After having debuted as the first Argentines at Lollapalooza Chicago, the You point it out told details of how the previous one was, of the sensations of being the first national band in the festival that Perry Farrell devised and of the tour of the United States, in which they even got the messimania .
On Saturday, August 5, minutes before 13 and almost under a deluge, Mendoza played several songs from their latest album Tripolar, before an audience that banked them under the downpour, although in some cases they followed them to pure rhythm from under the trees of Grant Park.
Juan Saieg, Lucca Beguerie Petrich and Gabriel "Cocó" Orozco, are chased by the rain in Chicago, and after the recital they received Clarín backstage in which Red Hot Chili Peppers closed four days of pure music in Chicago.
A show passed by water
You point it out to me, on stage at Lollapalooza Chicago.
-That question of Credence that after your show is still valid: Who is going to stop the rain?
Lucca: We sure do (laughs).
Juan: A Lolla is not a Lolla without rain.
Lucca: It was very good to play with rain at one point, because when we were kids we always watched festivals on YouTube and streaming shows and when we saw the rain it was a bit more epic still. So it was kind of epic that there are so many people in that context, in a setting that was a little hidden. It was amazing, it was very magical.
What happened when they opened the hotel window and saw the rain?
Lucca: And the first feeling was: "Uh." But then, to our surprise, the show was amazing. When we started to set up the stage and saw that there were already people waiting for us and screaming it was crazy. Then we said, "Chau, this is going to be amazing," and it was.
-Did you imagine that because of the rain they were going to have an audience dancing under the trees?
John: We saw it!
Lucca: You try to put expectations as low as possible, because we knew we were going to play early, that it was a short show. So it far exceeded what we had in mind.
Point it out to me, in the rain at Lollapalooza Chicago.
-How was the assembly of the setlist?
Juan: On this tour we were doing a reduced set for this show in particular, and a longer one, with more new songs. Somehow, Cocó just said that we are taking it as a couple of rehearsals for what is going to be the tour in Argentina.
Lucca: A good preseason, like River that makes it preseason in the United States; and clubs from Europe, coming to the U.S. That's how we are, but dead of hunger and sleep (laughs).
One more and let's not anymore...
-They were among the very few to whom the public asked for a bire...
Juan: We had to come up with a topic. In the festivals and shows that we have opened, if you want you can pass, but it is like a lack of respect for all the people who are working.
Lucca: We had to start five minutes later, because the previous band went over, so we said: "Let's get a song out and finish on time."
Cocó: We can play five more because the previous one I don't know what... But on stage we look at each other and that's it.
-From the stage they asked the Latinos who listened to them in the rain to raise their hands.
Juan: It was noticeable and we were very surprised. In other interviews I compared it to the first show that Café Tacuba did, which was the first Latin band here, and they always said that when they had to open Lollapalooza they played for the staff. And I imagined that we were going to play the same one, but there were a lot of people. I imagined it empty or with people coming in.
Lucca: If you imagine more, you lose. We always know that when we open a new country, that's going to happen...
Juan: The first time serves to measure, to know where you stand and how you are going to act the next time.
At Lollapalooza Argentina, in March 2023. They were also the first band from Mendoza to play at the festival. Photo Emmanuel Fernández
Cocó: We're doing what we like right now, talking while we're playing, and trying to make people have a good time at that time, those who are. In Indianapolis, which was a great show, there were 30 to 40 people, and it was a show that we loved. We had a blast.
Lucca: If you only do what you know will work out for you, you get bored. Comfort does not suit us, we prefer things that fill us and motivate us.
A source of pride
-What did being the first Argentine band at Lollapalooza Chicago represent you?
Lucca: Pride, mainly. It's incredible, it's crazy that it hasn't happened before and that having so many artists in Argentina who are incredible, that it's our turn is crazy, we can't believe it, and we hope we have lived up to it. Hopefully it will be the door for it to happen in the following editions that there are Argentine bands.
When we played in Buenos Aires for the first time, we were the first band from Mendoza that played, and from the moment we played a door opened and I would almost say all the following editions there was always an artist from Mendoza, always one from Córdoba, as it began to open a little more. Hopefully this will serve for that.
We are seeing that there are many artists from Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, who already have their space here in the festivals. Hopefully we can open that space of Argentine artists for the scene here. You have to work it, but you have to take advantage of it, because everything is fine.
Do you want a rematch without rain?
All three: Yes, hopefully!
Lucca: And closer to six o'clock in the afternoon, let's go for that. We worked for that, to hopefully one day be in the place where the Peppers are today.
