Jalisco en Vivo 2009, Puerto Vallarta
A Short, Quick Review
by Rick Hepting
I got home from the Jalisco en Vivo concert at 3:30 am.
It rained like hell and the show went on. I guess it was some type of unintentional symbolism of Mexico surviving the flu hysteria. The gods smile in funny ways sometimes.
I don’t know what it was like to be in the audience because I had a press pass and was about 20 feet from center stage beneath a sea of very happy, wet people.
Everything went very smoothly from what I can tell. To tell you the truth, the environment was so crappy, with the heavy rain and crowding that I am totally astounded that I didn’t see one angry roadie or security person, or one person in the audience complaining.
The visions from the night are still swirling in my head and it will take a while to sort them out. This is my first experience here in Vallarta of being behind the scenes of an event this large. I’ve worked lots of shows in the States but none compared to this size and complexity.
I wasn’t able to see much of the crowd from immediately in front of the stage, but other news sources are putting the total attendance at between 20 and 60 thousand. The streets and Malecón were packed for as far as I could see.
Alejandro Fernández, the star of the show, said with a wry smile, before things got started, “Creo que será un concierto húmedo, caliente y muy íntimo.” He certainly was right. People stood in the rain, packed like sardines, for 7-8 hours.
The performances were flawless. The enthusiasm of the stars was overwhelming. I’ve got tons of photos I’ll be posting when I can sort them out.
Apparently a boat sank off shore but everyone was rescued. Watching the boats from the press tent, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for anyone on them since the waves were so high. Some of the sailboats looked like hands held them by their keels and were waving each like beauty queens would in a parade, if beauty queens waved sailboats.
The best commercial seats in the house were definitely the $500(US) tables at the new Glam. I saw quite a few city dignitaries there in spite of a movement to punish Glam for taking unfair profit from the free concert. If I had that kind of chump change, I’d certainly would have been there. I had friends who had expensive tables at La Distilleria and, in spite of my warnings about the lack of view, I guess the place was full. From what I saw, they got to see the press tent, the covered back of the stage and the porta potties. Oh, well.
The rooftops of all of the buildings in front of the stage were packed.
I’ll write more after I wake up.
Under the banner of ”Jalisco en Vivo 2009,” Puerto Vallarta hosted a free musical extravaganza on June 20, 2009, from 8 pm to 3 am on the Malecón. The main stage was at the Caballito (sea horse sculpture) on the Malecón, facing south to Los Arcos Amphitheater. There were very large video screens and sound systems placed all along the Malecón.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://jaliscoenvivo.com/
The Jalisco en Vivo 2009 Concert includes:
- Alejandro Fernández *
- Paulina Rubio
- Polar Leon *
- Enrique Iglesias *
- Gianmarco *
- David Bisbal *
- Noel *
- Reyli Barba
- Sandoval *
- Gloria Estefan
- Luis Fonsi *
- Merche
- Coti *
- Joan Sebastian *
- Raúl di Blasio *
- Belanova *
- Ha*Ash *
- María José *
- Fanny Lu *
- Paty Cantú
- Aleks Syntek *
* confirmed for performing in Puerto Vallarta
This concert brought 15+ major musical stars to the city in a show of support for tourism here. A similar concert is presented in Guadalajara on June 27.
65,000 people were expected to view this concert. Reports of actual attendance were between 20,000 and 60,000. The Malecon and adjacent streets were be totally closed from 8 am Friday, June 19, to Sunday, June 21, at 6 pm to facilitate construction of the stage and viewing areas. Construction began on Tuesday, June 16 at 9 pm on the Malecon with some traffic diversion.
There are no tickets sold for this event. It was Free. Access was through only two points, from the north on 31 de Octubre and from the south on calle Guerrero. There were inspections and no plastic or glass bottles or cans were to be permitted. No children under 5 were permitted.
“Buscamos la manera de hacer algo por nuestro México y de dar un mensaje positivo al mundo. Desafortunadamente muchos turistas están dejando de visitar nuestro país por la incertidumbre que tienen. Es momento de decirle al mundo que México es seguro, que pueden venir y disfrutar.”
— Alejandro Fernández, The Ambassador of Tourism of Jalisco
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