For the record, I don't want people to think I'm a bad mom for taking Mac to see Shakira. I may be a bad mom for other reasons, but not that one. This festival was meant for children 7 and over, there was no alcohol sold or permitted, and they had a circus tent set up for kids to enjoy (supposedly but we didn't see it). Shakira wanted children to feel welcome and it certainly felt like a safe, clean environment (or as clean as it can be when Shakira's doing her thing!).
The festival was held in Bogota's version of Central Park. Anything planned outdoors in Bogota is a huge gamble because it rains and rains and rains all the time. Somebody got their prayers answered, though, because it didn't rain on Friday, Saturday (the day of the concert) or even today. Not only did it not rain, but there were beautiful blue skies and daytime temperatures in the 80s. We took ponchos in case things took a turn for the worse, but it was beautiful the whole time. You need to understand that this is so rare as to be remarkable enough to devote an entire paragraph in my blog to it!
The gates opened at 11am for a 1pm start. The first three bands were bands we didn't know, so we decided to arrive around 5pm in time for the 5:30pm showtime by Train, the Grammy-winning band of "Hey Soul Sister" fame.
Just before we got to the entrance gate, a man was outside the gate (who did not look like an official) asking me for my belt which was visible because I had my shirt tucked into my jeans. Well I wasn't taking off my belt and giving it to this man, so I untucked my shirt before we went through entrance with the "official" people. Later, I found out from talking to a Colombian woman at the concert that anytime there's a big event in a stadium-type setting, they don't allow belts because people take off the belts and start slinging them around like lassoes, potentially causing injury. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Note to self: next time wear tighter pants so I don't need a belt!
Train was AWESOME. They played for their allotted hour and they did not disappoint. They even ended with my all-time favorite Train song, "Drops of Jupiter". It was a great show.
Shakira was supposed to start at 7pm, but the diva in her must have wanted to get the crowd of 35,000 really riled up because she finally came out at 7:40. She walked through the crowd, singing one of her slow ballads in a very demure and covered-up long pink gown with a pink headdress sort of thing.
Then the stage went dark, the Jumbotrons went black, she whipped off that pink dress and the Shakira that we all know and love and expected appeared, decked out in a sparkly middriff top and tight, tight, tight black pants that came about 3 inches below her belly button.
If you're of a certain generation, I don't need to tell you that Shakira gyrates and swivels and shakes and shimmies like nobody you've ever seen. She wears very little and changes from one fairly skimpy outfit to another fairly skimpy outfit a lot.
As you might imagine, I could barely see the stage because of all the people jumping and carrying on, so most of the photos I took were from the Jumbotrons. Here are a couple:
Shakira really was the performer that everybody said she was. She was obviously very excited to be "home" (even though home is Barranquilla on the coast and not Bogota). She had a very receptive audience who loves her dearly and she returned the love.
Great shows, great performers who interacted nonstop with the crowd, and a great Colombian evening with my boys.
And for that, I am truly thankful.
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