BY A fluke of nature it was a warm, sunny evening on the South Bank; perfect weather for pretending you were a continental — sitting by the river sipping San Miguel, smiling through your sunglasses, relaxing. So it was a damn shame to have to abandon all that and troop towards the glum, grey concrete of the Royal Festival Hall.
But thousands of us did, for night four of the third border-crossing La Línea Latin music festival. And this was Barcelona Open City night, a celebration of the music of the “more-passion-than-fashion” capital of Catalonia. So that hot, summery mood didn’t wear off after all, as the crossbred sounds of Catalan, Latin American and African music that swirl round Barcelona turned the Festival Hall into an orgy of dancing, whistling, whooping, canoodling and general carnival naughtiness.