JUANES KICKS OFF HIS EUROPEAN TOUR WITH A FULL HOUSE AT LONDON’S HAMMERSMITH APOLLO

Juanes is Colombia's pop prince

It is hard to imagine a more enthusiastic audience response than the one given by London’s Latin American community to Juanes’ supercharged set.

The vocal power of this hyper appreciative sold-out crowd at the Apollo almost matched the decibel-heavy PA — and the frenzy they worked themselves up into was a rare sight. One woman got so carried away that she started beating out the rhythms of his rock songs with her pounding fists first on herself and then on the chests of those standing nearby — this reviewer included.

Such a bacchic response was, of course, down to the Dionysian power of Colombia’s guitar hero Juanes. This former heavy-metal musician who refuses to sing in English, preferring to stick to his native Spanish and picking up numerous Latin Grammys and platinum discs along the way, knows how to move a crowd — and that is primarily by having a band and sound that is so tight it could strangle you and a tangible rapport with his followers.

His music is pop rock; sometimes anthemic, sometimes sentimental, sometimes bordering on the pomp with hints of Prince or on the heavy side with screaming guitars — and then, occasionally, with a surprising ska twist that has a hint of Manu Chao. Such was his hit La Camisa Negra, the song that was the highlight of the show.

As someone who has suffered from the violence and interminable conflicts in Colombia, Juanes made some pleas for peace in song and inter-song chat. But it was his stage presence — strident in a tight black shirt, jeans, tattoos and a rather incongruous David Brent-style beard — that spoke his less worthy message of let the good times roll. It was loud, proud and, if you don’t speak Spanish, incomprehensible — he made no concessions to the solely English-speaking. But regardless — or perhaps because of that — it rocked.

Mark Espiner, Evening Standard 03.06.08

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