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Half an hour before giving the most famous concert of the last day of the Super Bock Super Rock festival, Benjamin Clementine was well disposed. He felt "lucky and lucky" to be such a success in Portugal. The concert on Saturday was the 14th of the musician in the country in just three years. An unusual number for a foreign artist. "The Portuguese public is very specific and very special, I do not invent, it's true, that's what it is, and I do not even see why," he said. Clementine during a conversation with the Observer before going on stage at the Altice Arena.
The conversation was the last that the English singer and songwriter had with concert reporters Like the previous ones, he was short and hasty by the tight schedule, but the few minutes before the show allowed him to give a hug to the rapper Stormzy, who had just happened before and wanted to greet him behind the scenes of backstage . "It's good to see you, man. Are you going to play now? Asks the compatriot Clementine, born in Croydon, south of London. "Yes, in a few minutes," replied the singer. "Cool, I'll see you," the other promised. At the same time, the performers of the Spanish company La Fura Dels Baus heated up and eased the stress in the corridors of the Altice Arena.
Despite the great affection of the Portuguese public, Clementine has grown up with Super Bock who had this song and helped people to know me even more, "the musician avoids thinking too much about the reactions of fans. So much so that, after a very successful first album, At Least For Now which even won the prestigious Mercury Music Award, Benjamin Clementine is risky. Fleeing the usual instruments, taking a part of the predominance of the piano in his songs, Clementine began to compose more experimental subjects, using the harpsichord. The goal was to use a European instrument to serve songs about a Europe in crisis (social, political, humanitarian). It was then that was born his second album I .
We asked him if it was difficult to reconcile the desire to be heard with the search for a new, less close to the pop of today: you can only do what you have to do. These are the people who choose whether they welcome your music or not. The Portuguese seem to understand mine, which is neither radio nor commercial. I do not waste time thinking about who is heard on the radio. I'm not that kind of artist, it's not what interests me, "he replied.
The concert did not bring good news compared to previous performances. There were good songs, a performer with perfect piano control, which plays with great virtuosity, and a nice entourage with the band that accompanies it. This includes a drummer, a guitarist and a small group of musicians on stringed instruments, the violin adding an erudite opulence to the songs.
The Altice Arena was not full. The audience at the Benjamin Clementine concert was hardly superior to the one who was in the room at the end of the opening concerts of the previous days (tribute to Zé Pedro and, in particular, to Slow J). This revealed the low participation rate on the last day of Super Bock Super Rock, which, in truth, did not have many lures outside the English concert.
Benjamin Clementine did not seem to care about the empty spaces in and benches, the latter more well composed. After all, a Clementine concert does not have to be seen standing up. There are no heels or moshs, there is a shared intimacy between the musician and the audience. For the fans, the singer addressed some words in Portuguese and also words like "thank you", "Portugal" and "Lisbon", given during the concert and sometimes even sung during the songs
On the screen behind the scene, images of children, refugees, victims of ancient and recent wars. They were the best visual base for Clementine's intervening songs and for her prodigious voice, which survives even without music, as the singer proved in some songs chanted a capella . At one point, Clementine invited Ana Moura, the "most elegant and beautiful" singer, to sing "I Will not Complaint". An invitation that is generally addressed to musicians from different countries because, he explains to the Observer, he likes to "embrace local musicians" in which he plays, "local musicians". With the concert advanced, Clementine dedicated the hymn "Condolences", sung by all, the "a woman who died," presumably her grandmother. "Phantom Of Aleppoville" always performs very well live and was another highlight of the evening. But it was "Jupiter", a great song, which raised the concert and the public enthusiasm. To Benjamin Clementine, who sang it with a torn smile
Hand in hand with the drummer, the Englishman started walking down a hallway, passing the microphone to people to sing the verse "The decision is mine" of the song "Goodbye". It was a goodbye to a concert that only sank by the size of the room, too big for Benjamin Clémentine and without an acoustics and proximity to the audience adapted to his music. Clementine is much better in the closed rooms than in the summer festivals. The proof? The fact that the Englishman was forced to ask the public to be quiet in the middle of the performance. Nothing that makes the musician's long romance with Portugal ends in a divorce. After all, a message on the screens with a quote from him reinforced that: "I will remember Portugal forever."
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