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I didn’t know much about bachata music until I met Marisol. When her favorite artist, Romeo Santos, announced a concert in Pereira, she asked me to come with her and her group of friends. In the weeks leading up to the concert, Marisol taught me how to dance bachata. She told me I can’t go to the concert unless I can dance.
The Venue
The concert was held at Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas to a crowd of about 25,000. We arrived at 6pm and waited in long queue to enter the stadium. Once the group gathered, we all had hot dogs for dinner before the concert. Vendors walked around selling rum, aguardiente, water, and other drinks. Others sold Romeo Santos souvenir trucker hats and candy. Unlike the Marc Anthony concert I went to in August, there were no plastic chairs available for rent. This made it a little difficult because I would end up standing for over seven hours.
Pipe Peláez
The first act, Pipe Peláez, came on stage around 8pm. He’s a Venezuelan vallenato artist.
Tego Calderón
The second act was Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Tego Calderón. He started at 9:15pm and finished at 10pm.
Romeo Santos
Romeo Santos came on stage at 11:20, after what seemed like an endless delay. He performed his hit song Inocente as the opening song.
The concert was great. Santos gave the crowd a lot of energy and nearly everyone was dancing. He even called a few members of the crowd onto the stage for some of his songs. The last song, Propuesta Indecente, was performed just after 1am.
Leaving
Like the Marc Anthony concert, it was nearly impossible to find a taxi. We found a shortcut to the main road and was able to flag one down right away. It took us about a half hour sitting in traffic, and we were happy to make it back to the city center after an enjoyable night. Most importantly, I danced really well!
