Shakira, Shakira!

We waited 7 hours in the suffocating crowds and sweltering sun to see Latin America's pop sweetheart, Shakira, who was born in Colombia.  She has claimed international fame, but although she is very popular in the United States, her songs sound best in their original Spanish version.  She is incredibly talented, speaks five languages, and even does philanthropy work.  Her musical style ranges from love ballads to rock and roll to club songs influenced by sounds of the Carribean, Middle East, and of course, Latin America.  She is the second most successful female latin artist of all time after Gloria Estefan, and her song "Waka, Waka" was chosen as the official song of the 2010 World Cup.  In other words, she's pretty freaking fantastic, and I got to see her live!!

The first opening act was an Argentine singer, Vicentico, whose songs are popular on the radio here.  I recognized a couple songs but didn't know any of the words.  The crowd surged forward, and we became increasingly claustrophobic.  If the opening act was already getting crazy, we couldn't imagine how Shakira was going to be.  Next up was Ziggy Marley.  He didn't receive nearly as much love as the first singer, but I loved it nonetheless.  Reggae is definitely my thing.

Before Shakira performed, she decided to be a diva and make us wait an HOUR after Ziggy Marley finished.  Really? We've been waiting since 2 o'clock!!  The paid seats were still really empty; I guess those people had the luxury of watching all the other shows or showing up just in time, because they had guaranteed seats.

Finally, the pop princess took the stage.  I imagined flying in from the ceiling, fireworks, or some sort of ridiculously large spectacle of an entrance.  Instead, she entered through the crowds shaking hands and giving kisses while singing a beautiful ballad.  I was so surprised, and yet it was perfect.  Everyone around us was in tears.  The calm adoration lasted only that song.  When the next song started, thousands of people were jumping up and down, including on my toes!!! The crowd was complete chaos.  People were continuously pushing forward trying to get closer.  At one point, someone said there was a snake on the ground, so everyone tried to get away.  My upper body was being pushed and only supported by the person in front of me, while my feet were still stuck back somewhere near where we were.  If the person in front of me fell, I was going down with them.  We could only see her on the big screens, but it was still worth every penny.  She played an absolutely perfect mix of slow, pop, more Hispanic sounding songs, and Indian sounding belly-dancing songs.  It was one of the best set lists I've heard at a concert.  She never ceased to entertain the crowd.  Her beautiful voice was stunning, and of course, she didn't fail to provide incredibly elastic hip-shaking that everyone has come to expect from Shakira.  Costume changes kept things interesting along with club mixes of familiar songs with accompanying light shows.  She even invited girls from the audience to get on stage with her and taught them her dance moves.  (I'm not sure pelvic gyrating is appropriate dancing for young girls, but they went crazy all the same.)  It was an amazing show.  Even though I only saw her on stage twice, I had the time in my life.  It was by far my most fun night in Buenos Aires.  Once she finished, we sand a bunch of local chants asking an encore.  She came back out for 3 more songs.  What a generous gal.  Except Yani, who came with us, said performers usually encore here and don't make the crowd wait nearly as long as in the U.S.

Leaving took quite some time as the thousands of fans poured into the streets of Buenos Aires, but eventually we caught a bus by our school Austral.  I have never been so physically exhausted, but I'm still on the emotional high from the concert even today.  I'm so grateful for that experience.