Sunday night concert-going!

On Saturday Phil finished his chess game early. Yesterday, Sunday, when an early finish would have been desirable, his game went on and on. He did win eventually but it must have been almost the end of the session. An early finish was required really because we were meeting our friend Colin down in town and then going to a concert. But an early finish was not to be.

So we caught the tournament bus down into the town centre, sweet-talking the driver into dropping Phil and me on the edge of the old quarter rather than having to go all the way down to the train station and back into town from the other side.

We met Colin, had some rather nice food and headed for the Plaza de España where veteran singer-songwriter Ana Belén, a long-time favourite of mine, was performing. On our way down to town in the bus we had an entertaining conversation with some of the younger chessplayers of our acquaintance. Phil told them we were going to see Ana Belén. Their response was, “Who?” They are clearly too young and had never heard of her. Their parents must not have given them the right musical education. Our children are well aware of the music of our generation. We have brought them up properly!

There has been some controversy about the age of the aforementioned veteran performer. According to Colin’s sources she is 65. My sources have her as 68. Naturally, I think my sources are more accurate. I suspect that she has taken a few years off, as most of us do. Either way, she is very well preserved and puts on great performance.

The young people on the chess bus may not have heard of her, but a phenomenal amount of older folk, by which I mean our sort of age -old enough to repaint but young enough to sell as some song’s lyrics went - clearly did remember her and the square was packed. I had to keep manoeuvring myself into a losition where I could see between other people’s heads. Still you should not complain about conditions at a free concert. However, someone should tell the organisers about the value of big screens so that everyone can see the performers in all their glory.

A large number of people were busily videoing her performance on their phones. This is a practice I have never really understood. Apart from being able to prove to friends that you were actually there, the video, and its sound quality, is always of doubtful value. Much better to buy a DVD of the performer.

And, of course, in the end it’s all about the me-me-me thing. So some people were just taking selfies - and not even selfies with the stage set in the background.

In some cases they must be looking at the pictures and wondering who is the unknown woman (me) in the picture with them.