Total Thanks: what was behind the legendary phrase of Gustavo Cerati at the farewell of Soda Stereo

In terms of both convocation and emotion, the recital baptized The last concert which gave Soda Stereo on September 20, 1997 it was one of the great milestones in the history of rock in Argentina. Yes, of course, it was Gustavo Cerati’s “Total Thanks”.

A total of 70 thousand people placed it among the most massive shows in the country, in tandem with the closing of the 1988 Amnesty International tour (with Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Peter Gabriel) and the presentations of big visits that gave one or more functions over the years’ 90, such as Elton John, Guns N’Roses, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Madonna, the Rolling Stones and the Ramones.

From the local scene, the only group that had filled the river up to that date was Serú Giráneven if after 1997 Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota, La Renga, Los Piojos, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Andrés Ciro, La Beriso and Abel Pintos would have done it, in addition to the reunion of Soda Stereo with the tour “Vedrai me return” , which broke all records with six dates in 2007.

“It would be ridiculous to say goodbye twice”

One of the premises that Gustavo Cerati set in 1997 was to perform a single function, so that it was truly a single farewell concert, and that “goodbye” was only said once, although the tickets sold out quickly and could have added another feature. “It would be ridiculous to say goodbye twice,” said the singer and guitarist.

That night was the close of a farewell tour that began on August 30th at Mexico Citywhere Soda also played on the 31st. Then, on September 2nd, the band performed at the Montereythe 6 inch Caracas and 13 Santiago de Chile.

Cerati, who lived just four blocks from the Monumental, woke up that day with the idea of ​​walking to the stadium to enjoy the atmosphere that the show had generated.

They even say that he even thought about how to “blend in” so as not to be recognized. However, the movement of people was so great that the plan failed.

How was the decision to separate?

In the second half of the previous year, after a pause in which Cerati settled in Chile awaiting the birth of his daughter Lisa, Soda Stereo gave recitals in Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela and Mexico. After they returned to Buenos Aires to play as the central number of the Alternative Rock & Pop FestivalNovember 24 at the Ferrocarril Oeste stadium, in front of 20,000 people.

After that show, after so many months of intense activity, suddenly there was only silence about the future of Soda, and the rumors of a separation grew stronger with the release of a limited edition album by the group Plan V, a group of electronic music by Gustavo, and his artistic production of the second album of the Chilean singer Nicole, recorded in London.

Many years later, Charly Alberti reflected: “I think I’m doing the tour of Comfort and music to fly It was a mistake, because we were making a record and presenting it on tour, but this time there were no new songs and the much calmer musical cadence was a snap and we got very bored“.

“To this – he added – were added the conflicts and many reasons that led us to stop Soda. There was a human exhaustion that had become evident from the naturalness of coexistence, and there were unresolved personal problems, which were latent. “

Zeta agrees with Charly: “I think it was very stressful to be back on the road after two and a half years without touching, being larger. Because when you’re 17 or 24, going on tour is like taking a year-end trip, but when you’re 30, you start leaving things like family and kids behind, “he recalled.

“And that tour was like going out in the early days, with a lot of requests for shows. Maybe we didn’t have time to prepare it in silence, because we finished the album, we went on tour and only a few days before we found out that at the end would have been to disconnected“, hill.

According to the group’s manager, Daniel Kon, “There were moments of tension on the Latin American tour, but there wasn’t a pivotal moment. The truth is that everything happened at the same time: great moments, in which we had fun and we all went to eat together, and moments of anguish, with meetings in hotel rooms where Gustavo said he couldn’t take it anymore. .

“I had a crisis. At Ferro there was a strange atmosphere and I remember a trip to Chile where everything was wrong”, recalled the coach.

And he added: “There was a meeting with the three of them, who called me on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and I went to Triple, the production company. And I was already tired too. I walked in, I thought they were talking about the separation. , and I said, ‘If you’re going to continue this tense situation between you, you’d better part.

“Then someone called me and he told me I went to hell, because that wasn’t what they were talking about. I guess I got out because we had reached a moment of tension and piling things up. It was not the worst moment, but it was the moment when the accumulated tensions exploded.

the official announcement

At the beginning of 1997, the silence and uncertainty about the future of the group broke: the news was circulating that Soda Stereo would hold one last series of great concerts and that they would separate, leaving an album with the testimony of the his farewell live.

