This Mariachi filled concert was scheduled to begin at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday night at The Gibson Amphitheatre inside The Universal Studios in California. My friend Queru and I arrived early enough to purchase a couple of Margaritas to get us in a Mexican Fiesta mood=DHere’s a curious fact about me. When I go to concerts, I enjoy dressing up for the occasion – depending on the concert. And I enjoy checking out other people’s clothes, men and women! At this concert, there was a mixture of Good Taste “Vaquero” and “Club-Like" dressy attire. And I also enjoy taking small swifts of the various aromas of colognes the guys wear. Weird you say? I know, I know but good smelling colognes is a passion for me & I enjoy it=/
This was the third of ten concert performances for Chente, at this venue and it was p
acked! Queru and I found our Mezzanine seats (which were awesome) and exactly at 8:17 p.m. the show began with Maribel Guardia (instead of Shaila Durcal whom was originally scheduled) – as an opening act.Let me tell you…I’m a woman. But I can definitely acknowledge when another woman is a professional at her field or beautiful. Maribel is both! And she entertained men - and women alike - by singing five songs for us and made us laugh with her adlibs, quick improv, and funny anecdotes between each song. I had never taken the time to pay attention to Maribel on TV before but, I must admit, that I was quite impressed with her singing ability, (her gorgeous) long straight black hair AND…her shapely body.
It is hard to believe that this woman is 49 years old! We should all look that good at any age, let alone at almost 50...Dang!
As soon as she waved good-bye and walked out, Vicente Fernandez walked in and the audience’s applause ROARED! We greeted him with a Standing Ovation and he walked in beautifully dressed in an off white Charro Suit and an impressive embroidered Sombrero. He belted out the first of sixty songs he performed for us! After this first song, Vicente told us his current Motto, “Mientras ustedes no paren de aplaudir, yo no paro de cantar” (As long as you don’t stop applauding, I won’t stop singing). “…Asi por lo menos desquitan el mendigo boleto que compraron…” (This way the money you burnt on your ticket is worthwhile). And so...he sang hit, after hit, after hit, after hit for us for the next three hours. =)
When I say “sang”, I mean “SANG”. 69 year old Vicente can still belt out the classics we’ve come to love with such feeling and a lot of strength. Many of the songs were constantly chorused by all of us of course, and Chente would just allow us to sing them all on our own. He devided the songs & segments by the composers and we were treated to; Joan Sebastian, Martin Urieta, Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Juan Gabriel and a couple of songs written by him as well. Up until this point, I was not aware that Vicente had written “Las Llaves de mi Alma”! He asked us to sing it to him and so we sang the entire song as he soaked in the words he, one day, wrote down on paper. This is a very beautiful song.
And talking about – beautiful songs – we were also treated to a brand new song that is not out yet. I think it is called “El Que Mas Te a Querido” (The one who’s loved you the most). It is a beautiful ballad that depicts the love a Father has for his daughter, in comparison to the love any other man can provide to her. I say, this song will be a great hit and definitely danced - by Dads and daughters - in future Quinceañeras and Weddings.
Waltz Snippet of "El Que Mas Te a Querido"
My friend Queru decided to keep count on the amount of songs he offered us, just to see how much each song would be worth, at the end of the night LOL. Now, as my dear brother Jose commented to me, Vicente tends to get a little tipsy while performing. (Let me comment back to you my brother, he also smoked two cigarettes while singing=/) He has an assistant serving him small shots. The minute Chente would place his empty glass on the table, it was quickly replaced by a new one. I’m not quite sure what drink he was consuming but it was a bright gold one in color. Tequila??? Maybe! He did mention that it was sweet. Throughout his performance, he’d give-a-way a freshly poured drink to some of the fans sitting in the front row, much to their delight=D Queru, (along with counting the songs) attempted to also count his drinks, but…lost track=/ I'd say he must have had no less than ten. Yikes! I hope he had a designated driver. Ji,ji,ji.
…Back to the Terrific Music…
Vicente sang the songs that introduced him to the world, many of his classics, songs that are Mexican Staples, a set of songs made popular by 70’s Artists & redone with Mariachi and many of his new hits. The crowd’s cheers and applause roared at the beginning and at the end of each song. I did get goose bumps with many of them as I sang along, but the one song that was the culprit of bringing tears to my eyes was definitely, “Aca Entre Nos”. The power in his voice and "El Sentimiento" that he puts in his interpretation, is what did it for me=,(
Chente loved putting his hands behind his ears - to amplify the sound of the crowd - singing along to his songs. He interacted with his audience of an equaly enthusiastic mixture of young and old fans alike and would wave at each section of the theatre acknowledging all of us, clicking his glass in “cheers” with some of the people in the front row & gave away four shots to some very excited fans. He also received a long stem rose, took out the plastic wrapping, cut the long stem down and graciously wore it on his lapel for the rest of the night. Grabbed a Stetson “Tejano” hat, wore it for the entire song then returned it back to the fan. And the best part of all, he grabbed a cell phone that was handed to him and sang a good part of his song in to it. Now, I don’t know if there was someone on the other line listening to Chente sing to them or if the cell phone’s owner was recording it as his voicemail, but either way, that was cool!=D
…Back to the Terrific Music…
Vicente sang the songs that introduced him to the world, many of his classics, songs that are Mexican Staples, a set of songs made popular by 70’s Artists & redone with Mariachi and many of his new hits. The crowd’s cheers and applause roared at the beginning and at the end of each song. I did get goose bumps with many of them as I sang along, but the one song that was the culprit of bringing tears to my eyes was definitely, “Aca Entre Nos”. The power in his voice and "El Sentimiento" that he puts in his interpretation, is what did it for me=,(
Chente loved putting his hands behind his ears - to amplify the sound of the crowd - singing along to his songs. He interacted with his audience of an equaly enthusiastic mixture of young and old fans alike and would wave at each section of the theatre acknowledging all of us, clicking his glass in “cheers” with some of the people in the front row & gave away four shots to some very excited fans. He also received a long stem rose, took out the plastic wrapping, cut the long stem down and graciously wore it on his lapel for the rest of the night. Grabbed a Stetson “Tejano” hat, wore it for the entire song then returned it back to the fan. And the best part of all, he grabbed a cell phone that was handed to him and sang a good part of his song in to it. Now, I don’t know if there was someone on the other line listening to Chente sing to them or if the cell phone’s owner was recording it as his voicemail, but either way, that was cool!=D
Chente singing on the Cell Phone
So after three entire hours of being serenaded by Vicente Fernandez, I can honestly say that I enjoyed this concert very, very much. I had been trying to see him for the past three years and the tickets were always very expensive and Sold Out! Thanks to Queru’s (new) Long-Distance-Beau, that gave her two $149.00 dollar concert tickets for her birthday. And thanks to Queru whom in turn - generously gave one of them to me for my birthday - I was able to finally witness this Legend in concert before The Lord calls him for his own $2.48 per song concert in heaven.
