Juanes - "Vida Cotidiana" Concert at Hard Rock Live in Wheatland, CA
I guess my LJ has morphed from a drama blog to a concert blog haha. But anyhow, this past Presidents Day weekend, I went to my very first Juanes concert! No, I am not Latina nor do I speak Spanish fluently, but I took Spanish for six years in middle/high school and was fortunate to have a teacher who loved Juanes and thus passed that love onto me.
So when I found out he was touring in North America for his new album, I asked my cousin (who similarly had a Spanish teacher who was obsessed with Juanes) if she wanted to go to the Sacramento show. Turns out the venue was actually in Wheatland, a little town north of Sacramento that doesn't really have anything to its name apart from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino where the concert took place.
We ended up with fourth row seats because when the ticket presale opened, the only section that was available for purchase was the one in front. I sort of panicked because people were starting to buy up tickets, so I just grabbed two seats that were of a reasonable price (about $200 after fees) for a reasonable distance away from the stage. Considering I paid more for nosebleed seats for JJ Lin last year, I'm calling this one a good deal.
Back of the tour T-shirt, plus the lyrics booklet that I created and printed out for studying purposes
Prior to this concert, I only knew a handful of Juanes songs by heart - namely, Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor, Sueños, Para Tu Amor, and Me Enamora. I was familiar with a few others, like La Camisa Negra (one of his most well-known songs), A Dios Le Pido, and Fotografía, but there were also many that I had never heard before.
So, being the stereotypical Asian, I took the Spotify playlist my cousin had made from the tour setlist, compiled a booklet with all the lyrics, and set out to learn all 25 songs... or at least familiarize myself with them all. I also looked up all the words I didn't know so that I could get a better idea of what each song was about. (Shout out to the Songlations website for their incredible translations. And to Learn Spanish with Andrew for their translation of Yerbatero, which is so complicated I still can't sing it without looking at the lyrics.)
It was quite an enlightening experience and is definitely the most studying I've ever done for a concert. (I slacked off with JJ Lin once I learned he puts the song lyrics on the screens.) However, despite the work, I will admit it was rather fun and helped me dig deeper into the meaning behind Juanes' words. I also learned a lot of new vocabulary, such as...
- mentira = lie/falsehood (this shows up a LOT in his songs)
- atardecer = sunset/dusk (and the sunset is always "rojo" in his lyrics)
- quemar = to burn (and you gotta do the rrrrrr sound at the end that Juanes does in Mala Gente)
After studying on and off for about 2-3 months, I felt a little more confident going into the concert and had even fallen in love with Ojalá, one of the songs from his new album, Vida Cotidiana. The weather was awful the day of the concert, but luckily we were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel, so we didn't even have to leave the building to get to the concert.
I was looking forward to seeing what merch was available, but there ended up being just one option: a tour T-shirt. I usually end up buying a T-shirt at concerts, but it was weird to not have anything else available. I guess the limited selection made it super easy for the guy working the register, but I was a little disappointed because I didn't really love the design.
However, that was the only disappointment of the night. Once Juanes and his band stepped onto the stage a little before 8:30, it was a good almost 2 hours of awesome rock music with the occasional ballad thrown in. The band did a great job seamlessly transitioning from one song to the next, and I have to give a particular shout-out to Juanes's guitarist Juan Daza, who is freaking amazing.
Since I pretty much had the setlist memorized from my study sessions (though Juanes did deviate a little), I knew which songs were coming up next and was able to get parts of my favorite songs on video so that I can rewatch them for the good memories. The only favorite I didn't get on video was Para Tu Amor because Juanes stepped into the audience to do an acoustic rendition, and I was too short to see where he was haha.
Here's an embed of the Instagram post I put on my cosplay account (since my personal account is private).
https://instagram.com/p/C3iWMSjxX7S
Anyhow, I wasn't able to memorize as many songs as I would have liked, plus Juanes covered a few songs from other artists, which left me completely clueless, but despite the language barrier, it was an amazing show. I would definitely attend another one in the future!
Also, shout out to the lady sitting in front of me and my cousin, who noticed us after the concert and asked "Do you two speak Spanish?" and then gave us high fives. LOL.