Willie Colon and Marc Anthony
Monday, August 18, 2008Last week we were invited to see the Willie Colon/Marc Anthony concert. So we headed into the city on Saturday to run some errands. And then there was a downpour. And then we found out the concert would be outside at the baseball stadium.
We called our inviters and asked "Do you think it's going to rain tonight? Should we buy rain jackets? umbrellas?"
"No way" was how Macy responded, "There's no way it's going to rain! It's done for the day."
Not living in the city, I took her word that maybe during the rainy season it only rains once every 24 hours and it was clearing up.
So that evening we met at the Decapolis Hotel for a quick drink and sushi. Around 9pm we headed over to the concert which was scheduled to begin at 9:30.
For those who aren't familiar with either, Willie Colon (born 28 April 1950) is a Puerto Rican salsa music icon. First and foremost a trombonist, Colón also sings, writes, produces and acts. In September 2004, Colón received the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Over the course of his career, he has collaborated with musical greats such as the Fania All Stars, Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades, David Byrne, and Celia Cruz. Siembra, his record with Rubén Blades, was the best selling album for its genre.
Marc Anthony, most famously married to Jennifer Lopez, an amazing Pop Latin singer.
So we get into the stadium at 9:30 with an expected start time of 9:30. We head to our seats. The ground level seats are tables set up with 6 seats around them. We take our seats and immediately are met by our waiter - a guy dressed in white button down and black pants asking what we want to drink. Next thing I know, we're buying a bottle of Abuelo (Panamanian rum) and there's a bucket of ice, some cokes and cups. We sit around and drink and drink and drink. We look around. Everyone is drinking Abuelo or Seco. I thought "wow this is the way a concert should be."
And in typical Latin form, the opening act (Willie Colon) FINALLY comes on at 10:30. He was amazing...horns, singing, dancing.
He finishes about 11:30. And then we wait and wait and wait. It starts to sprinkle and then rain and then rain harder. Marc Anthony decides to come out on stage at 12:30am. Now I'm usually asleep by 9:30 and have already been woken up twice by the kids by 12:30 so this is turning into a late night. And it's raining.
He finishes his set at 2:30 in the morning. Fabulous show, great singer, well worth it and now it's time to get home. And in typical Panamanian fashion, we get to the car (parked on the highway but that's another story) and we sit in traffic until 3:30am. We end up arriving back at the hotel at 4am. We fall into bed, shivering and shaking. But another amazing night in Panama. And of course it was going to rain - it's the rainy season!