Heard
28.10.26 · Barcelona
Sananda Maitreya at La 2 de Apolo, Barcelona 2026: a memorable night
// Desi Estévez · 2 min read
Sananda Maitreya brought his Spanish tour to a close at La 2 de Apolo in Barcelona with a night of outstanding music, reaffirming his status as a truly unique and inimitable artist. Those who made it there got a night that deserved a full house.
Two halves
The show unfolded in two distinct halves. The first focused largely on more recent material, including The Birds Are Singing, If I Were, I Saw Her and It Ain't Been Easy, before the second half revisited the classic songs that first made him famous in the late eighties.
Alone at the piano
Four decades after his breakthrough, Maitreya's voice may no longer possess the sheer power of his early years, but it retains its unmistakable character, grit and feeling. His emotional, stripped-down performance of Let Her Down Easy, alone at the piano after the interval, was one of the evening's most intimate moments. The concert closed with Holding On To You, a song that stands among the finest of his career.
The ones everybody knew
Predictably, the classics brought the biggest reactions. Delicate, Sign Your Name, Wishing Well, This Side of Love and Vibrator had the audience singing along, while Dance Little Sister turned the venue into a celebration of rhythm and nostalgia.
The band
The Sugar Plum Pharaohs (Luca Pedroni, Alessandro Spoldi, Fabio Longo and Marco Mengoni) proved the perfect musical companions, providing solid foundations and rich backing vocals that complemented Maitreya's guitar and distinctive voice.
A sound of his own
Ultimately, it was a great night of music: a reminder that, beyond the hits and the passage of time, Sananda Maitreya remains an artist with a sound, a presence and a feeling entirely his own.
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