At that point, yes Well, personal relationships were already broken, Charly convinced everyone to put together one last tourand his relentless argument was based on the expense it would have required to shut down the company and compensate all staff employees.

The news was officially confirmed only on May 1, through a brief statement he just said: “Soda Stereo confirms its separation, resolved by mutual agreement. The date of the last show in the group’s career will be announced shortly, in a stadium in the city of Buenos Aires. Signed: Gustavo Cerati, Zeta Bosio, Charly Alberti ”.

Cerati’s text for the Suple Sí

The next day Cerati published a special text for the Surcharge Yes From the newspaper Clarionetitled “The Farewell Letter” and which said the following:

These lines arise from what I have perceived these days on the street, in the fans who approach me, in the people around me and in my personal experience. I share the sadness that the news of our separation generates in many. I myself am immersed in that state because few things have been as important in my life as Soda Stereo. Does anyone know that it is impossible to manage a band without some level of conflict. “

And he continues: “It is a fragile balance in the struggle of ideas that very few manage to maintain for fifteen years, as we have done with pride. But, lately, various personal and musical misunderstandings have begun to compromise that balance. Excuses are generated precisely. there for not facing each other, finally excuses for a future as a group in which we no longer believed as in the past “.

To close: “To cut to the point is, to forgive the redundancy, to affirm first of all our mental health and also to respect all our fans who have followed us for so long. A big hug”.

The live farewell dates began to take shape in June and were announced in each country.

magical and sad night

During the sound check of the show in River, Gustavo spoke to the news of Canale 13 and said: “With this concert we are celebrating a past and a present up to this moment, but we are also embracing an idea of ​​the future. I think that tomorrow, Sunday, in addition to the plenary sessions, we will also feel relieved for having done well all this time, and for having closed it “.

And he admitted that: “On stage I’m sure I’ll think this should go on for another thousand years.”

That night of September 20, after the performances of the guest groups (Avant Press, Santos Inocentes and Tumbas), Soda Stereo took the River stage at 10:35 pm.

The stadium lights were completely turned off and a two-minute video was shown with a succession of photos from the history of the band. A shot of emotion which meant that the exit from the stage was before a sea of ​​lighters (and not cell phones) turned on.

Suddenly Gustavo Cerati shouted: “The hour has come, the minute, the second, the instant! I guess they are thirsty. Soda Stereo, Buenos Aires, Argentina! ” and they started with the chords of The city of fury, with the question “Are you ready for a long night?” before starting to sing.

The farewell already seemed to have no return, even if the whole stadium exploded in an ovation repeating: “Soda does not start!”

He attended the concert Andrea Alvarezwho took the stage a What bleeds (The dome); Richard Coleman, who was invited to do television overdose; Y Fabian “Zorrito” Quintierowho played American shutters. In total they made 27 songs.

Then came the versions of The rite, man overboard, on the seventh day Y singing of animals, very similar to the originals. The care of the image, both personal and scenic, has always been a constant in Soda. And, this time, aesthetics were not absent.

Lights ranging from warm blue and green to shocking white on the audience illuminated the large white fragments of the stage backdrop. Meanwhile, two large screens projected various drawings and images, and two other smaller ones, on the sides of the stage, did not miss a detail of the last movements of Cerati and Bosio.

The visually strongest moment occurred when the band played Glider: The backdrops of the stage were moved forward and together with the four video screens formed a gigantic fragmented screen that projected textures and images of water and sky. The musicians moved in the spaces between the lighted curtains.

The themes continued one after another, relentless. Games of seduction, Revealing heart, You often leave me alone, Strolling through Rome. Despite the sadness, the weather was festive, so much so that the cold became imperceptible. “What was there between us but mating?” Cerati asked and the band started playing the theme What bleeds (The dome)with the participation of the percussionist Andrea Alvarez.

Then, it was after midnight when guitarist Richard Coleman, who played in the early days of Soda, took the stage. Somehow, an era was closing for many. Adolescence, the eighties, the sound, the dark, the strange new hairstyles. Each of Cerati’s phrasing assumed a few more centimeters of closed door, of finite time.

Almost at the end of of light musicCerati made his historic thanks.

The phrase “Thanks total”