Libido returns with Salim and Toño: rock group will give concert at the National Stadium | EXCLUSIVE

In 1998, two years after its formation, the Lima band Libido tasted success for the first time. The self-titled album by Salim Vera (guitar and vocals), Toño Jáuregui (bass), Manolo Hidalgo (guitar) and Jeffry Fischman (drums) resonated in the vibrant local rock scene, with several of its songs becoming classics of the genre, be it the opening “Don”, or the often sung “Like a dog”. With shows where the fury of electric was appreciated, as in the presentation they had in 1999 at the Home Fair, as well as one or another “unplugged” where they showed that they were also going for acoustic (even with a Peruvian cajon), The legend of this quartet was formed.

The new century smiled on the group, which also garnered favorable reviews for its second studio album, “Fembra” (2000), from which came songs such as the heartbreaking “En esta habitacion” and the plaintive, although effective, “No voy to see you more.” The group’s success was crowned in 2002, when it won the MTV Video Music Awards Latin America for Best Southwestern Artist, beating Los Prisonrios, Los Búnkers, La Ley and Javiera y los Imposibles; all of them Chilean groups. The following year, fortune continued on their side, as they not only sang at the gala, but also won the award for Best Central Artist.

In a way, those were the years of the resurgence of popper Peruvian rock. But that golden era, in the case of Libido, had its origins in the mid-80s, when Toño Jáuregui met Salim Vera in his neighborhood in the center of Lima, who had begun to frequent the place. For his part, Vera came from Miraflores, although that did not mean that she was missing a street; His many years at the José del Carmen Marín Arista state school (he was a repeater) ensured that this was not the case. Both have shared their experiences from that time in their respective memoirs, books that prove that Libido was not just another band.

Eventually the band mutated. Jeffry Fischman traveled to Berklee (United States) to study music production. The band continued, there were more albums, but nothing was the same. In 2013 Jáuregui said that he walked away from Libido’s live concerts due to differences with the group, and “a little with Salim.” The latter said that both remained friends, a statement that could be questioned by the back and forth of statements that both would provide in subsequent years. Even so, there was never a shortage of journalists who asked about an eventual reunion between Salim and Toño, like in 2018, where both were in favor of a reunion, although not necessarily on stage.

Ten years after the separation of Toño and Salim, and 20 years after the departure of Jeffry, the original line-up of Libido returns for a concert at the National Stadium in Lima. Organized by Master Live, the concert will take place on the night of Saturday, July 6. Tickets will be on sale from Thursday, February 1. As a prelude to the mid-year concert, the band held a surprise show on Monday night at Kennedy Park in Miraflores.

“It has been a process that took a while to mature and today is when we feel that we are ready to do a great concert at the National Stadium,” Toño Jáuregui told this newspaper. “We are excited to reconnect with the public that was waiting for more concerts, we also wanted the new generations to be able to see us play live, that is why we are preparing a mega concert that closes this story together with all those who have acclaimed us for many years,” he added. . Some words from Salim? At the moment, none, but his presence is confirmed by the recent promotional photo that accompanies this note. It is forbidden to miss the show.