I've been lucky enough to go to a fair few music concerts in my time. There is always an electric atmosphere, with excitement and expectation filling the air. With this in mind, I expected a concert in another country to be very similar to my previous experiences. How wrong I was!
Picture this: ten thousand ladies of all ages (and the odd grumpy husband dragged along for company) packed like sardines into the local football stadium, being extremely flirty with the performers, singing in unison about the "cute little thing" on stage and chanting that he move his "tail". Needless to say, Marc Anthony did not disappoint, and granted the wishes of thousands of screaming fans by wiggling his hips and blowing kisses down the microphone, sending the hearts of his fans racing. I actually thought the woman next to me was going to faint on many occasions, she was so mesmerised by this Puerto Rican god of salsa!
I was surprised that there were still seats left for the gig when we purchased them just three days beforehand. On arrival at the stadium one hour before "kick-off", the reason was plain; they sold far more tickets than there was space in the stadium. After scanning the stand for a good ten minutes, we finally spotted an empty space up in the Gods. However, when we got there, a singular pink scarf was "reserving" the space for girls who had nipped to the loo. Tati decided that the girls had lost their chance and so sat in the reserved seat, an act which was met with evil eyes and complaints from the entire surrounding crowd! The atmosphere suddenly turn sinister, as more and more people expressed their distaste of the girls who had moved in to steal spaces. It got to the point where a friend of the absent fans threatened to physically remove Tati from the bench. Very tense moments! At my suggestion we joined the squished people on the stairwell, which provided us with a spectacular view of the stage and big screens, although I couldn't help thinking it was a definite health and safety risk to have so many blocking the exit.
Another difference I noticed was the range of souvenirs available. There was everything from sparkly bandanas displaying the name of the artist to printed cushions of the act's latest poster. Of course the usual light up wands and devil horns were also for sale. I bought a hat on the way out, which was pleasingly being sold at half the original price.
The title of the concert was "Los dos gigantes" and so Marc Anthony was joined by another 'legend' Chayanne. I have to say, apart from physically, Chayanne and his music did nothing for me. It was a bit too eighties pop for my liking, but his accompanying dancers were extremely talented.
Overall the experience was great, and I am seriously considering going to see another salsa legend, Luis Enrique, next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment