The Last in Line: A long-awaited return

Three decades without them. It's impressive from the get-go, and even more so in this case when referring to a cultural and generational icon like El Último de la Fila. And also popular, and without exaggerating one bit, like when those 200,000 people filled the Sot del Migdia singing along to Querida Milagros, Insurrección , and Como un burro amarrado a la puerta del baile. In 1998, the aforementioned duo said goodbye to the stage as such, although not as a pair of colleagues, but as a pair of exceptional creators and performers. They have always been there, each in their own artistic and personal space, measuring and managing their time and breaks according to their respective personalities. In a brief press release, both announced yesterday that the band will return to the stage in the spring of 2026, with a tour of, for the moment, nine concerts in Fuengirola, Barcelona, ​​Roquetas de Mar, Madrid, San Sebastián, A Coruña, Avilés, Seville, and Valencia.

Manolo García and Quimi Portet combined their respective artistic careers, first with Los Rápidos and Los Burros, then, starting in 1985 with El Último, and subsequently pursuing solo careers. And it wasn't the spotlight of fame, massive acclaim, or expectation that drove them. It's from this framework that their reunion can be seen, not just together on stage, but once again sharing the image of El Último de la Fila live. Their comeback can be understood as thoughtful, in their own time, and whenever they felt like it.

The circle will close, beyond the tour, when Manolo and Quimi return to the recording studios.

On the one hand, this is a return that, for the moment, can be seen as just another milestone in the development of their respective careers. On the one hand, we have Portet, pursuing a solo career radically at his own pace, unwavering in the price of fame and the workings of the music and recording industry. Brilliant and ironic, endearing and committed, the Vic native has released more than a dozen solo albums and a few weeks ago published a highly recommended and useful book, Cançons en bell llemosí, featuring the more than 100 songs he has recorded during his recording career and featuring an exalting epilogue by... Manolo García. At the same time, he continues to play occasional gigs and, as Donat Putx concluded the interview he conducted with him in this newspaper just over a month ago, he stated that "I'm always working on an album (...) I have no shortage of songs." For his part, García has continued to be present on the music scene, in a variety of formats and proposals (such as his upcoming participation at Barnasants in a collective tribute to Theodorakis) and also with forays into other arenas such as the pictorial.

Although El Último officially said goodbye on January 13, 1998, their two bodies, souls, hearts, and brains have been gradually cementing their reunion after a prolonged and surely necessary period of catharsis, so to speak. Colleagues and friends without reservation, they realized their shared desire to put it all together back in 2016, when they recovered their initial musical days in Los Burros and Los Rápidos in a vibrant and exciting way. They played a handful of concerts in Madrid and Barcelona (memorably, February 28 at Razz), where it was possible to see firsthand that the desire, the craft, and the rock soul were still there, a reunion they took advantage of, as expected, to bring some El Último classics to life.

After that, they had to wait another seven springs for them to get back to work recovering that heritage of music and attitude, this time in the form of reinterpreting and updating their recordings from their previous collaborative works, including immortal hits from El Último. And now they're waiting three years to almost complete the circle with their aforementioned return to live performances. And, excuse the redundancy, this circle can only be considered fully complete when Manolo and Quimi return to the recording studios to bring new compositions like El Último de la Fila to life. Knowing them, everything will come.