Huge defeat by Tennis in Barcelona

Tennis. La [2] de Apolo, Barcelona, July 21st
We just came back to Barcelona after FIB Festival with another music night on the agenda. And a very special one it was. After being completely haunted by Tennis performance at Primavera Sound Festival back in May, the idea of seeing them again, this time in the intimacy of such a small venue like La [2] de Apolo in Barcelona seemed just perfect to enjoy a lovely night with the joyful music of this wonderful duo (trio on stage).

But we were wrong this time. Is simple to explain. From the start to almost the end, the sound was awful. Don't know if it has to do with the venue (the sound wasn't impressive with Basia Bulat's gig in February either) or (shared suspicion) the volume of drums and guitar was excessive. The result? We couldn't hear Alaina's voice until the last 4-5 songs. And we were on the first row.

Yes, the natural charm was right there. They unforced approach towards the audience too. The way they play, with Patrick lost into himself and Alaina gracefully moving and jumping barefoot was inviting an enchanting, like if we were allowed to see them performing in their garden in Denver, or enjoying music in a relaxed way on their sailing ship. In an hour they played all their debut album, "Cape Dory" and experimented with three new songs and one cover. But honestly, we couldn't do much aside from enjoying the 60s vibe of the music and imagine Alaina's gorgeous voice. And that's far from being enough. Tennis are a great band, but Thursday's concert, taking advantage of their name to make a sports parallel, was like watching your favourite team being trashed by its archenemy. Hope there's a chance of seeing them soon again. We deserve a re-match!

A small clip that serves as example of how bad the sound was...