Hyde Park Book Club is a venue built for people to sit down and watch a show. On the night Msb Mario “El Niño de la Pili” arrived in Leeds, that plan did not last very long.
The room was completely full, with nowhere left to put another person comfortably. People ended up standing around the edges and wherever they could find space, turning what was supposed to be a seated show into something much more crowded and immediate. For Mario, the change in atmosphere seemed to work in his favour.
From the opening moments, Mario moved through Spanish and Latin rhythms, electronic sounds and rock. The changes came quickly, with vocal distortions and effects appearing as he shifted from one song to the next, rarely giving the audience much time to settle.
“Chela Chele” showed that almost immediately. The audience picked up the chorus and shouted it back, turning the song into a shared moment rather than something happening only on stage. “Shakalakalaka” followed almost immediately, with barely any pause between the two. The energy carried over, and the room went with it.
There was plenty of Spanish influence elsewhere in the set. “Karmen” brought that side of Mario’s work forward, while an electronic section built around his pad introduced a very different texture. We were unable to confirm the title of that particular piece afterwards, as the crowd around Mario at the end of the show made it difficult to get close enough to ask.
The rock side came through particularly well in “No Es Por Ti”. The track brought hip-hop together with rock ’n’ roll, with Mario pushing his vocals through distortion and effects as the song developed.
“Acuérdate” was another moment where the audience became part of the performance. Mario repeatedly brought the words “Remember me” into his rhymes, and before long the rhythm had spread through the room. By that point, the audience was doing more than simply watching; they were following the pace and responding to what was happening on stage.
The interview Mario gave to Hype Magazine a week earlier had inevitably become part of the conversation around the Leeds show. Whether that was part of another one of Mario’s games or simply the result of the attention created by the interview is impossible to say. What was clear during the performance was that he looked completely at home on stage.
He was animated throughout, moving constantly and making the physical side of the performance impossible to ignore. His movements carried the Spanish identity that has become such a recognisable part of what he has been bringing to UK audiences this summer, alongside the Latin rhythms, electronic production and rock influences in his live sound.
By the time “Suave” arrived, the concert had already moved through most of the musical territory that defined the set. It was one of the strongest moments of the night, alongside “Chela Chele”, and a fitting way to finish the final Leeds date of the tour.
A completely packed Hyde Park Book Club offered a clear indication of how far Mario’s UK tour had developed. The energy coming from the stage travelled straight into the audience, and those who had been standing around the room stayed with him throughout.
For a concert centred on spoken word, it was striking how much the night depended on movement, rhythm and the audience around him.
