Hannon’s top hat

Neil Hannon never fails. It’s a fact. The little artist, at the head of his The Divine Comedyis simply infallible when it comes to offering a concert with impeccable execution and therapeutic effects, regardless of the format chosen for the occasion. If, in addition, the selected stage is none other than the Teatro Real in Madrid and the vocalist is accompanied by a solid six-member band, the event begins to look memorable. An imaginary materialized thanks to this new cycle baptized as ‘Revolution 65’ which, in addition to the performance of The Divine Comedy themselves, has scheduled concerts by José González, Valeria Castro and Love Of Lesbian in the same location.

Hannon and his entourage took the stage with the marked punctuality that such a solemn environment demanded, to begin chiseling what would be a charming concert from the priceless initial trio composed of “Something For The Weekend”, “Becoming More Like Alfie” and “The Frog Princess” – all of them taken from a “Casanova” (Setanta, 96) who has just turned thirty years old–. An execution that would not stop growing, attenuated by its intoxicating essence and over a hundred minutes with stops as glorious as “Neapolitan Girl”, a “Generation Sex” followed by “Bad Ambassador” and “A Lady Of A Certain Age”, “Our Mutual Friend”, or another winning trio embodied in “Absent Friends”, “I Like” and the festive “National Express” as a final stretch.

As luxury additions there would be “How Can You Leave Me on My Own”, “Invisible Thread” and the inevitable (and incorruptible) epilogue of “Tonight We Fly”. The always mischievous and fun vocalist also quickened his usual bursts of fine humor and theatricality (getting off the stage to have a few dances with the audience included), in a maneuver with which he highlights that trademark compositional and interpretive elegance of the house. And, although the excuse seemed to fall on the defense of “Rainy Sunday Afternoon” (Auto, 25) –last studio work under the signature of The Divine Comedy–, the truth is that the matter mutated without remission into a review of that songbook saturated with gems owned by the composer.

a work, “Rainy Sunday Afternoon”from which in practice only three of its best pieces emerged (“Mar-a-Lago By The Sea”, and the emotional “Achilles” and “The Last Time I Saw the Old Man”, to which the aforementioned “Invisible Thread” was added in the encores), grouped in the middle of an evening that only enhanced the already healing sensations inherent to the songs of The Divine Comedy. A focused objective with impeccable taste at some point where Scott Walker, David Bowie, Burt Bucharch and Paul McCartney converge, which the Northern Irishman has been pulling out of his hat for more than thirty-five years. The same one in which he molds influences until he achieves what, at this point, is his own amalgam of (very fine) baroque and orchestrated indie-pop.