The Mendoza trio Usted señalemelo, in Lollapalooza Argentina, In a day in full sun. Photo Emmanuel Fernández
-Were you able to see other artists at the Lolla?
Lucca: We saw one named Jean Dawson, who we met at the Hotel. We hit very good vibes with him, he is half Mexican, half from the United States and a copado. He approached us to ask when we played. The people here are very, and it also puts you in a place where you have no idea who you're talking to, we're all the same, unless you're Lana del Rey or the Peppers.
-It is a tour almost at the top of your lungs, in which you drive...
Cocó: There is everything: train, plane, car, trucks, we lacked boat.
Lucca: We crossed the country twice from coast to coast. We went from New York to Los Angeles, from Los Angeles we went up to Seattle and from there to Miami, which is the largest continental distance that exists in the United States. And we did.
How was the deal with the public
-What catches the attention of the public in the United States?
Lucca: How responsive they are. You always tend to think that because they don't understand the language you're singing in, you're not going to connect and it's going to do something cold. And the truth is that that surprised me a lot. All the shows were incredible, where there was more Latin audience it was much more like being at home, but with the native audience it's crazy what happened.
The truth is that we were very surprised because we connected with the music, with everything, beyond the fact that the language is not the same.
Cocó: In each song we have something in particular that we do that generates something, that they have to dance or feel something. We have played in so many contexts since we started from the age of 12, opening up to bands that have nothing to do with us, so a little bit we learned to convince people, to try to generate something, be it the music that anyone likes, we can make them feel something.
Juan: Now, even with the language barrier. It was a bit like doing something we'd never done this tour, which is that, showing the best you have to give. It's you there, at that moment and it went very well, the people were very crowded, all the people here.
You point it out, the Mendoza band opens paths abroad. Photo Martín Bonetto
It's also crazy to see all the Latinos who have traveled or who live here. There was a guy who had come from Bolivia to St Louis, who had never seen us because we haven't been to Bolivia to play yet. Also a lot of families or people who grew up here and who have an Argentine father, a Mexican father and have a connection with Argentine music.
That makes you feel super happy, when you get off playing and he comes closer, he tells you his story and everything he did to get to see us.
-When you got back together did you think about getting here?
Juan, Cocó: Noo...
Lucca: When we got together for the first time in our lives, we were 12 years old. Then, when you get bigger you take more concrete steps, you measure everything with other times, you think about it much more, more coldly, you learn things about life itself.
Cocó: Being in the pandemic and seeing everything in perspective, out there we were playing a lot, touring a lot, traveling a lot and there are things that you forget to think about or see in perspective or relationships.
It's like super deep what happened to us after the pandemic, I think it was very filling to get back together after having gone through a pandemic apart, it was very nice. We are much calmer, more mature in a lot of aspects, not so much in others, but well we have to continue (laughs).
-Does the tour of the United States open the door for you to meet other producers, see new things?
Lucca: What helps us is the level and the number of bands that there are, that we do not know out there, and here they nourish you a lot. Last night we saw an amazing band called Thee Sacred Souls, who are from San Diego, and we were shocked. All of that nourishes you.
We have also met and shared the stage with a lot of bands from Mexico, from the United States, where we have been talking about doing things in the future, or that bands from the United States come to play with us.
For example, we play with Portugal. The Man in the Metro. That show was incredible. We hit very good vibes with them, they told us like: 'Che, we want to go on a tour with you to Argentina, take us'. Those things begin to happen that one saw them far away.
To Portugal. The Man we have known them for a lot, they are references for us, and suddenly to be like this, in a dressing room talking to them and they tell you: "Che, we want to go open a tour" is to say "'Wow, what madness". We use it to generate links and make everything grow.
You Señalemelo have your first Luna Park ahead of you. Photo Martín Bonetto
Return with your head held high
-Now your head is set on the tour of Argentina?
Cocó: Since we announced Luna Park we have it in mind all the time. It's very special how we want to set the stage, it's the Luna.
Lucca: It's going to be like a ring, we hope we don't fight. There's the Luna and the whole national tour as well, which is very special because we have a lot of places where we've gone and we haven't played in a long time; there are places where we have never been, new cities in Argentina. That's super important for us, that music continues to reach every corner. We are very happy.
They were in Miami, but they couldn't see Messi. Did anything happen to you with the 10 during the entire U.S. tour?
Lucca: In Kansas, who don't know what a soccer ball is, they talked to us about Messi.
Cocó: In Seattle, I was drinking mate and they told me it was Messi's drink: 'Oh, the Messi's drink'.
WD
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