If a concert could feel like sitting with your friends around a campfire at the beach, singing along to your favourite songs while one is leading on an acoustic guitar, that would seem quite unrealistic. Believe it or not, MARO delivered just that at Amsterdam’s Paradiso on March 19th.
With a line-up with three opening acts, it seemed as if MARO was traveling with her own portable festival. There was an hour scheduled between the start of the opening act and the start of MARO her set. It did not seem possible to have three artists play their own set within an hour, but it had to happen.
First up was Manuel Rocha. As the room was pitchblack, one bright spotlight appeared on the right side of the stage. After he played his first song on guitar, he introduced himself and also referenced the album he had written with MARO, called MARO & Manel.
Both his second and third song were new songs. For his third song he called carbeau on stage. He was greeted with some enthusiastic cheering from the crowd and took place behind the keys and synthesizer.
After only three songs, Manuel Rocha left the stage for carbeau to continue the fun.
carbeau started on keys with a long intro, which felt very intimate. This first song would be coming out in two weeks from then and was part of his upcoming album.
For his third song, carbeau invited another guest on stage. Pedro Altério was also greeted with enthusiasm from the crowd when he entered the stage.
When his third song ended, it was again time for carbeau to leave the stage in the hands of Pedro Altério. This is how they were able to fit three opening acts into less than an hour of time. These transitions from artist to artist went seamlessly, as they had all written a song together which they then could perform together.
As a proud Brazilian, Pedro Altério shouted “Let’s go Brazil!” before playing his upbeat songs. The energy shifted from a more calm to a much more energetic energy. People started to get loose during this last opening set. For his last song, Manuel Rocha and carbeau came back on stage again, so that the three of them could sing with each other. This truly felt like witnessing a group of friends having the time of their lives.
It was then time for the main act of the night, MARO herself. MARO is known to be a multi-instrumentalist, so it was only fitting for her to start the show by herself on the synthesiser. She later came to the front of the stage to sing and share moments of excitement with the fans. When her band joined her on stage, there were some familiar faces aAs Manuel Rocha, carbeau and Pedro Altério re-entered the stage and formed the band together.
As she is from Portugal, MARO has an oeuvre where she sings quite some Portuguese. Her more recent work, including her newest album, is written in English. She has developed a particular style to her singing, where she does not articulate very clearly, which results in more focus on the sounds of her words rather than the direct understanding of what she is actually talking about. When MARO asked the audience to follow her lead, this caused some confusion. She asked the fans to repeat the phrases she sang, but they did not hear the words. What followed was the repeating of sounds which was rather funny to both the attendees and MARO herself. She went along with the ‘dadada dada’ on the melody instead of her own lyrics. This showed how much fun she experiences while interacting with her fans. There were multiple moments during the show, where she tried to get everyone to sing along, but the words were just a blur of incomprehensible sounds.
MARO incorporated a more intimate setting during the show, by sending her bandmates off. She set up a smaller microphone, which was intended to capture both the sound of her acoustic guitar and her singing voice and she took her in-ears out. The room went quiet as she started playing her guitar. It almost felt like we were in a living room concert.
When the band, except for the drummer, came back on stage, they gathered around her. All of them with their own acoustic guitar, adding to the intimate atmosphere, but with more depth to the sound than when it was just the one guitar. MARO first became known internationally with her entry for the Eurovision song contest ‘saudade, saudade’. Fortunately, the audience did know the words to this song and were very happy to sing along when the band started playing it.
When all the musicians returned to their designated spots on the stage, with the normal microphones present, MARO did not return to her spot in the middle of the stage. Instead, she took place behind the drums and very confidently started the next song. This was met with a very loud applause from the audience. However, when Gabriel Alterio appeared, he did not seem impressed. He kindly asked if MARO would step aside and took over. He started playing the rhythm about four times as fast as MARO initially did, so it was clear who deserved the spot. It was nice to have a humorous little break between all the vulnerability of the music.
MARO ended her wonderful show with ‘we’ve been loving in silence’, but not before taking the time to thank every single person in her crew. She also expressed her great love for her siblings, whom she loves most in the whole world. While singing her last song of the night, she received a gift from a fan. When the musicians made their final bow, they were greeted with a loud and deserving applause.
