By Fernie Ruano Jr.
Cross-legged with head bowed and arms stretched out, Guatemalan singer/songwriter Ricardo Arjona giddily accepted the role of conductor while listening to a vociferous crowd sing-along to “Señora de las Cuatro Decadas” (“Lady of Four Decades”), the gracefully-aging woman still finding a way to make her man’s heart bounce despite putting on a little extra “belly fat aerobics can’t remove” over the years.
Overflowing with a multicultural blend of giddy and scantily-clad women well on their way to a very happy ending, Arjona, a profound lyricist with the full-tenor voice, touched them in every way possible during a two-and-a-half hour set at AmericanAirlines Arena on Saturday night.
With the audience on its feet and swaying for most of the evening, if not tugging at their respective too-tight dresses and very-short skirts, Arjona emptied out his repertoire with songs ranging from flirtatious to revengeful to respectful, with a political anthem and little motherly love in between, as the masses continuously followed him in song, including singing from start to finish on “Te Conozco” (‘I know You”), a longing tale about a lost love he wishes he had never seen walk out.
Feeling right at home, Arjona flirted, teased and got cozy – fortunately for a beaming, sign-waving fan he invited up on stage for a song and long embrace – amid a beautifully-produced and elaborate production, featuring a two-floor set up serving as sometimes bar, circus tent and loft. And Arjona was as colorful and complicated as ever, poignantly steering the all-but-flattering, yet realistic (“Te Conozco”) as he crooned “you snore” and “smoke” about a woman he knows all too well.
Worthy of his own dictionary, Arjona, one of Latin pop’s genial wordsmiths, was funny, observant and pleasing while straddling the lines of romanticism and home-cooking, especially in playing into the hands of thousands of “Cubanas” with an up-tempo and percussion-laced version of (“Puente”), a vivid recounting of what Cubans back home face each day and the state of immigration in the United States. “Esta historia es de tanta gente y de nadie (“This story is that of so many people, but it belongs to nobody.”),” said Arjona in Spanish before delighting with an emotive interpretation.
He playfully poked love as the beautiful story that commences with a “dream” before ending in “insomnia”. “El amor a veces viene a jodernos la vida (“Love at times screws up our lives”),” he cracked in anticipation of “El Amor” (“Love”), the hit track from 2011 album “Independiente” (Independent). He turned politico in “Si el Norte fuera el Sur” (“If the North Were the South” – as a montage of images – from The Simpsons to Fidel Castro flashing cash on Wall Street – took over the video screen.
His raw voice and jovial energy evident, Arjona filled the night with power ballad after power ballad, if not rising crescendos. But he displayed his soft side – he does have one – with delicate acoustic takes of “Reconcilacion” (“Reconciliation”) and (“Tarde”) – “Late (”Without Damage to Third Parties), cutting through the soul of seeing his woman walking the streets with a new man; Arjona making the journey vividly-detailed, no matter the hurt.
Arjona was especially descriptive in “Fuiste Tu”, (“It Was You”, his gut-wrenching duet with Gaby Moreno that strikes at the heart of anybody forced to see a love interest walk away – only Arjona finds a way every time to make the pain curable with grand detail.
A classic throwback from her polka dot dress to the curls framing her short, cropped hair, Moreno, who opened the show with a 30-minute set, appears as if she just got out of the backseat of a 1950’s Cadillac and didn’t really bother looking up at the screen or finishing her milkshake. But make no mistake: the soulful charm and elegant harmony in her voice would make anybody want to pay her way into the Drive-In. Firm and sweet with a resounding timbre, Moreno devoured material from “Postales”,(“Post cards”) – under Arjona’s Metamorfosis label – with ease while displaying a vibrant stage presence and uncanny charm.
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