"Otra!... Otra!..." - The Santiago concert scene

"Otra", to give a bit of context to the title of this post, is what Chileans say when a concerts ends for the encore.  And they all yell it in unison and the bands love it.  As soon as an entertainer leaves the stage the whole crowd jumps into a round of, "Otra, Otra, Otra...", the band returns and the music begins again. It is a bit of a game I feel, as all of the concerts we attended had 3 encores.  And yes, while we do have something similar in the US, with random screaming, shrieks and foot stoping, the smooth coordination of the Chilean "Otra" is impressive.

Bon Jovi: 

As you may not all know, I am a HUGE Bon Jovi fan and have been for years. As a surprise "Welcome to Chile" present, Victor got us tickets to see him.  And he didn't let us down!  We were in the section right in front of the stage.  And while I know this section is the rowdy one in the states, I have never seen such excitement, jumping, pushing, shoving and mosh-pitting (if that is a verb).

For the first 30 minutes of the concert I was only able to stay standing because Victor was holding me up from being pushed over.  But thankfully it slowed down and we were able to really enjoy the evening!  He is not only a talented singer/guitar player, he is also a good entertainer.  But I must say, while I am a fan, I did learn some new items about Bon Jovi at the concert:

1. He has had lots of plastic surgery.  Okay.. I probably should have known this, as the man is goregous and looks better now that he did in the 80s.  Victor enlightened on this subject, thanks to his education from yahoo.com.  I do think they must have removed his sweat glands, as while he was wearing a leather jacket the entire night, he didn't seem to sweat.
2. Richie Sambora (the famous guitar player) is an incredibly unattractive man.  And while that may be mean to say.. it is so true.  And the odd part was that the Chilean women loved him!  Perhaps American women do too.. I am not sure?  But regardless... I found him very off-putting. And he sweat, unlike Bon Jovi, and was all sweaty, with snot running down when he was singing.. it was too much for me. 
3. Chileans LOVE Bon Jovi!  The crowd was sold out (around 60,000) and they all went crazy! This is mainly because Bon Jovi was one of the first "mainstream" bands to visit Chile at the height of their career in the summer of 1990 (shortly after "the slippery when wet" album). An entire generation waited 20 years for this long awaited reunion.   

Joan Manuel Serrat:

While I imagine that most of you are not familiar with Serrat and his music, he is an icon is the Spanish Speaking world.  A true legend.  He has been raising his voice and playing his guitar since the 1960s. He is a "trovador" (mixed of a poet song-writter and a singer).  Serrat marked his generation (mainly during the late 60s and 70s) with music that lyrics that talk about utopia and the common good, as well as the beauty of small everyday things.  He is also a recognized human right activist that protest against Franco's dictatorship in Spain and other authoritarian regimes in Latin America.   As someone who stood up against Franco, he was banned from Spain, and then made the trip to South America, where we was quickly embraced.

While I do not know his music well, Victor has been signing it since we started dating and there are a handful of songs that I know well.  Regardless of knowing his music or not, the concert was magical.  The entire crowd (it was a two-day sold out crowd of an older generation) was signing in unison for the entire concert, knowing the words perfectly, and they hung on his every word.

If you want to learn more about him:
Manuel Serrat Wikipedia

Dave Matthews Band:

Okay.. so this was more an American thing to do than a Chilean one, but it was still fun.  I have heard Dave Matthews in concert a few times (as his favorite concert venue is really close to where I grew up in Quincy) and it was fun to see him in a completely different context.  He and his band put on a great show and the acoustics of the group are impressive.  Victor and I agreed that it was the highest concentration of Americans possible in Santiago, and I am willing to be that of the crowd of 10,000 at least 6,500 were Americans.  We went with one of Victor's best friends (Christian) and his new wife Olga.  It was a fun evening out.

We went to Dave Matthews with 2 friends (this is Olga, the wife of one of Victor's good friends)

So as you can see, we have been quite the concert goers lately.  We have also been walking around and getting to know our neighborhood, which has a lot of amazing restaurants. I had a meal of sea bass with a mango chutney sauce that was out of this world (I am not at the point of taking photos of my food yet).

Until next week, take care and hope you are well.  

-Dessa and Victor