What stood out in the Anti-Karaoke of March 9th was the huge number of first-timers that made their way onstage at the Apolo, the majority of them from outside Spain.
It was a night where we saw everything, from excepcional performance to truly chaotic moments.
Rachel began the show with Cheap Trick's “Surrender” and “20th Century Boy” by T. Rex, and it was interesting to see so many new faces in the first few minutes of the evening.
Courtney from NYC delighted us with a powerful version of Janis Joplin's “Piece of my Heart”.
Charlie Cotton went all out with a rap song for the first performance of his life: “Ice, Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice.
Los Francos debuted in A.K. with one of the great standards of the show, “Sweet Child O’Mine” by Guns N’Roses.
Continuing the Guns N’Roses streak, Lord Vader brought the house down with an impeccable version of “Welcome To The Jungle” and got one of the biggest ovations of the evening.
A woman named Gosia interpreted “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette.
Another girl from the English-speaking lands, Mo, sang “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell.
One of the biggest stars of Anti-Karaoke, Danglam, exuded his characteristic Stonian glamour with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”.
Rachel brought us back to the days of Altamont with another tune by the Stones: their most controversial song, “Sympathy For The Devil”.
Roby, another foreign debutante, interpreted one of the party anthems por excelencia: “Living After Midnight” by Judas Priest.
On a night where Guns 'N’ Roses shone especially bright, Blimunda offered an excellent interpretation of “Paradise City”.
One of the most funny and chaotic moments of the night was the performance of three American girls, Bairbre, Ciara and Helen. Arriving onstage completely drunk, they asked Rachel for the lyrics to “The Rose”. Soon they realized that, in reality, they had signed up to sing Joan Jett's “I Love Rock’n’Roll”, and ended up performing freestyle with no lyrics.
On this occasion, “New York, New York” was more appropriate than ever, due to the large representation of New Yorkers in the club.
Rachel dedicated the song to them while treating them to a bottle of Jack Daniels.
Another American, Danny B, sang “Blister In The Sun” by Violent Femmes.
Prades especially stood out with a brilliant interpretation of Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
Gerard debuted in A.K. with “Song 2” by Blur.
Shortly after midnight, Johnny Cash's cover of “Personal Jesus” sounded throughout the club and over the P.A. we heard the voice of the announcer: “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the great movie star, Joaquin Phoenix!”.
Rachel then appeared, transformed into the actor as he looks today: overgrown beard, black sunglasses and a weird, uncomfortable aura.
Rachel/Joaquin took the mic, announced that s/he is no longer an actor and that from now on, s/he wanted to be known as a rapper. Then s/he treated us to a bizarre version of the Beck hit, “Loser”.
Kaitryn, recently arrived from NYC, interpreted a legendary song that had never before been heard in the show: “Magic Man” de Heart.
Incredible, as always, the performance of Albert the Undertaker.
He gave his all to an interpretation of “Run To The Hills” by his adored band, Iron Maiden.
We also heard “Chop Suey” by System Of A Down (Pirata del Caribe), “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival (Sr. Oscuro),
“The Number of the Beast” by Iron Maiden (Joa King), “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins (Carlos P.), “Cowboys From Hell” by Pantera (Pin y Pon),
“My Hero” by Foo Fighters (Rocko),
“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers (Michael & Sarah), “Thunder Kiss ’65” by White Zombie (Iván), "Hell Bent for Leather" by Judas Priest (Mr. Eddie Harris),
“It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girls (Laia, Mireia y Vane), Van Halen's version of Roy Orbison's “Pretty Woman” (Danny, Miguel, Elena y Tati) and “What Is and What Should Never Be” by Led Zeppelin (Laia).
Rachel sang the AC/DC classic “Whole Lotta Rosie”, a beautiful tribute to Bon Scott.
Just before the end of the show, Fabri and various crowd members performed a crazy “Killing In The Name” by R.A.T.M.
And Rachel bid goodnight with the most massive “Kids In America” we've seen in the Apolo until now.
