31 May, 2018

Concert review: Richard Marx at the Opera Orbis Theater - May 24, 2018 – Buenos Aires


English version.

Talent. Charisma. Professionalism. Creativity. Sympathy.

I did not read any review of Richard Marx's concert at the Opera Orbis theater in Buenos Aires on May 24th so I started writing these lines today since I cannot help thinking that none of the words of the first sentence could be left out if someone had wanted to capture what happened there that night on stage.

It was just the second presentation of the musician, born in Chicago 53 years ago, in Argentina and the first one in Buenos Aires, in his stunning 31-year career. He had set foot on an Argentine stage for the first time, in Rosario, the night before.

The concert began punctually with the full theater awaiting the performance of the artist, who started the evening with an introductory video, showing some of the great milestones of his successful and extensive career, reviewing in a few minutes, his beginnings, his most popular albums, his prizes, his career as a composer and producer and the admiration of many colleagues who love to play with him or simply admire his music.

He came to the stage seconded by three very good musicians and started "Endless summer nights" as if to shake the audience and to show that his voice was impeccable. He immediately launched the first cascade of hits: "Don't mean nothing", "Satisfied", "The way she loves me" only by the fifth song came "Suddenly", to give a break to the audience who sang and chanted even the guitar solos and shouted "Ole, olé, olé, Richard, Richard" in between song, for which he smiled in disbelief at such effusiveness, almost with certain shyness.

Of the next song he only managed to say: "... this is about a girl ..." and although almost all his songs are about some girl, we all knew that the one upcoming was not about any girl, but the one murdered in the river who starred one of his most intricate and mysterious lyrics, the one we never knew who the culprit was and he insists on refusing to reveal it. Without further ado, he launched "Hazard" and we all listened in paying extra special attention, as if in the live performance we could catch some clue that in these 20 years we had not found.

At the end of the song and with the crime still unpunished, the band left the stage leaving him only with his guitars, in front of the microphone and making us feel that he was playing in our living room the second wave of hits, this time in acoustic format, which began with "Keep coming back" and thanks to the relaxed atmosphere he could attend the request of a fan to play a song that, he said with great sympathy, was so old that he hasn´t played it for a long time and only remembered a part of it, and to the sound of his guitar began the beautiful "Until I find you again", even making the fan to come on stage for a selfie and taking the big applause for the incursion out of the programmed set list and his sincere demonstration of affection.

The creativity that moves him made him re-record the next song with his (grown-up-musician) children who, from the giant screen at the back of the stage, accompanied him to the rhythm of "When you loved me" and then, almost in total climax, he unplugged his guitar in one go and sang without amplification "This I promise you", a super romantic song he wrote for NSYNC and gave him big joy as a producer.

After a break of just seconds, he shot straight to the heart with "Hold on to the nights" and "Now and forever". Among the audience the murmur was that his voice was even better than in the original recordings. His unique charisma and husky voice seemed to be taking us little by little towards the end of the show that no one wanted to end, even the artist. He then played perhaps the most unknown song called "Just go" and followed ​​it with the super hit "Should've known better" before leaving the stage to a well-deserved break before the encore.

We all would have understood if he took a while to return because his performance and delivery had been stunning, however, it took him just three minutes to return to the scene with his unforgettable smile, to begin the encores with the song he wrote to his wife, the beautiful model Daisy Fuentes, who was by the side of the stage behind the scenes, "Eyes on me" followed by "Angelia" and before the end he interpreted "Take this heart", which was exactly what he gave all night: his heart.

We all took such souvenir of his performance until he finally shot like an accurate sniper straight to the hearts and the most intimate fibers of the memories of each one of the spectators, when sitting at the keyboard he slid his fingers to play "Right here waiting for you". This stainless hymn, which we heard thousands of times in hundreds of places, sounds in such a special way when the theater is in an infinite silence and it is Richard Marx himself who plays it in front of you ending an impeccable night where he demonstrated superlative talent, enviable charisma and good looks, great professionalism, tenacity to maintain such success and, ultimately, timeless creativity to deliver a historic night to those fans who had been waiting for him "right here" for so many years.

Crítica: Richard Marx en el teatro Opera Orbis - 24 de Mayo 2018

Talento. Carisma. Profesionalismo. Creatividad. Simpatía. Entrega.

No leí en la semana ninguna crítica del recital de Richard Marx en el teatro Opera Orbis de Buenos Aires el pasado 24 de Mayo, por eso me puse a escribir estas líneas hoy, ya que no puedo dejar de pensar que ninguna de las palabras de la primer oración podría quedar afuera si alguien hubiera querido plasmar lo que pasó allí esa noche arriba del escenario.

