Third Time's Yat-Charm

All my reviews of shows, movies - and now concerts -  will likely be late for a while. 

That's the down side of planning and preparation, I suppose.

Back on October 8th my family went to a Sebastian Yatra concert in Manhattan. Like any activity my family does, events leading up to it were a general disaster of near hits and almost misses before we experienced it.

Sebastian Yatra was going to perform in October of 2020 in an arena in Newark along with the more well known Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin. Rosa and Anabelle were super excited about such a large scale Latin music concert, and I was super excited about being near the two of them when they were in that good of a mood. When we ordered the tickets in the summer of 2020 we did so with the mind set of, "Surely this plague will be long gone by the Fall."

Spoilers: It was not.

When the concert was cancelled we were given options (and a large window) to decide if we wanted a refund or to keep our tickets for the rescheduled date the following year. The window was wide enough to allow us to learn the show would be held the Saturday of the final weekend of Anabelle's first college Fall Break in 2021.

Anabelle came home for that break with one of our family's patented, record breaking, sinus infections. She could only sleep sitting up in a chair and a medication reaction led to a late night ER visit. Also, the parade of treatments she was given lowered her immune system response. This raised our concerns that the venue was the only one in this area at the time which neither required proof of vaccination, nor had universal masking requirements. 

(They requested the unvaccinated to wear a mask. Yeah...that'll happen.)

Luckily, surgically applied groveling to the venue itself (not Ticketmaster, who expected us to attend if deceased) got us a refund following a conversation with a pleasant and helpful man who worked for the arena.

In the Summer of 2022 Sebastian Yatra announced he would be returning to this area on his own "Dharma" tour. He was the one Anabelle most wanted to see from the other show, and the concert was now at the start of her next Fall Break. Rosa said he was playing in a theater on Broadway when ordering the tickets. Since we've attended plays in Broadway area theaters multiple times, I didn't give much thought to how we would get there. There's enough garages in and near the theater district to allow us to earmark several and get parking at almost any time of day. I did not catch where on Broadway the theater was. She ordered the tickets and we went about our lives.

The customary "few days before" the show (and also a slightly less than few days before I picked up Anabelle at school) we started looking into parking options. This was when I found out, while the theater was on Broadway itself, it was not anywhere near the theater district. It was WAAAAAY up on 175th Street. What I thought was research, or information supplied by friends who knew Manhattan well, from Rosa indicated the area was like "when we go into Paterson."

Two issues messing with our intel played into what turned out to be a good thing.

1) Rosa's information was based on what the area looked like from the "street view camera" on Maps, and no actual first hand reports.

2) My New York knowledge is far rustier than it used to be.

Therefore when we learned the garage right next to the venue was full and the only other option would require a seven (short) block walk on what would be a late Saturday night, we had many concerns.

We settled on calling the Limo Service we usually get for airport trips (just before the office closed, we learned). They informed us we'd have to hire one "for the evening" because the two needed times were close together. This wasn't all that helpful as they neglected to tell us until we called back the following morning that they had no availability that upcoming Saturday night. I made a panicked (and equally unsuccessful) call to the car service my company usually uses, and Rosa looked some local taxi and limo places up online that ranged from "sketchy" to "non-existent." A moment of lucidity let me remember there was a limo company my job use in the distant past before the current one. (Not changing jobs in decades has advantages sometimes.) Rosa called them and not only did they have an availability, but they booked it as two separate trips, rather than the more costly "for the evening." This was in spite of the fact that the awesome guy ended up waiting for us nearby anyway.

The outcome of this near disaster was outstanding. As happens sometimes, traffic into the City went completely bonkers, with multiple accidents at each of the Hudson River crossings. It took close to three hours to make what is a forty-five minute drive when it is traffic free (which never happens). That travel time was achieved by him using his experience to travel in ways and locations I would never have considered. They included swapping lanes frequently into spaces I didn't think we'd fit into and driving on the shoulder for various stretches. 

It turned out the area was Washington Heights. (Of In the Heights fame, which Rosa and Anabelle had a great time laughing at me for only realizing recently.) Yes, it was extremely Latin, and once again, I did not blend. It was quite a nice area and we could have easily walked to and from the other garage. We could see around the area clearly, as the efficiently run security line stretched all the way around the huge theater. However, there is no way we would have made the show anywhere close to on time if we were in my car.

Thanks to our amazing driver, we made it with enough leeway to take in the sights of the absolutely gorgeous United Palace Theater. It was originally the Lowes 175th Street Theater, one of Loews five flagship locations in The City, dating back to 1930 as a movie and vaudeville house.

Like all old New York theaters that have been kept up, it was an amazing combination of art and architecture. Some of that keeping up was from campaigns by Lin-Manuel Miranda. (See me being ignorant about "The Heights" above.) To take in some of its gorgeousness, watch the Tony's this year on June 11th.

The reason we went, the Sebastian Yatra concert itself, was fantastic as well. 

Being used to KISS or Alice Cooper, the set was minimal, but effective. The large screen in the back and on the risers started with the audience looking through a keyhole and then changed to enhance the performances throughout the show. He highlighted and gave shout outs to the various band members at appropriate moments, as all good lead singers do. Four members of the Latin version of Pleasure Island's "Way Hotter Than You Dancers" added to the festive atmosphere as required. They gave the impression of being more focused on having fun than specific choreography. This additionally enhanced the overall mood.

I was impressed with the variety of music styles. Some songs were an acoustic duet with only him playing along with his guitarist on stage. Other numbers were full on rockers with featured drum and electric guitar solos. There were exciting Salsas and other Latin dance numbers, and a few rapping bridges thrown in. 

With the exception of  the song he did for Encanto I did not know any before hand. His albums all went onto my car playlist after the show, however. Please do not ask me to pronounce any of the song names. Honestly, I still get yelled at by my wife and daughter any time I attempt to say my version of his name. 

Anabelle and Rosa (and everyone else) danced throughout the entire evening. They made fun of me for being the only person in the whole theater standing completely still. Dancing to that kind of music takes far too much concentration (and counting) for me. I was focused on enjoying the show.

After an extremely entertaining and high energy evening, we met our driver right outside the front door. (Woo Hoo!) He politely pointed out that I was a fool. Not in general this time, but specifically for thinking the VIP meetings would be after concerts when the performer is exhausted, sweaty and anxious to get to the next gig, as opposed to the far more logical timing of before the show.

Contrary to almost every other Manhattan experience, we had an extremely relaxing trip home. The only down side was: if I was driving, it would have been much easier to have a traditional post concert late night breakfast/ dessert Diner stop before heading home instead of a quick snack in the house before going to bed.

For those interested, (and unlike me who can pronounce them properly) 

here is a set list. (It is from Ecuador later in the month...It should be pretty close.)

Melancólicos anónimos
 
Modo avión
 
Tacones rojos
 
Sutra
 
Por perro
 
Traicionera
 
Cómo mirarte
 
Contigo
 
Devuélveme el corazón
 
Dharma
 
Amor pasajero
 
TV
 
Ojos marrones
 
Ya no tiene novio
 
Por fin te encontré
 
Runaway
 
Un año
 
Básicamente
 
Dos oruguitas  (OOH! I know this one!!!)
 
Cristina
 
No hay nadie más
 
Robarte un beso
 
Tacones rojos (reprise)
 
Chica ideal
 
Encore:
Pareja del añoe