Live Review: Onda Vaga – Dingwalls, London

Onda Vaga
Onda Vaga perform at Dingwalls, London, (29/10/2024) (Photo: WHAT A TUNE)

Argentine-Uruguayan band Onda Vaga return to London for the first time since 2018.

In an increasingly stretched music economy, bands are sadly becoming a rarity. The rising cost of pretty much everything makes touring a difficult feat for any musician, especially when splitting the fees between bandmates.

Onda Vaga by comparison feels like a real treat with their seven members packed on stage, amongst a mix of guitars, trumpet, trombone, cajon, shakers and various other percussion.

The Buenos Aires-based ensemble have been going since 2007, making music that draws on South American folk rhythms, cumbia and ska.

They have an easy-going energy on stage, between dancing, joking around with the audience and each other, or picking their way across the busy stage to switch between playing trumpet, cowbell or guitar. It’s more like being invited to a rowdy party amongst friends rather than a concert.

Onda Vaga’s rousing folk songs are written in Portuguese as well as Spanish. Although, even if it’s the first time hearing them, it’s the kind of music you’d hear at a lively bar where strangers loop arms and skip in circles with each other.

Following the success of their 2018’s Nuestras Canciones, a collection of traditional songs and covers with the Onda Vaga folk twist, their latest two albums Témpera mental (2021) and Rojo (2023) have had a more muted response.

The evidence is in plain sight when all the phones are all out and the crowd cheers loudly for the songs such as Parque, Revolución and Tataralí from their earlier albums, now released over a decade ago.

One wonders how far the band have left to grow. The group play a new song from their new album coming out next year and it sounds like another iteration of any of their previous material for the past ten years.

They band generally seem to be enjoying themselves too much to leave the stage and skip the drawn-out encore, i.e. peek-a-boo for adults. Instead, they take bow and immediately ask, “¿Una otra?”.  

Seven albums after their debut Fuerte Y Caliente, they’re certainly in no short supply of catalogue. After what feels like the sixth “¿¡UNA OTRAAA!?”, I wonder if we’re part of an elaborate game to see how long each audience on their tour can hold out, until the resounding “SIIIII!” becomes “Actually, I’d quite to go home now please.”

The show does end, however, with Quedate Luna, a lush and textured rendition of Devendra Banhart’s classic song.

For every electronic music artist with their impressive lasers, nothing can ever replace the organic sound and unpredictable energy of a live band. It’s all part of the fun.

3/5
Total Score
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