La Mafia at Fiestas Patrias Texas Stadium on 9-7-2008 (photos and review and a bit of a rant about “umbrella people” LOL)

Oscar was all smiles

Oh man was it hot at Texas Stadium on Sunday. I got there around noon, thinking that since La Mafia was scheduled to go on at 1:00 that I could stake out a place up front and that I would be able to hang for an hour, BUT there was already a band playing and people were already backed up about 5 back, so I gave up on that idea and instead walked around for a while, got a bottle of water, and sought refuge from the blazing sun in a small bit of shade behind a beer truck where I could kind of keep an eye on the stage, figuring that while there were a lot of people there, they were kind of spread out and I could work my way up pretty close. Wrong again. After the third band finished, and it was announced that La Mafia was up next, the crowd more than doubled in size w/i minutes. So I was like , well OK I don’t always have to be up close, after all I had just seen them up close and personal a couple of weeks before and I have a pretty big zoom on my camera, BUT man there were so many people with umbrellas that it was difficult to see, but I was like , oh well at least I can see their heads, BUT (here is where I go into my rant) there was this one gigantic red and black umbrella, held high in the air, about 10 back, smack dab in the middle, that was blocking out most of the stage for EVERYONE behind them.

I took this picture from right behind the offending umbrella

I fought my way to get closer and wound up about 5 behind those people and yelled out to them that we couldn’t see, people around me were nodding in agreement, but not saying anything, and I asked some of the people between them and me why they didn’t ask them to put it down but nobody wanted to make waves, so I pushed my way up to where they were and tapped the woman on the shoulder and asked her very politely ( we’re talking extremely nonconfrontational) if they could put the umbrella down so that people behind them could see , both she and her husband looked at me like “so what” and I pointed out that nobody behind them could see and they just smirked at me. How rude! I asked them if they could just put it down for just a few minutes since there were a lot of children behind them that couldn’t see anything and they continued with their attitude. I wanted to jerk the damn thing out of their hands and hit them over the head with it, but even if I weren’t the non-violent person that I am, I would still never ever do anything disrupt La Mafia’s show, so I figured the best thing to do was to get away from those people so I pushed my way back to the back. I did notice that a short time later that the big azz umbrella had moved way over to the right side of the stage, so either they realized that they were being rude , or they thought I was going to report them to security, either way, it gave me a great deal of satisfaction.

Mission accomplished, the red and black umbrella now over to the far right of the stage

OK now that I’m done with my rant, a little bit about the show LOL. As usual La Mafia wowed the crowd. Despite the blazing sun , the umbrella people, and folks having to bob and weave to try to see the stage, everyone there, including yours truly, thoroughly enjoyed the show. The guys were squinting a bit looking out from the shade of the stage into the bright sunlight, but you could tell they were having a blast, especially Oscar who was all grins. Oscar had explained that they didn’t have very long to play because they had a plane to catch to San Antonio for the show there, but the folks were just so thrilled to see them, and they were able to play so many of their hits, including the current hit, “Eternamente” (from the New CD “Eternamente Romanticos”), which went over big with the crowd. As they closed the show with “Un Millon de Rosas” the crowd was chanting “otra otra otra”….. and they obliged with Oscar explaining that they only had time for one more in order to make their flight. After they finished (of course the crowd was still wanting more) the MC came out and was cutting up about the “Texas Shootout” and asking Oscar when the next round would be. Oscar explained that La Mafia had won the first round but that it appears that AB doesn’t want any more rounds, that he’d been trying to call him and he won’t return his calls. I didn’t catch everything he said but the crowd got a big kick out of it. Then they exited the stage as DJ music was being played.

I tried to peer behind the fence on the way out because I wanted the guys to know that I had been there, but I couldn’t see through all the banners that were up so I just went out the gate. That’s when I spotted people outside, at a fence behind the stage and went over to see what was going on, and was surprised to see the guys out there signing autographs, got a chance to say hello to all of them, and Mando asked me if I had just gotten there, and I was like “No I’ve been here since noon”. (I figured that they had not spotted me since I wasn’t in my customary front row spot, and what with the sun in their eyes and all those umbrellas out there) Anyway, they all got in the van to head to the airport , everybody , that is, except Oscar who was in a playful mood, and having so much fun taking pix with fans and cutting up (as the driver was standing next to the van with his arms crossed, and periodically looking at his watch). I thought they were going to have to pry him away from the fence. He finally had to tell the fans that he had to leave. I waived as I watched the van speed away to the airport, thinking “San Antonio you are in for one helluva show”.

Despite everything I had endured, the heat, the sun, a bit of a sunburn, the umbrella people, missing the kickoff of the Cowboys game (I did make it home in time to see most of the game, go Cowboys!) it was well worth it.

It wasn’t easy to get pictures, but they came out better than I expected them to, so check them out and be sure to look at all of them because the ones of Oscar at the fence (at the end) are too cute. Click here to get to them.    You can also get to them from my La Mafia Website.