Thirty years ago, no Argentine rock artists had played at the River, apart from a few distant Rainbow concerts on the auxiliary field. The first to fill the stadium, and not once but twice, was Serú Girán, who was also a pioneer in the rite of triumphant returns.
The band had broken up in 1982.almost by accident, when Pedro Aznar announced that he was leaving everything and going to study in the United States. And although there was talk of a replacement (for example Beto Satragni), in the end they decided to put an end to the group that didn’t stop growing and was number one in the country. Each continued their solo careers and Serú Girán passed into the realm of local rock legends.
A return to the search for mystique and dollars
During the rest of the 80s, Charlie Garcia asserted himself as an individual figure. He filled in Ferro and all the Obra and Gran Rex he wanted, as well as releasing one album better than the other, like Moving From Bed to Living Room, Modern Clicks, Piano Bar, Part of Religion, How to Get Girls Y Economic philosophy and rubber shoes.
At the same time, david lebon he consolidated his solo path, after making two albums while he was -since the early 70s- in fundamental groups such as Pappo’s Blues, Pescado Rabioso, Polifemo and Serú. Since 1982 she has had hits in albums such as Time is fast, I’ll always be there, Desnuque, if it’s worth anything, 7×7, I can never reach you Y Contactsin addition to registration new mornings in Miami.
Peter Aznar He also had a brilliant career: he joined the Pat Metheny Group, recording with Charly in modern clicks Y Tangoshe sang with Gieco and Spinetta, and released her own albums such as Contemplation Y Photo of Tokyowhere he was perfecting his songwriting style.
For his part, Oscar Moro He tried his own project (Moro-Satragni) and played with characters like Riff and Alejandro Lerner, but bad luck and alcoholism made him lose the prominence he had had on the scene since the late 60s, with Los Gatos .
In 1991 the stars began to align for a comeback, but all have had important individual runs and the comeback should be in a big way. Charly started fantasizing about a suitcase with a million dollars for the four of them, but everyone wanted to prove that it wasn’t a purely economic return, so he added the idea of making a record with new songs, before going out to play .
The idea took almost a year to materialize. A businessman friend of David’s, by name Claudio Lisman has taken the reins of the project as executive producer and associated with Héctor Caballero, little known in the world of rock but with a lot of experience.
As Lisman recalls today, whose competence in technology earned him two Emmys, one this year, “I’ve lived overseas since 1973, but got into the project through my friendship with David, who told me he was the only one who could get them back together. I went to talk to Charly, who liked the idea and said we should move forward. Then I got together with Pedro and Moro and we moved forward. I wanted to do a cultural event that would unite different generations, which is what It has been realized”.
Rehearsals began in early 1992 and they held a press conference in May to announce their return. Serú 92 was already a reality and the plan included a new album and shows in Rosario, Córdoba, Montevideo and a big finale at River. And to prove how they sounded ten years later, they played six songs in front of the press that showed them in top form.
A mini-tour where everything happened
Unlike most tours, which rev their engines and after several recitals reach their best state, the return of Serú Girán started very high (Rosario and Córdoba) and then the quality dropped, mainly due to a Charly García scattered, overwhelmed by the excitement of having achieved such summoning power.
It should be added that the River seats were sold out and a second show had to be sold out nearly ten days later. There were talks of 60,000 and even 70,000 people to date, which brings the total to more than 120 thousand people.
The lineup of the last River, for example, kept the beginning with the projection of a video on the music of the instrumental cosmic notstaying on topic Ser Giran and a marathon of 32 songs in total.
As with all comebacks, the emotional factor ensures that everyone has their favorite song from the concert, but suffice it to mention anthological moments such as The beggar on the platform, waiting to be bornthe brand new To every man and every woman (with a verse for each), Sow, Cinema Veritéan impressive acoustic set, Do not Cry for Me Argentina Y Eiti-leda.
Compared to previous shows, it was just shut out dog night and have been added on the path of the sun and an unexpected version of Jose Market hooked on the classic Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry.
In those stretches of improvisation outside the guidelines, Pedro has always followed Charly’s creative flight to perfection, while David and Oscar have alternated moments of logical annoyance. In any case, Charly’s humorous and sarcastic outburst has always been celebrated by the public, even if logically there were passages where people were left not knowing exactly what was happening to them.
In the encores from which they appeared the raft until financial advisor by the Beatles, finally concluding with As I watch the new waves and the phrase “…I’m already part of the sea”.
Throughout the recital, David confirmed that his voice was in excellent condition, Pedro reflected his immense growth over the last decade and again made an impact with the sound of his anthology fretless bass. Moro has not stopped adding the legendary scrolls of him and curlers Of drums. And Charly has definitely switched from keyboards to guitar and any of a number of microphones, always as inspired as he is restless.
As Lisman recalls“In many ways the second show was much better than the first, because we corrected some problems we had with the echo. It was enormous the emotion we all felt to see so many people who were also very excited, and to see that we could do something like this, not just once but twice. I remember the hugs and celebration at the end of the show. It was a confirmation that the whole project was very successful. It was a shame it didn’t have a little more of continuity, even if it’s another year or two, taking Serú abroad”.
And though much of the press focused on criticizing Charly’s lack of focus (and the fact that he broke Moro’s battery), people walked away happy and contented. They had seen live an Argentine rock legend, a group that no one believed could form, yet they got together a grand reunion, with magic and talent intact, in front of thousands of fans old and new.
This is David Lebon speaking
David says: “I remember that when they told me to do a second River, they asked me to intercede with Charly and the whole group to convince them. We did and I couldn’t believe it, as it was full again! we who were the Argentinian Beatles, and those two nights I felt like a Beatles! I am more than grateful to Serú and all the people who worked there, because Serú in River was the best”.
And add. “As I played, I remembered all the bands I played in and wondered what I had done to deserve such a gift of life. Something very beautiful happened to me and the four of us felt very, very well indeed. The show was incredible and what is success with the people It was the best. There were no policemen in uniform, there were no injuries, no fights, no jostling. It went perfectly and thanks to Serú, Argentine artists started filling stadiums.”
Epilogue
As a memento of Serú 92, two volumes of the live recording were released the following year. Shots on the river were also used for the film pepperby Raúl de la Torre, from 1995.
Claudio Lisman points out that he has recordings, videos, tapes and material to make a special edition of such a historic moment one day.
Over the next 20 years, Serú never fully reunited and Moro died in 2006. However, there have been meetings of two (Pedro’s notable union with David over many months in 2007) and very occasionally three. For example when Charly invited Pedro and Moro to a Gran Rex.
The last time they played together as a trio was at the Colón theater, when Pedro invited Charly and David, in 2019,
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Source: Clarin
