{"id":29792,"date":"2026-05-06T09:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/29792\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T09:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:49:13","slug":"rosalia-live-in-london-a-breathtakingly-brilliant-work-of-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/29792\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosal\u00eda live in London: a breathtakingly brilliant work of art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rosal\u00eda<\/a>\u2019s \u2018Lux\u2019<\/a> tour is a work of art. That\u2019s a message the Spanish artist conveys even before she takes the stage \u2013 in place of a support act, classical music plays over the PA, while the stage is covered by what looks like the back of a painter\u2019s canvas. It gives the impression that, while the audience waits for the show to begin, a masterpiece is being prepared on the other side.<\/p>\n

Once things do kick off, it\u2019s hard to argue: Largely dedicated to the songs from Rosal\u00eda\u2019s astonishing and artful 2025 album \u2018Lux\u2019, which found her singing in 13 languages and mixing cool with classical, tonight\u2019s (May 5) show practically turns The O2 into a museum.<\/p>\n

When the two sides of the canvas split to show what\u2019s hiding behind, we\u2019re greeted by blocks draped with dust covers. Dancers pull a sheet off one box, lift its lid and dismantle its sides to reveal tonight\u2019s architect in tutu and ballet shoes, poised on a plinth. It\u2019s from here Rosal\u00eda delivers the first few songs of the night \u2013 \u2018Sexo, Violencia y Llantas\u2019, \u2018Reliquia\u2019 and half of \u2018Porcelana\u2019 \u2013 gradually loosening up like a sculpture coming to life. As she begins to move around the stage, graceful ballet transitions into powerful modern dance, dust (or an effect made to look like it) fluttering around her.<\/p>\n

This is a breathtaking show through and through. An orchestra guides the songs from the centre of the arena floor, but that doesn\u2019t stop the intense bass and beats on songs like \u2018Divinize\u2019 from thumping through your chest. Each track is given the treatment it needs to really land \u2013 \u2018Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti\u2019 has Rosal\u00eda on stage alone, shrouded in a white robe, the diamond tears she sings of twinkling in her eyes; \u2018Berghain\u2019 begins with her in a pile of bodies, moving as one, before an industrial dance break outro turns this faux-museum into a club. A cover of Frankie Valli\u2019s \u2018Can\u2019t Take My Eyes Off You\u2019 seems slightly random on Setlist.fm, but the 33-year-old uses it to position herself as the art, standing in a picture frame to perform it as a group of \u201ctourists\u201d gawps.<\/p>\n

\"Rosal\u00eda\"Rosal\u00eda credit: Samir Hussein<\/p>\n

As poignant and powerful as this performance is, there is also plenty of levity. Before \u2018Sauvignon Blanc\u2019, Rosal\u00eda sits on top of a grand piano and asks the audience to teach her how to do an English accent. When she accidentally chooses a fan from Rome who wants to teach her Italian instead, she rolls with it, then downs the contents of a large wine glass. Moments earlier, she invites Lola Young<\/a> on stage to join her in a confession booth. When the British musician dishes about finding out the man she was sleeping with was married with kids, Rosal\u00eda\u2019s reactions are gold \u2013 shocked facial expressions delivered to camera as if she\u2019s in her own episode of The Office.<\/p>\n

Although tonight is largely focused on \u2018Lux\u2019, a few songs from the rest of Rosal\u00eda\u2019s discography sneak into the setlist too, to make this a slightly broader retrospective. The Spanish guitars of \u2018Los Angeles\u2019\u2019 \u2018El redentor\u2019 get a rocky makeover, its creator\u2019s vocals storming over the top. \u2018CUUUUuuuuuute\u2019 closes out a section where she performs from among the orchestra, a speaker adorned with flashing lights and billowing with smoke swinging over her head as the experimental, club-ready song takes the set into brasher territory.<\/p>\n

The final two-song act takes the beauty of the night, if possible, even higher. In \u2018Focu \u2018Ranni\u2019, she matches lyrics about maintaining your freedom (\u201cI will not be your other half \/ Never your property\u201d) with dashing dancers, liberated and uncontrolled. As it reaches its end, she climbs to the top of a block of stairs, and still wearing white angel wings, falls off the back into nothingness. Moments later, she reappears for a gorgeous, concluding \u2018Magnolias\u2019, backing into a bright white light that adds a holy touch. A true masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Rosal\u00eda played:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Sexo, Violencia y Llantas\u2019
\u2018Reliquia\u2019
\u2018Porcelana\u2019
\u2018Divinize\u2019
\u2018Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti\u2019
\u2018Saoko\u2019
\u2018La Fama\u2019
\u2018La Combi Versace\u2019
\u2018De Madrug\u00e1\u2019
\u2018El redentor\u2019
\u2018Can\u2019t Take My Eyes Off You\u2019
\u2018La Perla\u2019
\u2018Sauvignon Blanc\u2019
\u2018La Yugular\u2019
\u2018Dios Es Un Stalker\u2019
\u2018La Rumba Del Perd\u00f3n\u2019
\u2018CUUUUuuuuuute\u2019
\u2018Bizcochito\u2019
\u2018Despech\u00e1\u2019
\u2018Focu \u2018Ranni\u2019
\u2018Magnolias\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rosal\u00eda\u2019s \u2018Lux\u2019 tour is a work of art. That\u2019s a message the Spanish artist conveys even before she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[27,1191],"class_list":{"0":"post-29792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-london","9":"tag-pop"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116527009843759520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}