Saturday, January 31, 2009 10:34 AM
Rob Kinnon
Julio Iglesias Fever Sweeps Playa del Carmen!
Or not. The special free concert scheduled for last night in the Municipal Plaza seemed to fall decidely flat, at least to this seasoned concert goer's ears. The authorities had anticipated crowds in excess of 10,000 but, I am quite sure, far fewer actually showed up. I don't know whether it was over-hyped or if the afternoon downpour and the forecast for more rain scared people away, but it was not the night of crazy bedlam that I had anticipated and looked forward to. On the contrary, by the time we arrived after dinner, many people were already filing out and there were hundreds of empty seats. We all stopped for a quick dinner at Tango Taco located on Calle 10 just a couple hundred yards from the stage and we heard nothing from where we were. I have witnessed dozens of events at this plaza over the past four years, and without exception, they are loud, bordering on obnoxious. Not this time, there was a whisper of music and smattering of restrained applause now and then, noting to indicate that the great man himself had even taken the stage yet! Even inside the "concert grounds", in the stadium seating, we were surprised at the low decible level. The energy that should accompany a musical event of this magnitude was conspicuously absent. The audience was attentive and polite, no mayhem, no bedlam, no seething pulsing masses, no panties were thrown, no fainting by over-wrought, adoring menopausal women. Nothing. We dragged Birdie and Cole along with the assurance that it would be just like going to see The Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana, a lie I will likely never live down. They were good sports but happier once the show was over and they were free to run up and down the hills surrounding the park, while their dorky mother waited patiently outside Sr. Iglesias' trailer, hoping to get one decent picture to share with you all. Not luck for me. My pictures of the show are all crap, but we still had a fun and "interesting" night and Julio is as handsome and classy as ever!
Susan and friends from Winipeg at La Ranita.
Jana, Almeda, Rob and Brent Parkin.
Birdie and Cole making themselves at home at the bar.
Sara (PlayaMayaNews) and Michelle being sexy.
Kim and Jana
Sara and Rob
J.J. (The Nasty Bastards Band) and Kim
Dinner at Tango Taco.
The kids were real troopers.
For the most part. ;)
Like I said, my photos are totally crap. Kathy kindly posted some very nice photos HERE.
You can really see how sparce the crowd is.
We hung around out back for awhile by the trailers.
Sr. Iglesias, leaving his trailer and waving to fans and paparazzi.
A really blurry Julio (it's him, I swear it is) coming over to shake hands and greet his fans.
Kathy reports that the warm up for the show was actually quite fun, and I am sorry to have missed that. All in all, despite the concert being less than thrilling, it was a fun evening with good friends.
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