Surf-rocking Spaniards Los Coronas worked the crowd at their second, and final show, at Brisbane Festival’s Spiegeltent (23 September).
Dressed in matching cowboy hats, skinny jeans and embroidered, red bowling shirts, the five-piece from Madrid accentuated the old-timey feel of The Spiegeltent.
It’s a rather difficult task, of any band, to get an audience up and shaking it at 7pm on a Wednesday. The first half hour of the set was quite civilised; a mixed-aged crowd looked on from the saloon-style tables, as the band set the mood of a Spanish infused, '60s-style spaghetti western.
Their stage presence was effortless. The lead guitarist and bassist had their own choreographed stage moves, in which their matching hip-shuffles and power-stances wooed the crowd into the rhythm. It is clear this band are here to have fun. Their stage banter even poked fun at their trumpet player – the token non-Spaniard of the group, who is actually from the Ukraine.
Things started to heat up in the tent, as the Tarantino-style surf covers began to flow. A mob of dancers began to form up the front, doing they’re best to look as Pulp Fiction-Uma Thurman as possible. The drummer was so impressive, working with a three-piece kit in a very atypical fashion. My friend informed me that he was standing up the entire time he played. He was a petite man, which explains how I didn’t notice this immediately.
The flourishing trumpet added beautiful melodies to their cover songs such as The Beatles ‘Day Tripper’, which brought the house down. They also covered The Ramones, Dick Dale and, of course, served up a solid slice of ‘Wipeout’.
If there was a band that could get the middle-aged women of Brisbane dancing, like they were holidaying on the Spanish Riviera, it was definitely going to be Los Coronas. Una noche maravillosa!