En sus 31 años de trayectoria fue apenas la segunda presentación del músico nacido en Chicago hace 53 años en Argentina, y la primera en Buenos Aires. La noche anterior había pisado un escenario Argentino por primera vez, en Rosario.

El concierto comenzó puntual con el teatro lleno aguardando la salida del cantante quien arrancó la velada con un video a modo de introducción, mostrando algunos de los grandes hitos de su exitosa y extensa carrera, repasando en pocos minutos sus comienzos, sus álbumes más populares, sus premios, su carrera como compositor y productor y la admiración de muchos colegas de gran trayectoria que adoran tocar con él o simplemente admiran su música.

Salió a escena secundado por tres muy buenos músicos y largó “Endless summer nights” de entrada nomás, como para sacudir al público y comenzando a mostrar que su voz estaba impecable. De inmediato lanzó la primera catarata de hits: “Don´t mean nothing”, “Satisfied”, “The way she loves me” hasta que recién al quinto tema llegó “Suddenly”, para dar un respiro al público que cantaba y coreaba hasta los solos de guitarra y gritaba “Ole, olé, olé, Richard, Richard” entre tema y tema, arrancándoles sonrisas y gestos de incredulidad ante tanta efusividad, casi de timidez.

Del próximo tema solo atinó a decir: “…éste es acerca de una chica…” y si bien casi todos sus temas son acerca de alguna chica, todos sabíamos que el que se venía no era de una chica cualquiera, sino de aquella chica muerta en el río que protagonizara una de sus canciones más intrincadas y misteriosas, que nunca se supo quién fue el culpable y él insiste en negarse a revelarlo. Sin más que decir lanzó “Hazard” y todos escuchamos como queriendo prestar especial atención, como si en la música en vivo pudiéramos pescar alguna pista que en estos 20 años no habíamos encontrado.

Al terminar el tema, con el crimen todavía impune, la banda salió del escenario dejándolo solo, con sus guitarras, frente al micrófono y haciéndonos sentir que estaba tocando en nuestro living la segunda catarata de hits, esta vez acústicos, que comenzaba con “Keep coming back” y entre tanta intimidad pudo atender el pedido de una fan para que tocara un tema que, según dijo con mucha simpatía, hacía tanto que no lo tocaba que solo se acordaba una parte, y rasgando la guitarra comenzó el hermoso “Until I find you again”, haciendo incluso subir a la dichosa fan para una selfie y arrancando aplausos por la salida de programa y su demostración sincera de afecto.

La creatividad que lo mueve hizo que regrabara el próximo tema con sus hijos, quienes, desde la pantalla gigante del escenario, lo acompañaron al ritmo de “When you loved me” y luego, casi en clímax total, desenchufó la guitarra de un tirón y cantó sin amplificación “This I promise you”, un lento de aquellos que escribió para NSYNC y que le dió muchas alegrías como productor.

Luego de un respiro de apenas segundos, disparó directo al corazón con “Hold on to the nights” y “Now and forever”. Entre las butacas el murmullo era que su voz parecía aún mejor que en las grabaciones originales. El carisma único y la voz intacta a esta altura de la noche parecían que nos iban llevando de a poco al final del show del cual nadie se quería ir, incluso el artista. Largó quizás el tema más desconocido “Just go” y lo empalmó con el super hit “Should´ve known better” para irse ahora sí a una merecida pausa antes de los bises.

Todos hubiéramos entendido si tardaba un rato en volver porque la entrega hasta aquí había sido total, sin embargo, tardó apenas tres minutos en retornar a escena con su sonrisa imborrable, comenzando los bises con el tema que le escribió a su actual esposa, la bella modelo Daisy Fuentes, quien estaba a un costado del escenario entre bambalinas, “Eyes on me”, seguido de “Angelia” y antes del final interpretó “Take this heart”, que fue justamente lo que entregó toda la noche: su corazón.

Todos nos llevábamos de souvenir para siempre su performance hasta que por último disparó como un francotirador certero al corazón y a la fibra más íntima de la memoria de cada uno de los espectadores, cuando sentado al teclado deslizó sus dedos para tocar “Right here waiting for you”.
Este tema inoxidable, que escuchamos miles de veces en cientos de lugares suena de una forma muy especial cuando el teatro hace silencio infinito y es el mismísimo Richard Marx quien se sienta a tocarlo a metros de uno, terminando así una noche impecable donde demostró talento superlativo, carisma y pinta envidiables, gran profesionalismo, tenacidad para mantener el éxito y creatividad para darnos una noche histórica a aquellos fans que lo habíamos estado esperando siempre “justo aquí”, durante tantos años.