Shoegazing storm with The Ravonettes in Barcelona

The Raveonettes (+ Versatile). Sala Bikini, Barcelona, June 3rd

Among the posts pending there was the review of The Ravonettes gig at Sala Bikini in Barcelona. The Danish duo was presenting their latest album, the gloomy and moody "Raven in the Grave", and the expectations were high, due to the quality of the album, and because of the chance of seeing the group in a small venue, usually with a great acoustic.

After a local support act, named Versatile, that won't go down in history, The Raveonettes took the stage to trigger the shoegazing storm the night was destined to be. The opening trio of "Recharge and Revolt", the wonderful "War in Heaven" and "Let Me On Out" was the warm-up of the night and gave the public the first taste of how the concert would develop: intensity, a desired prevalence of guitars and percussion among the voices, close to noise sometines, full of reverb and feedback, where the subtleties of their latest album were replaced by the vibrations of the small but full venue.

That Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner chose their darkest material was clear after they combined "Dead Sound", "Noisy Summer" and the always addictive "Love in a Trashcan". By then, for me at least, as much as the guitars and double drumming were exciting, losing the vocals and their intertwining (and I was on the first row) was a bit disappointing, being one of the highlights that make The Raveonettes special.

As I said, the whole night was prolific on their garage/shoegazing classics, giving the band the opportunity of inserting almost all of "Raven in the Grave" (8 of the 9 songs from the album), that flowed smoothly with the old material, with special mention of the terrific combo "Evil Seeds"-"Ignite". In terms of cohesion, the gig was superb, making the people move with the noisier tunes and keep their breath with the paused ones. But for the ones that were expecting some more "In and Out of Control" songs (still hoping one day I'ill hear "Bang!" live), the night only rewarded us with a sublime "Heart of Stone".

Overall a good concert, with many songs to remember (was great to hear some oldies like "Attack of the Ghost Riders" or "The Love Gang") and a band in perfect form and total control of what and how they want to do things, although I would have preferred a different setlist (you can check it fully below) and a lesser garage sounding.

1. Recharge and Revolt
2. War in Heaven
3. Let Me On Out
4. Dead Sound
5. Noisy Summer
6. Love in a Trashcan
7. Lust
8. Apparitions
9. Evil Seeds
10. Ignite
11. The Love Gang
12. My Tornado
13. Attack of the Ghost Riders
14. Heart of Stone
15. My Time’s Up
16. Forget That You're Young (encore)
17. Aly, Walk With Me (encore)