Juanes Brings Star Show to Seattle’s PARCE Tour Opener
Posted on 11. Mar, 2011 by Hector Aviles in Blog
Juanes opened his PARCE tour in Seattle this past Thursday, March 10, and brought a spectacular show of music and stage animation that was worthy of a true rock star. Seattle’s WaMu Theater, adjacent to the Seahawks’ and Sounders’ Qwest Field, was almost full of Latinos, most of them Colombians, who cheered and sang along Juanes hit songs.
The 8-member band, 2 guitarists (besides Juanes), bass, keyboards, and 3 percusionist (drums, conga/bongo, timbales/djimbe/minor), jammed packed more than 20 of Juanes hits in a concert that lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes. Among the songs, were 6 from PARCE, including the opening song Yerbatero, Regalito, La Soledad, Y No Regresas, Esta Noche, and Todos Los Dias. Juanes also played hit like “La Camisa Negra”, “La vida es un ratico”, “No creo en el jamas”, and “A Dios le pido”. The band was well rehearsed, playing solidly and hardly missing a note during the evening, and with excellent solos by Juanes and his other 2 guitarists.
Wearing black pants, black t-shirt, and a gray vest, and clearly eager to rock the house in his PARCE tour opener, Juanes sang with a stong, clear voice, pausing in a few songs to let the public do the singing in a fun exchange. Juanes addressed Seattle audience several times, taking time to acknowledge Seatte Sounders (soccer) star, Colombian Fredy Montero, and to express his happiness to be on tour playing his music. His comments and pauses were brief, clearly intending to jam-pack the concert time playing his hits. Yet he took time to make sure he connected with the audience and got them involved in the concert. The stage also had 3 microphones for Juanes, so that he could play in the middle as well as in both ends of the wide stage, allowing the public standing (as no one used the chairs once the concert started) accross WaMu Theater a chance to see him up-close.
The stage set was amazing. A full wall screen that contoured around the sides and back of the stage and was all used to display what seemed as an infinite collection of videos, animations, or live shots of Juanes, band members, or the public, amplified for the people that could not get to see him up close. But the most interesting thing about the stage to me was the light-weight 2′x2′ boxes that were placed as the public arrived in the back of the stage. The boxes, hand-carried by a stage employee, were not wired to anything, yet, the moment they were placed down, they would start projecting a rotating display of people’s photos. The boxes were completely inert, until placed down touching each other, when they would come to life unassisted. As the concert was about to start, the photo displays in the boxes turned into a giant image of a guitar player, which then began to play “Yerbatero”, as the band emerged in stage and the audience errupted. The same digital animated shadowy image appeared to close the show.
Seattle’s PARCE concert was an amazingly entretaining experience. It was opened by newby Antonio Orozco, a singer/guitar player from Barcelona, who admitted nervousness opening for the Latin music star. Juanes’ 8-piece band played each song so clearly and flawlessly that the music sounded as if it came out of the recording studio. Juanes demonstrated with his performance and stagemanship why he is one of the major Latin music stars these days. The quantity and quality of music in Juanes’ PARCE concert, along with the magnificent sound and stage production, makes this a must-see concert of one of Latin music brightest stars.
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