Easily one of the most famous and succesful Latin Rock bands is without a doubt Maná, with 25 million records sold worldwide and 11 Grammy Awards, these guys are the real deal after almost thirty years in showbusiness. The band embarked on the “Drama Y Luz Tour” to promote their album of the same name, Drama Y Luz, which made it’s last stop in Miami, FL for the US leg of the tour. Without any opening acts, Maná performed on stage for two hours straight their new music as well as the classics that I grew up listening to.
As a Latina, Maná is a band that’s so iconic that I can tell you most Latinos know the lyrics to their songs without even realizing, these are songs my mom sang, my brothers sang and now I’m singing. Usually, before a concert I play the artist’s music so I can get even more excited, for Mana however, there was no need to because someway or somehow I end up knowing every single word to all of their songs, and it was such a delight to see them perform songs I had so long forgotten.
The concert started off with “Oye Mi Amor” which got the crowd on their feet, probably their most famous hit song. Other hits like “De Pies A Cabeza” and their latest single “Lluvia Al Corazón” followed. Maná’s lead vocalist, Fher Olvera, kept giving people a brief introduction to the songs, especially the ones from the new album like “El Dragón“, “Vuela Libre Paloma” and “El Verdadero Amor Perdona“, most of these new songs being more slow ballads, however, it all changed once they performed “Manda Una Señal“, which is one of my personal favorites, as well as “Mariposa Traicionera“. During the whole show, the band kept interacting with the crowd, and even taking shots of tequila or drinking beer in honor of the audience. I think that the song that made me say “wow” and realize how huge these guys are for the Hispanic community was when they performed “Latinoamerica“, to which drummer, Alex Gonzalez, started off saying in Spanish “Racism against Latinos needs to stop, we need to stop laws like the ones in Arizona, viva Latinoamerica!” which got more than one on their feet cheering. The song, which I had never heard before, is about encouraging Latinos to keep fighting for their dreams, to be united during these tough times. On stage the screen showed pictures of Latinos from every culture along with flags from every country. This performance was symbolic for me especially because of the situation Latinos are going through in this country, it is always great to have a band like Maná sing about it and realizing that what’s going on is wrong. Other classics like “Clavado En Un Bar” and “Me Vale” were also performed, and there were also both guitar and drum solo, giving both Alex Gonzalez (drummer) and Sergio Vallin (guitarist) their own time to shine.
Surprisingly enough, Maná performed a couple of their songs acoustic in the middle of the arena. Lucky me, I was about three rows away from them. They performed “Se Me Olvido Otra Vez“, “Bendita Tu Luz” , “Si No Te Hubieras Ido“, “Vivir Sin Aire” and “Eres Mi Religion“, this part of the show too, another highlight because the whole audience knew the lyrics and Fher would just let people sing most of them. And also they even brough a fan on stage with them. Here are some videos from this part of the show, you can always check out the rest at TYF’s YouTube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2pq5lIbWN4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtTyie4JvqY&feature=channel&list=UL
The band got back on stage and performed “En El Muelle De San Blas“, “Rayando El Sol” before closing off the show with “Corazon Espinado” and “Labios Compartidos“.
Overall, the band is amazing live, they have great energy and interact with the crowd. By balancing their new stuff with their old stuff, they kept both new fans and old fans happy with the repertoire of the event, and make it even more intimate with the audience by performing acoustic. If you’ve never heard of Maná do it now!, and if you have but don’t know all of their songs, chances are that you unkowingly do, and you’re just waiting to go sing them along with the crowd! Maná is a band you simply cannot miss!
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