Los Van Van in Tampa, Florida June 26, 2003
Reviewed
by:
Los
Van Van played in Tampa, Florida to a very enthusiastic crowd
on June 26, 2003. The West Tampa Convention Center was the venue for
this legendary group, in spite of a dozen pathetic protesters on the
sidewalk across the street, shouting with megaphones. They were barely
even noticed by those of us who came to enjoy this phenomenal show.
Before
the actual show began, the DJs played some great Timba
and Cuban son and began to get the crowd aroused. The event's promoter,
a young guy named Alex González, never returned
my phone calls, so I was unable to interview the group. My partner,
Julián Mejía, who saw Los Van
Van in Atlanta on Tuesday this same week said that they were
exhausted from a relentless schedule that had them doing back to back
concerts in different cities every day without any time off in between.
They didn't even do an encore after their show in Atlanta because of
how tired they were.
In
Tampa they mostly played songs off of their last two CDs, but they also
played classic tunes like Esto te pone la cabeza mala, and
a few others of our all time favorites from years past. They returned
to the stage for an encore to please the ethusiastic audience.
The
only complaint I have is that this venue did not have a very good air
conditioning system and we were all dying of heat - including the band,
as you can appreciate by the photograph to the right!
We
were "Dancing Wet", but loving it!
I
hope that in the future they will include Miami on their tour schedule,
not just Tampa, so that I don't have to drive more than 4 hours to see
them, but to be perfectly honest, I would have to admit that I would
go to the ends of the earth to hear the legendary Cuban group Los
Van Van! I would beg them to please not leave so many of their
fans out in the cold... not everyone has the time to travel to another
city to see them. Please don't forget that you have fans in South Florida
too!
Please,
come back to Miami!
A
special thanks to SalsaPower Tampa Local Correspondent, Judith Turner,
and her husband, Andrés, for their hospitality!
Before
the actual show began, the DJs played some great Timba
and Cuban son and began to get the crowd aroused. The event's promoter,
a young guy named Alex González, never returned
my phone calls, so I was unable to interview the group. My partner,
Julián Mejía, who saw Los Van
Van in Atlanta on Tuesday this same week said that they were
exhausted from a relentless schedule that had them doing back to back
concerts in different cities every day without any time off in between.
They didn't even do an encore after their show in Atlanta because of
how tired they were.
In
Tampa they mostly played songs off of their last two CDs, but they also
played classic tunes like Esto te pone la cabeza mala, and
a few others of our all time favorites from years past. They returned
to the stage for an encore to please the ethusiastic audience.
The
only complaint I have is that this venue did not have a very good air
conditioning system and we were all dying of heat - including the band,
as you can appreciate by the photograph to the right!