Nothing was described before Wednesday night. The temple of rock in Cuba, the Maxim Rock of Havana, was shaken by that indescribable music of the 1970s and 80s. “Rock and roll is dead?” somebody asked from the stage of The Dead Daisies. From the audience a resounding “No” was answer enough.
The multinational band was responsible for two hours, to make known that classical edge of the genre, who its members consider as the “true” is beating.
You have to ask John Lennon if he imagined seeing himself amid an audience as devout as that on Wednesday in Havana. The former Beatles would know that insularity was never a barrier to this “mechanical” gestated in the United States and England and enriched with the sounds of the countries of origin of its various performers, had such effervescence in Cuba.
The Dead Daisies took care of giving life to it, as with Audioslave in 2005 or Sepultura in 2008. The blues tonality given by the keyboard, and the Afro-Cuban nuance of the island -contributed by two guests: the Cubans Jaimi and Ruy Adrián López-Nussa-, the group appeared on stage at the Maxim to conquer a “virgin” land in presentations of this type.
They went over a repertoire including tracks the band has played since 2012 this evening. Two ballads caught my attention: Washington and Yesterday, both vocalized by the member of the band The Rolling Stones, Bernard Fowler. Guitars and location of the battery in the tempo of the single and vocal location of Fowler make these songs formidable heirs of that American tradition.
For those who wanted something much stronger, artists were complacent. And it turned out that phase of the dramaturgy of the concert one of the most attractive. There they shared with two Cubans: Roberto Perdomo and Beatrix Lopez, both of Tesis de Menta. By the way, Beatrix showed her vocal versatility with Bernard Fowler.
Another memberof The Rolling Stones, bassist Darryl Jones, deserves a separated review. The instrumentalist delivered a lecture in his appearances on stage. So did the guitarist Richard Fortus, from that other heavyweight international rock that is Guns and Roses.
The rest of the roster shone in the Maxim: David Lowy (Mink), Briam Tichy (Ozzy Osbourne), Dizzy Reed (Guns and Roses), John Corabi (Motley Crue) and Marco Mendoza (Whitesnake). The latter, for his mastery of language, given his Latin roots, became the perfect partner for the band in concert.
I must emphasize that as a prelude to the presentation of The Dead Daisies in Maxim, we enjoyed three songs by Anima Mundi, a representation of the genre made in Cuba. The group showed that progressive and connected way with symphonic music cultivated for decades and has led it to have public recognition and criticism, especially on European stages.
We still wait for the farewell of The Dead Daisies to Havana. Agreed for Saturday at the Salon Rosado de La Tropical, the second appointment with the band promises. It has been announced that David Blanco will make the honors to begin with his group. Blanco said that he wanted to do a song with Darryl Jones and Bernard Fowler. We can only hope for what will happen tonight.
