History
was made in Miami on October 9th, 1999, when Los Van Van played for
the first time at the Miami Arena as part of their 28-city 30th anniversary
US Tour
I went to this concert
alone, because the night before the concert I was given a second ticket,
and since everyone was so freaked out about the planned protesters,
I couldn't find anyone to go with me on such short notice. (Bunch of
wooooooses!) When I got there, there were about 2000 protesters
with banners, lined up on both sides of the street. They didn't say
anything until the policeman asked for my ticket and then let me through
the line of policemen. When I began to walk toward the stairs
leading up to the entrance of the Miami Arena, they called me all sorts
of names...traidora, dialoguera (as if that
was an insult to wish for open communication?)...so I decided to taunt
them. I held up both tickets and said, "Tengo una entrada extra,
¿Quién quiere acompañarme? ¡Vamos!" (I have an extra ticket, who
wants to go in with me? Let's go!) The entire group started shouting
at me (this was all caught on film :-) ) and I kept it up .... VAMOS!
WHO WANTS TO SEE LOS VAN VAN WITH ME?
Then they all started
to shout at me in unison: jinetera, jinetera, jinetera, Jinetera,
Jinetera, JINETERA, JINETERA, J I N E T E R A, J I N E T E R A, J I
N E T E R A, J I N E T E R A, J I N E T E R A, J I N E T E R A, J
I N E T E R A, J I N E T E R A, J I N E T E R A, J I N E T E
R A, J I N E T E R A, J I N E T E R A.
So I stood at the top
of the stairs going into the Arena, turned around to face the crowd
and shouted, "¿Están seguros? ¡Es su última oportunidad!"
(Are you sure? This is your last chance!) and I went in to the
shouts of JINETERA, JINETERA...
WHEW!
But the show was PHENOMENAL...SUPER
HIGH ENERGY. There were probably about 2,000 - 2,500 people inside,
all dancing up a storm...and Debbie managed to pull it off (with a lot
of support from many people, who shall remain anonymous) and that is
the most important thing, because when they come back for another tour,
it won't be such a big deal. (And we hope it will be SOON!) It
was a HISTORIC moment, and I was there!
The band was in their
best form! They played non-stop for over two hours. The music
was so high energy that even people who weren't on the dance floor were
dancing in their seats! The dance floor was crowded, but nobody
cared because the music was so mesmerizing. They played a lot of the
music from their older albums, including their classic numbers, Por
Encima del Nivel (Sandunguera), Te Pone La Cabeza Mala
and Marilú, as well as a few numbers off of their latest
album, "Llegó...Van Van".
The encore was comprised of two songs, De La Havana a Matanzas
and Azúcar.
As we left the concert,
we had to wait a while to go out, while the police set up a line of
officers in FULL RIOT GEAR between us and those people
who can't seem to let go of their bitterness. As we descended
the stairs, they started throwing bottles and full cans of soda. I understand
some people got hurt, but we just left as soon as possible. Life is
tooooooo short to live it filled with bitterness. They need to
learn to let go of it.
In no way whatsoever
did their little show of aggressiveness detract from a most awesome
concert experience...Como les digo...fue BIEN EMOCIONANTE!
--
Jacira Castro
October 10, 1999
Other concert
reviews: click HERE
For photos of Los Van Van
concert, click here
