This past Saturday night, we had the thrill of going to our first big concert outside of the US. I didn't know what to expect. Manu Chao is an awesome singer who writes canciones in Spanish, English, Portuguese and French...Talented to say the least. The sold-out concert was held at this huge venue, Luna Park, which is right downtown. We hopped on the subway and arrived at 9m to a stadium PACKED with enthusiastic fans. Police and crowd control were directing lines and trying to keep order. Venders were everywhere selling things from t-shirts to meat-stuffed pitas to special brownies. We had tickets for "el campo" section, which like the soccer game, was standing room only. What can I say, we live life on the edge :)
Manu Chao's performance was amazing. If you don't know his music, I suggest you check it out on youtube or somewhere else. Here is a website that gives a good description of his style and lyrics...http://www.guardian.co.uk/Anyhoo, it was wild because throughout the concert, Manu had 2 different mental patients from the local hospital (one of whom used to be a top DJ for a radio station here in BA), come on stage to read poems and talk to the crowd. While the band jammed in the background, the first patient got up and started bashing the US and our government. Yikes....not what we had anticipated and not the best place to be sticking out as a gringa! We listened while he talked about Bush, the war, Barack "HUSSEIN" Obama and anyone else who he thinks is a horrible American. He would randomly mumble so that nobody could understand him, then continue talking about our government. The other patient was on stage and spinning on his head, doing slow-motion stretch moves on the ground and reaching towards the sky....while wearing mc hammer pants, a t-shirt that functioned as a doo-rag and long white stringy hair that resembled Albert Einsteins. Quite odd. Throughout this time, the crowd was going wild and booing and let me tell you, being one among thousands of angry Argentines was quite humbling. I was horrified to make eye contact or speak English at this point. After his rant, Manu Chao took the stage and continued to talk trash about the USA. It was incredible to hear, while watching the crowds reactions. I was actually kind of annoyed seeing as we were there to listen to his music, not listen to him bash on the states. Oh well, the overall experience was another for the books and Manu Chao and his band have some serious skills. Check em' out!!!!
Much love, Molly
manu does not trash americans, your government and their foreign policies are HATED BY EVERYONE in the world, get used to it ;) you go around invading every country, don't expect the rest of the world to feel happy about it.
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