Shakira Mebarak

I never really knew that she could dance like this
She makes a man want to speak Spanish

- Wyclef Jean in "Hips Don't Lie"

On Saturday night in San Jose I got to see Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, better known just as Shakira, in concert for the first time. She really puts on a great show. And I don't think I've ever seen an audience that was overall so energized during so much of the concert.

I was a little surprised to see that the audience of 13,000 was mostly Latino. Or maybe it's because it was the first show and her Latino fans were the quickest to get tickets. A second show was added there for Monday night. Or maybe the Anglos around here are painfully unaware of what they're missing if they're not listening to Shakira.

Wyclef Jean provided the opening act, and came out to accompany her on the finale. He provided the only overtly political moment of the show when he did a rap about calling President Bush and talking to him on the phone. Bush asks what he can do to help the country. And Wyclef's reply was, "Stop the war! Stop the war! Stop the war! Stop the war!" The crowd seemed to be pretty much down with that message.

Shakira performed for about an hour and 45 minutes, with brief breaks at a few points. I'm posting a set list below the fold.

She opened with one of her signature songs, "Estoy Aquí", the only one of her songs from her first mass-circulation CD Pies Descalzos that still makes it into her concert repertoire. (She had two earlier record releases in Colombia that are "collectors items", although they're from her mid-teens, so they're probably not on the same quality level as her current ones.)


She followed that up with "Te Dejo Madrid", which I was surprised to hear. I like it a lot - well, I pretty much like all her songs - but I had read that she played it in Madrid, and somehow I was thinking she would only play that one there.

She mostly spoke English for her stage dialogue. Most of the songs were in Spanish, although she did several English ones, as well.

I was also pleasantly surprised that she did a couple of her songs that were a bit of a departure for her. One was "Obtener un Sí" (To Get a Yes), which she wrote as a Frank Sinatra-type song. But it's an ironic song for her to sing. Yeah, like anyone would tell her "No".

The other was "Hey You", whose melody and general mood are clearly a tribute to the Petula Clark hit of decades ago, "Downtown".

She really connected well with the crowd. After the first two or three songs, she did a little introduction saying she was going to be singing and dancing and stuff, and the punch line is that she wanted us all to have fun. But she built up to it, by asking, "Can you make a woman happy? Can you make me happy?" At which point the imaginations of about 6,000 guys and at least several hundred women, I'm sure, went soaring.

It's hard to say which songs the crowd liked the best, because this was a pavilion full of real fans. Among the slower songs, "Inevitable" seems to be a special favorite. On that one in particular, you get a sense of what a powerful voice she has.

The belly-dancing numbers "Whenever, Wherever" and "Ojos Así" were especially high-energy.

She ended the main show with her mariachi song "Ciega Sordomuda". For the encore, she did "Ojos Así", and closed with her mega-hit, "Hips Don't Lie". It makes a spectacular ending.

Did I mention that she's a really, really talented dancer? I mean, I just like her for the music myself. But I'm just sayin'.

Joel Selvin reviews the concert in Along her path to world domination, Shakira conquers San Jose San Francisco Chronicle 08/21/06. He calls her a "pint-size powder keg", and was obviously impressed with her stage presence:

Making her entrance in a conservative silver T-shirt and black workout pants, she is an enormously appealing sprite, so tiny it's as if she were built on three-quarter scale. She gives her tight, chiseled body a shake, flashes a winning smile and sparkling eyes, breaks into laughter and melts the crowd.

Unfortunately, his review deteriorates into the "been there, heard that" attitude that pop music reviewers seem to think is obligatory.

Here's the set-list as I remember it, only not in the exact order except for the first two and the last three:

Estoy Aquí
Te Dejo Madrid
Don't Bother
No
La Tortura
Si Te Vas
Inevitable
Underneath Your Clothes
Tú
Whenever, Wherever
Hey You
La Pared
Obtener un Sí
Ciega Sordomuda
Ojos Así
Hips Don't Lie

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