Mikel Erentxun: “I will never have the dimension that Duncan Dhu has”

Note: Originally published in August 2026.

In your life, Mikel Erentxunlead singer of Duncan Dhu, only returned to his native Venezuela once. However, the singer – who feels more Basque than Latin American – remembers that he legally retained Venezuelan nationality during his youth for a very specific reason: to escape mandatory military service in Spain. Today, four decades after the formation of Duncan Dhu, Erentxun arrives in Lima with the tour “DD40 Duncan Dhu Tour 2026”this September 10 at the Exhibition Park Amphitheater.

The idea for this tour appeared two years ago, during a meal with his manager, when they both noticed that the anniversary of the recording of Duncan Dhu’s first album was approaching. What started as a conversation about doing “some concert, something” ended up growing much larger than anticipated. “We didn’t think it was going to be a major tour, but rather a small celebration”says Erentxun. But the celebration was extended first for a year and then for another until it became the longest tour of his life.

Now the journey is coming to an end. Lima will be one of the last stops before the closing concert, a point that Erentxun has also decided to use to end this parenthesis in his career. “When we give the last concert I will close the door of Duncan Dhu definitively, I will return to being Mikel Erentxun”, announces.

But the return to those songs does not mean for him a nostalgic reconciliation with youth. Erentxun prefers to talk about celebration. The musician, who is currently 60 years old, observes the young man who went with a certain distance. When he finds images from the early days, he says, it’s like he’s seeing one of his children. “You can’t be Peter Pan all your life”he states.

The separation from Duncan Dhu did not erase his presence in Erentxun’s life. “Duncan Dhu’s backpack has always been there”he acknowledges. For more than two decades, that burden coexisted with a solo career that ended up occupying a good part of his artistic activity. The musician assures that he never abused the band’s name and that he preferred to look forward. The proof, he insists, is in his 30 albums and the number of concerts he has given since then.

There is, furthermore, a difference in dimension that Erentxun assumes without resistance. Since Duncan Dhu ceased to exist as a group, he has recorded and performed much more as a soloist than during those years. However, he knows that the band belongs to another territory. “I will never have the dimension that Duncan Dhu has.“, he says. Time turned the hits of the eighties into something that transcends their authors. “It is something that is almost mystical”, duck.

With Diego VasalloHowever, there was no outstanding debt. Both separated professionally on good terms and maintained a close relationship. Erentxun defines him as “my brother” and explains that they have closely followed their respective careers. For this celebration, Vasallo preferred to stay on the sidelines, a decision that Erentxun respects. The tour, then, does not seek to rebuild Duncan Dhu, but rather to put his repertoire back into circulation.

The rest is experience. Erentxun He recognizes that the innocence and freshness of the early years have been lost, as well as the excesses, after experiencing a heart scare 13 years ago. There was also a certain distance from the songs. Some letters, like “I can’t help (thinking about you)”today they even seem somewhat corny. Others, like “Somewhere,” have aged better. They all, however, belong to a moment. And that is, for him, more than enough.