Well well readers. What did you this weekend?! That's a little inside joke, the answer in nothing. I did a whole lot of that this past weekend. Starting with Friday night, when I hit up "The Spot" for another Heineken event: a performance by reggaeton superstar Tego Calderon.
Heineken has been doing what they could to make up for that Kanye West event. Case in point: this past week I drank free Heineken on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday! It sounds a bit ridiculous, but it's quite true: Wednesday: Heineken event @ GunBar; Thursday: Thursday Night Live @ John Varvatos; Friday: Tego Calderon; Saturday: Philipino event @ the Jungle Design Space. Good stuff if you ask me.
So when I got to Friday's Heineken event, which was at an art space called Openhouse Gallery, on Mulberry. It's a pretty nice space with decent space to accommodate a good amount of people. But not THAT good, as I found out later in the night, more on that later. Heineken has a whole bunch of Latin music related shows this summer, and if you look at the link on the flyer above you'll find a way for you to RSVP for their upcoming shows (can't say I never gave you anything).
So I get in and the place is set up nicely, as one would expect. Those guys from Heineken are quite good at making decor look very nice for their events. They give you a wristband when you're coming in, as you would expect, except for some reason this particular wristband had two little buttons on it. These removable buttons represented all the free drinks you get. Two beers?! All night?! It's crazy I know but they're throwing so many of these events it's a wonder they're giving away any free beer at all.
The DJ who's name currently escapes me was playing all kinds of house, techno, and Latin hits, getting people in the mood for partying. I had my bookbag with me, coming from work, and they didn't check it, which made me think I really should have snuck in some booze. Don't worry, I figured out something. =) The vibes were right and everyone is having a good time. The event started at 8pm and was scheduled to go until midnight, and the rumor was that Tego would take the stage at 11pm. Not too bad I thought. At some point however, a few people who worked for Heineken went on to the stage to talk to the DJ. It was about 10:30PM when this happened. He turned the music down to make an announcement, in English: asking for 35 volunteers to leave the venue, because the place was over capacity! Unbelievable right?! This is even more ridiculous when you consider this: the day before the show, Heineken sent out an email to everyone who was on their mailing list, saying there were 50 more spots available for the Tego show. I went onto their website and immediately signed up a friend of mine who didn't make it on the list before (she didn't end up going anyways) and thought, yea now she can go. So, you guys didn't know the capacity of the venue? Unreal...it's always one step forward then two steps back with the former kings of the Party. On to the show...
Let me be the first to say that I am conversational in Spanish. Having said that, I can only pick up a few words when it's being spoken at regular speed, a speed that sounds very fast to non-Spanish speakers. So one can assume, that when Tego took the stage and performed all of his hits, that I didn't really understand what he was saying for the most part! I will also be the first to admit, that I'm not the biggest fan of reggaeton at all. With both of those things considered though, I had a great time at this event. Tego is a great performer who, if you like partying, will move you whether you know what he's saying or not. It's hard not to like a guy who took time out of his busy schedule of rocking on stage, to go into the crowd and party with some of the (drunk) patrons on hand. I'm not very familiar with his songs, so I'm willing to say that he did "all of his hits" judging from the crowd roars every time he went into a different track. Besides a couple notable tunes he has with Don Omar, he pretty much did everything you'd like if you were a big fan of talented Puerto Rican star. I would advise following the link on the flyer above if you'd like to partake in any of the upcoming shows, that will all be at the same spot in downtown Manhattan. Good work Heineken.
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