Joaquín Sabina has put an end to his stage career with the release of Hola y Adiós, a double live album that captures the concert of November 30, 2025, at the Movistar Arena in Madrid. With 20 tracks and nearly two hours in length, the work is available in digital, CD, and vinyl formats. It is the sonic testimony of a farewell tour that closes more than five decades of live performances.
A master that seeks balance between live and studio 🎛️
The production of the album has required a delicate post-production process. The concert takes, captured with a network of condenser microphones and digital multi-track recording systems, have been mixed to correct volume imbalances and ambient noise without eliminating the live atmosphere. The final master, done at 24 bits/96 kHz, prioritizes Sabina's vocal dynamics over instrumentation. The vinyl edition, pressed at 180 grams, has required additional compression to adapt the sound peaks to the analog format. The result is a product that aims to be faithful to the concert experience, albeit with the inevitable technical tweaks for home consumption.
The farewell sounded better in rehearsals, but oh well 🎤
The most striking thing about Hola y Adiós is that Sabina says goodbye to the stage, but not to the royalties. The album includes the usual classics, those that already appeared on his previous live version albums. If you bought tickets for the tour, you can now buy the memory of having been there, even if it's on vinyl and with some off-key notes corrected by the sound engineer. In the end, Sabina's legacy survives: that of making money from nostalgia and proving that, even when retiring, you can sell the same product twice.