Concert Review: Francisca Valenzuela Is Courage

Francisca Valenzuela is iconic for a reason. In a world where strength is most needed, she is one of the few singers singing to it. Yes, we all can make a love song, but can we make a  strength one? Filling out Gramercy Theatre, Francisca seemed to incarnate exactly what she did in our interview: the belief that compassion is our most defensive sword. 

There is a soft warrior aspect to Francisca that I really liked. She approaches the stage like a battlefield in rest; as if we all came in from bruised from a truce, which is not far from how most of us feel with out life. I never saw it, but, lyrically, there is an element of compromise her songs; as if she is trying to make a deal with life to get more strength so that she can hold out for its love. It is a concept that AstroTikTok would love (lol!): the idea that life gives you a series of ¨tower¨ moments so as to wipe away the old and bring in the new, but in the same way change can be quick, recompense can be slow.

She performs like a rocker goddess, which is the great irony when you think of how her vocality feels like both weeping and a warrior cry. She can flex her notes to prove they are one in the same; you cry out in your biggest battles because you want to win, but you cannot fight carrying your negative feelings as well as courage. In a way, I think the audience came for that reminder. 

I am sorry and biased, but I love a good, Latino concert. We are too funny, especially with a cold one, and I think what made Camilo Septimo and Francisca Valenzuela´s show so special is that it reveled in our rocker, revelatory side: the parts of our humanity that feels a suitor melody twanged in electricity can reveal more about the human experience than… well…. A human being.