Rosalía’s big day in Seville dawned with rain and strong gusts of wind of up to 25 kilometers per hour, which have forced extreme precautions to be taken with the assembly of the infrastructure for the second of the events around the world premiere of the Netflix series Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine, who rolled out the red carpet in the city center on Friday. The armoring around the Guadalquivir River, especially on the San Telmo bridge – very close to the one where the stage is located – on Betis Street and next to the Torre del Oro, has suffered the consequences of bad weather, with falls and difficulties in completing the installation of awnings on the roofs. That entire perimeter has been surrounded by high metal fences with black mesh to make vision difficult for those who do not have tickets to attend. In addition, beacons have been placed in the bridge area to delimit traffic and prevent pedestrian access in the area closest to the stage.
The security deployment has been noticeable since the early hours of Saturday: along with private agents hired by the organization, Local Police and Firefighters were stationed nearby to avoid incidents. The inclement weather forced firefighters to intervene around 9:00, filling the beacons with water, which had been knocked over by the wind. As members of the operation have informed EL PAÍS, during the show the number of units assigned will increase and a crew will even be deployed on the sheet of water, given the possibility of mishaps due to the complicated weather conditions, although starting at 6:00 p.m. the Aemet predicts that the gusts will be reduced to 15 kilometers per hour and there will be a temperature of 15 degrees. The intermittent rain during the day has cast doubts on the celebration. However, sources from the organization have rejected a possible suspension, ensuring that “everything is moving forward”, with confidence that “it is not going to rain, although wind is expected.”
The last secret that remains to be revealed is what song Rosalía will perform. It is only known that “he will give a song to Seville”, as the organization has insisted, reluctant to provide any type of information in this regard, not even about the expected number of attendees. The speculation surrounding the song will end at 10:30 p.m., the time announced on the official website of The Guadalquivir Jarana —as Netflix has called the event— as “a big final surprise.” It will be from 7:30 p.m. when the doors open to receive the public and the pre-show will begin at 8:00 p.m., giving way to the 9:15 p.m. show principal.
In other international events, Rosalía has already surprised with very particular versions of I stay with youat the 2019 Goya ceremony, or Our love brokeat the Latin Grammys, both also held in Seville. A nod to the city is expected, as artists such as Bruce Springsteen have done, when on his 2009 tour he captivated 30,000 people beginning his concert with the strains of the popular Seville Has a Special Color.
The madness of his followers
This Saturday, some fans without tickets still maintained the hope of seeing the Catalan artist up close, waiting at the doors of the emblematic Alfonso XIII hotel, located a short distance from where the show will take place. In the two days she has been in Seville, Rosalía has always been close to her followers and to the workers of the restaurants she has visited—the first day at Bodeguita Antonio Romero in El Arenal and on Friday at Cañabota, with a Michelin star.
On the eve of the long-awaited performance, he left some images of those meetings, such as the one with the Sevillian artist Julia de Gabriel, author of the 8-M campaign poster this year. The singer starred in a funny anecdote, looking for the author of a large-scale portrait of her that she had seen when leaving the hotel, which she returned signed to the irrepressible joy of its creator.