Not to Brag, but it was Buena Vista Social Club!

Tonight, I got to see Buena Vista Social Club in concert. Although most of the original members of the club have died since the production of the documentary, but the concert was still amazing. One of the best I've ever seen.

The show was here in Xela, at the Hotel Modelo. Thus, tickets were all of Q90, or $12, and only a few hundred people were in attendance. The band warmed up with all the classic Buena Vista tunes.

I had no idea that people that old could rock that hard. Their fingers flying over the frets, wailing on the bongoes or blaring the brass, the band members were in their own world. They struck such an amazing balance between technical talent and just plain jamming, improvising and inventing new solos as they went.

The venue was woefully small and underequipped, and there were a number of technical difficulties. About two hours into the concert the bandleader announced that they were taking a break to fix the problems. Since the announcement was made in quick Cuban Spanish most of the gringoes in the crowd didn't understand and so they left. The band returned, sans technical difficulties and refreshed for another two hours of music.

Then the party really started. We stacked up all the chairs in the ballroom to make space for salsa dancing. Almost everyone in left in the audience could dance, so it became part concert, part party, part high school dance, with people leaving their cliques to ask strangers to dance. My friend Ethan is a competitive swing dancer in the states, so we had a great time doing swing steps in salsa time and style.

The band started playing Cuban folk songs and requests from the audience, including my beloved Ojala Que Llueve Cafe. At the end of the night, exhausted from the dancing, I sat down on the side of the stage to watch. As the show was ending, this fellow, Ruben, came over to give me a hug! Absolutely amazing.