The magical Alvaro Soler conjured many smiles in Prague
Symbolically, on the day when astronomical autumn began, Alvaro Soler brought the last echoes of summer to the Czech Republic. The German-Spanish singer once again strengthened the already extremely warm relationship with the Czech fans and gave an even better concert in the Fortuna hall than three years ago.
Live: Alvaro Soler
place: Fortuna sports hall, Prague
date: September 23, 2022
Support, support: Greg Taro
Photogallery
Confusion on the part of the organizers deprived part of the audience of the performance of front-runner Greg Tar. His set was announced for 20:00, but whoever – like us – arrived at the Holešovice arena on time, had to wait only forty-five minutes and then straight away to the main star. Alvar’s brother, whose real name is Gregory Tauchert Soler, had been playing since half past eight, but this change was not announced anywhere. It wasn’t until around eight o’clock that the blunt information appeared in the Facebook event that the headliner himself would sing fifteen minutes earlier, i.e. at 8:45 p.m.
© Martin Bambušek / musicserver.cz
As soon as the ever-smiling Alvaro Soler appeared on the scene, all the disillusionment from the aforementioned chaos dissolved and the hall was in an intoxicating mood. The concert started with the pleasantly danceable single “Candela” and for the next almost two hours it was mostly in this spirit. The native of Barcelona performed in many ways quite similar to the one at the same place three years ago. That’s when he presented his second studio album “Mar de Colores” and in the full premiere he introduced the new song “La Libertad”, later number one on Czech radio. This time the repertoire was a little different, the current tour is connected to last year’s third studio album “Magia”, but the simply built stage looked almost the same and the singer’s extraordinary rapport with the audience remained. When Alvaro interprets his Spanish-sung, mostly carefree-sounding catchy songs, it’s the kind of joy that spreads kind of spontaneously. The 31-year-old musician doesn’t need to be overly hyped for jumping or anything tinkering, because after a while the viewer discovers that he is rolling his hips on his own, humming Spanish words and basking in bliss. Already during the fourth song “Magia”, the artist left the singing of the chorus to the audience for the first time, and later he could rely on the vocal chords of those present.
© Martin Bambušek / musicserver.cz
In addition, he also gains sympathy with his sober, civil-sounding speeches, which are simple classic plays. Even the words about his love for Prague and the Czech audience do not come out of his mouth as empty phrases, but as a sincere bow to his loyal supporters here. The mutual chemistry – or in this case, rather magic – is obvious. At the end of his career, he has only three consecutive albums, but already this August he summarized his career so far by selecting “The Best Of 2015 – 2022”, which included, for example, the collaboration with Ray Dalton called “Manila”. If anyone was unfamiliar with the name of this American singer, Soler introduced him with a snippet of the megahit “Can’t Hold Us”, which Dalton recorded with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.
A rare moment occurred before the middle of the concert, when the playful and cheerful tones died down for a moment and the singer sat down at the piano. The tender ballad “En tu piel” touched almost all the spectators, who showed it by swaying and turning on the lights on their phones. A hearty round of applause followed – and even heartier came when Alvaro had his say “Thank you”.
© Martin Bambušek / musicserver.cz
In another of the slower compositions “Alma De Luz”, this time played on an acoustic guitar, he invited a girl from the audience – a certain Natália – and completed the trilogy of songs rich in emotions with “Esperándote”. With her, he went straight into the imaginary cauldron for the fans. Thanks to these extraordinary moments, he even surpassed the bar of his three-year-old performance. In the second half of the evening, his brother Greg, with whom he recorded the song “Diferente” on last year’s album, returned to the scene for two songs. The atmosphere in no way waned as the end approached, on the contrary – perhaps thanks to the big hit “El mismo sol” or this year’s single “Solo para ti” presented with the DJ – it gained in intensity.
© Martin Bambušek / musicserver.cz
The finale was provided by the most well-known and fan-awaited pieces “La Cintura” and above all “Sofia”, which with more than eight hundred million views on YouTube is one of the world’s super hits. Cheering, dancing and happy smiles of the visitors are a matter of course in this case. Alvaro Soler played another concert in Prague, his fourth in a row, which fans will remember for a long time. His Latin pop hits don’t have any artistic background, but they give a lot of spontaneous joy, and that’s no small feat in the world of pop music – and especially nowadays. If we add to this the singer’s stage nature, cordiality and humility, it is no wonder that the local audience fell in love with him so much.