DELLAFUENTE fills the Metropolitano two days in a row and says goodbye: “I need to rest and assimilate all this that is happening”

A 40-meter geyser emerging from the center of the Metropolitano is not what one expects to see at a concert. But in DELLAFUENTE’s world nothing follows the expected script. In front of 65,000 people and under a symbolic and literal rain, the artist from Granada celebrated last June 20 and 21 his decade in music with a show of fire, water and soul that is already living history of musical culture in Spain. And also -although he did not say it out loud- a farewell.

“In a way this is a farewell. It’s not just the show, but a stage of my life”, DELLAFUENTE confessed towards the end of the concert. No more was needed: their audience understood. They applauded in tears, aware that they were witnessing something unrepeatable. Because if anyone has been able to turn folk music into a living treasure in our country, it has been Pablo Enoc Bayo, also known as “el Chino”. That’s right: Timeless Folklore Music. And he has achieved it with an unprecedented milestone: being the first artist to fill a stadium of that magnitude being completely independent. Without a major label behind him, without commercial machinery pushing him. Only with his music, his vision and his own label, MAAS, born from and for his universe.

On Friday night there was no soccer at the Metropolitano, but the surroundings looked like those of a final. Personalized T-shirts, scarves around the neck, flags waving. They were not usual ultras, but fans of DELLAFUENTE Fútbol Club (DLFC): a fan that crosses ages, genres and classes and that, after more than 10 years in the music of his head, has become a transversal phenomenon, deeply connected to the Andalusian roots and the present of urban music in Spain.

From his first entrance with Bailaora, a 2015 song that mixed reggaeton and electronica, DELLAFUENTE pulled nostalgia. A journey that started in the neighborhoods of Granada and culminated in a Champions League stadium, with a stage in the shape of an eight-pointed Nasrid star and a central fountain as a tribute to their land. Like his own Nasrid palace, his own Alhambra, reminiscent of Escher’s Staircase and the mountain that dominated the scenography of ‘Torii Yama’, the granaíno toured the vertices while singing his lyrics, like a magnet that attracted all eyes. Camarón’s voice sounded in Al vacío and the stadium chanted: “Fuck Rihanna, I prefer Pastori”. Everything fit. Everything was him. Dellafuente samples his legacy, remembers it and adapts it without any concealment; he recovers that flamenco spirit that Camarón embodied. Camarón electrified a traditional genre, opened it to the contemporary and took it out of its classical limits. DELLAFUENTE has done the same: he mixes bulerías and autotune to build a new urban folklore.

In this ritual – folkloric and timeless, as he himself defines his music – there was room for a good repertoire of songs from yesterday and today. He sang classics such as Ansia Viva, Fosforito or Flores pa’ tu pelo, accompanied by Pepe and Vizio. The new songs by Torii Yama were also played: 13 preguntas, or Malicia, together with Amore. Judeline, Lia Kali and Rels B joined a celebration of collaborations that culminated with Manos Rotas with Morad, and where there were also big absences: Maka and C.Tangana. But no one blamed him. Dellafuente owed nothing. On the contrary: he gave everything away. With Guerrera he dedicated a “I love you very much, Pucho” to the Madrilenian. With Buenos genes and Veneno he sat down at the piano for the first time in the night. Emotions ran high when he continued with his classics such as Te amo sin límites, Olvídame or Te como la cara.

“Thank you for accompanying me in more than 10 years of career”: he said after asking for those followers who listened to him since ‘Consentia’. After singing it and saying: “I need to rest and assimilate all this that we are living”, Dellafuente concluded one of the most important concerts for a whole generation, and for music critics.

It is paradoxical that someone so elusive to fame ends up summoning crowds. But he has never sought the spotlight. He has chosen silence and let his music speak for him. That decision has made him more enigmatic, more authentic: someone who only speaks when he has something to say. And his fans follow him to the end of the world.

So no, this Friday Atleti did not play, but something more important happened at the Metropolitano: DELLAFUENTE was consecrated. An artist who, without making noise, has defined the sound, the emotions and the contradictions of a whole generation. A generation that found in DELLAFUENTE a consolation. And although for now he wants to disappear -we hope only for a while-, DELLAFUENTE is already a legend of his time.

Did you watch the Red Bull Soundclash by Morad & Dellafuente?