, but Frank breezed through the challenge with flying colors.
Rock performed a great version of “Don’t Stop Me Now”, also by Queen.
This was one of the definitive moments of an evening filled with great talents.
One of the big surprises of the night was Rachel's performance of “Bust a Move”, accompanied by the sexy American dancer Tweenie Queenie.
During those few minutes, the temperature in the club rose considerably.
Clarita debuted in Anti-Karaoke with “You Give Love A Bad Name” by Bon Jovi.
Barbarah offered an impeccable interpretation of “Aerials” by System Of A Down.
It culminated with a bout of crowd surfing atop the hundreds of antikaraokians that packed the club.
Liher Landeta and Aitor Etxebarria, recently arrived from Bilbao, performed for the first time in A.K. with an absolutely chaotic, but very fun, “Song 2” by Blur.
The most "Vegas-y" moment in each show, in which Rachel sings “New York, New York” and shares a bottle of Jack Daniels with the crowd, was as exciting as always.
Lord Vader impressed everyone with an excellent version of “No One Knows” by Queens Of The Stone Age.
Xavi Dimoni returned to Anti-Karaoke after a prolonged absence to offer a touch of class to nothing other than Chris Isaak's “Wicked Game”... who, by the way, just came out with a highly recommended new record (“Mr. Lucky”).
Another great return was that of El Chacal del Utero, who beat us over the head with a devastating performance of Pantera's “Strength Beyond Strength”.
Surely Steve Esposito (the first man who sang this song at A.K.) would have enjoyed this performance.
In his debut in the show, Speed Racer sang “Basket Case”, the famous hit by Green Day.
Rachel offered a demolishing performance of Mötorhead's “Ace of Spades”.
Exceptional version of “Goldfinger” by Solo.
Much class and charisma. It's always a pleasure to witness the performances of this man at A.K.
On a night marked, as always, by contrasts, we could hear songs like “Wicked Game” or the aforementioned “Goldfinger”.
But there was also a good handful of songs by Pantera, System Of A Down, and R.A.T.M. El Pirata del Caribe was one of the performers who brought the metal flavor to the show, “Cowboys From Hell” de Pantera.
From Ass To Mouth, for his part, sang “Chop Suey” by System Of A Down, and even did crowd surfing in the middle of the song.
Blimunda interpreted“You Oughta Know”, the famous hit by Alanis Morissette.
Vato recovered the old Otis Redding classic, “Hard To Handle”, Black Crowes's version.
The beginning of the famous hit “Thriller” served as an intro for Wacko Jacko's reappearance at A.K.
Characterized as our favorite freak, Rachel/Michael presented to society his new girlfriend -- a blow-up sex doll -- and sang the super-hit “Beat It”.
Syd Barretina, who we haven't seen at A.K. for far too long, returned to interpret “I Was Made For Loving You” by Kiss.
Bib also made a reappearance this evening with “What I Like About You” by The Romantics.
Other songs we listened to this night at A.K.: “No Rain” by Blind Melon (Mr. Eddie Harris), “Bicycle Race” by Queen (Prades),
“Bring da Noise” by Anthrax/Public Enemy (Redd Kross Contingent),
and Wings' “Live and Let Die”, Guns N’Roses version (Albert The Undertaker).
The final stretch of the show was a gripping. Iván and Lord Vader worked themselves into the ground with a killer “Sad But True” by Metallica.
Rachel offered us a crushing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana.
During this number, she took the opportunity to empty several bags of Bimbo bread onto the audience, as you can see in the video.
As in every show, we weren't without a performance of R.A.T.M.'s “Killing In The Name” with Fabri more out of control than ever.
Dani Metal gave us a majestic version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and obtained one of the biggest ovations of the night.
And “Kids In America” served as a final goodbye for the best night of Anti-Karaoke we've seen in the Apolo so far.
