Mario Cobo – live at Conciertos de Radio 3, Madrid – April 18, 2018 – RNE Radio 3 –
Continuing Rock Without Borders week with a slice of Rockabilly from Madrid. Recorded at RNE Radio 3 studios in Madrid for Conciertos de Radio 3 – April 18, 2018.
Mario Cobo is one of the leading musicians in rock and roll/Rockabilly in Spain. Guitarist and leader of The Nu Niles, he has collaborated with musicians such as Kim Lenz , Janis Martin or Billy Lee Riley .
To get an idea what Mario Cobo is all about, and his fandom in Spain, I ran across this review of a recent concert (February 26 – Rocksound Club, Barcelona) published in Ruta 66 (Route 66) Magazine (gist translation compliments of Google, which is iffy on occasion):
Mario Cobo’s thing is very serious. Every time there are more voices that elevate him as the best rock and roll guitarist in this country, and although absolutisms of this type always have edges, seeing concerts like the one that was marked last Friday in a crowded Rocksound Room seem to confirm that extreme. It’s not that Cobo was fine, it was very good. He also combined his usual instrumental skills with a mastery of vocal tasks that we had not known so far.
After the introduction by Jorge Nunes & The Full Time Fools, new project of the largest of the Brioles that will soon be reflected in the release of an EP, an untouched Cobo appeared to knock us out with a session of pure and genuine rock and roll. He debuted the songs that make up his latest release, Almería Gone Guy (Sleeazy Records) and, to the delight of the audience recovered a good harvest of his times leading Nu Niles with magnificent moments such as “A Cheat And A Liar” and the always indispensable “El Crunch of your Knees »in whose central part alternated riffs of Inspector Gadget, Nirvana or Stooges. And, if an artist of that caliber is added two squires like Alfonso Alcalá (anyone would say that he was feverish) and the always infallible Blas Picón, the result ends up being scandalous. But scandalously good. Bravo.
Rather than wade through the gist, just hit the play button and give a listen.