Robert Gentel’s Blog

Mexican band Maná came to Costa Rica yesterday for their Amar es Combatir tour and played in the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in Tibás. I had only recently been introduced to their music, and liked a couple of their songs like Bendita tu Luz and Labios Compartidos but my girlfriend likes them and there aren’t as many concert opportunities in Costa Rica as in most countries so we went.

We bought VIP tickets and while that granted us instant entry to the concert it also meant that we were uncovered in the rain, as the show was held in Saprissa’s soccer stadium and the seats close to the stage were out on the soccer field. The rain wasn’t too bad but I wish we hadn’t arrived early as the concert started late.

Mana started off with some songs I didn’t know, and even the ones I did know aren’t exactly concert songs but I had fun because they made good use of visual effects to underline the meaning behind their music ranging from political to environmental and they had a very positive sincerity to them. Nevertheless I wasn’t completely into their concert and spent some of the time looking up from the field at the packed stands and imagining that I was playing football in Saprissa stadium.

Leaving was a huge pain in the ass, as a sea of about 20,000 people instantly filled the neighboring streets so we stopped in a weird Chinese restaurant and waited for the crowd to disperse before heading home.