Last Saturday, 25.10.03, we went along to the Lucky Luke in Vigo for a cracking Nu Niles gig. The place is very cool, all wood with plenty of detail everywhere you look. Once you have pushed through what is meant to be a saloon door you find rifles, revolvers, hats, kepis, a hangman's rope, saddles, hitching posts, the sort they have outside the buildings in the west... (which on this occasion served for the "cowboys" to lean on in front of the bar...)
We had dinner with the band, people from La Coruña and Vigo (there were fourteen of us) and, regarding Dani-O's comment about whether the directions given by the Vigo and Coruña lot got them lost in Burgos, well, I was not the guide who led them, though I did hear those comments... Ah, what is it about Burgos that makes it so special... XDD
The concert started fairly on time, with the room half full (the place is L-shaped and the stage sits in the middle, facing both sides), and this rock and roll trio (Mario: guitar and vocals; Iván: double bass; and Marco Antonio: drums) began unloading its artillery, number after number. Songs from their latest record went down: "Rockin´ in Morocco", "I got me a girl" (one of the best, for my money), the instrumental "Strummer´s Swing", plus "Misirlou", reminding us of Pulp Fiction, "Parquear", a likeable number in Spanish sung as a duet by Mario and Marco Antonio, the latter being the man who wrote it, "Put it back", "Forget about me" (a lovely ballad)... and other numbers from this band's previous cd, when it had a different line-up... "Good Luck, Good Friends, Good Rockin´", "Qué Pasa", "Money is good"...
They played a great instrumental by the Planet Rockers that Los Straitjackets play too, on which Mario did his impression of the legendary Eddie Angel, tapping away at his guitar the way our masked friend does, Link Wray style... and pointing at the frets with his index finger without pressing them down, heh heh... it was great fun, and they nailed the song.
"I won´t say I´m in love", which sounded like Buddy Holly...
Another hillbilly number very much in the Hank Williams vein, which Mr Cobo played on his own, drew the applause of the crowd gathered there one more time, and they had a whale of a time.
I first saw the Nu Niles in August 1999, in Ponferrada, at the last "Terciopelo Azul" party, and then the year after in Zaragoza, during the Fiestas del Pilar, and my view is that the band's current line-up has nothing to envy the old one. They are very good and they have earned their place in our scene. I hope they come back to Galicia soon.
Those of you who get the chance to see them, do not miss them.
The party carried on at the Casablanca, where we took a few family photographs of everyone gathered there. I was glad to see that Vigo has good dancers too, like our friend Juanillo, who will dance to the music on the adverts, and the girls, among them (Rakel, Marta, Cris, Rocío...) people with plenty of stamina left, I tell you...!
Soon you will be able to see some of the photographs we took during the concert, on the band's own website and on the Casablanca R´n´R Club one.
All the best,
Jesús Ángel "Slim Travelin Jean"
p.s. Greetings to Mike Segura, the band's support, and to all the good friends who gathered there: Jaime “Country Boy”, José “PonyBoy”, Marta, Quique, Simón, Néstor, Kike HTB, Daniel, María, Nortes, Rakel, Pablo, Rocío, Juanillo...
