NYE (cont.)

The SM boys. Human shih tzu second from right.

At midnight, strange sounds emanated from the street and everyone started throwing buckets of water over their balconies and out of their windows. It seemed you got extra points if you hit a passing car or, better, a motorcyclist which, unsurprisingly, were not in abundance. I just hoped they’d be done by the time I left the house, but decided to wear sneakers just in case.
I left about 12.30 - the water-throwing was over - and walked down Neptuno, which was much busier than it usually is at that hour. About halfway down there was shattered masonry all over the road - no idea what happened but I was glad I hadn’t been there to see it. Or you know, be under it.
At Galiano there were taxis that could have taken me to see Havana D’Primera at the Capri, but it was half the price to see Salsa Mayor at Galiano. Of course they are half the band HdP are, but I decided to stay close to home. Foreigners were leaving as I entered, and I could see why: the place was packed. There were streamers and balloons for the new year. The DJ was playing salsa, and Gretchen Reve was out with her dad again. Didn’t have long to wait before the band came on. Michel (ex-Pupy) was in the line-up and there was another guy with curly blond locks who looked like a - I want to say poodle, cause it’s funny, but he was more like a shih tzu.
Now that Pavel has gone I realise how much I disliked his presence. Even if at least one of his replacements (the shih tzu) is as bad a singer: he sang Anda pegate with hips that moved nicely but without hitting many of the required notes.

Michel was polished, as you’d expect. I don’t know how long he has been with them. I think he only sang lead on two songs (I don’t remember which). Yordi has the lion’s share now which makes me happy because when he isn’t singing lead I tend to fidget. He tends to look a bit bored too.
It always surprises me how the band can do so much with what is largely ordinary material. They’re very tight and they crank up the energy as high as it can go. But I wish Maikel would swallow his pride and get someone to write some more decent songs for him, seeing as he is obviously only capable of about two per album.
The material was largely from the last, with the exception of Pegate and Debajo de la Balancera, which I never recognise until it gets to that coro. Yasser was wearing so much gold on his neck and wrists it looked like he’d raided an underground vault.
A drunk tourist guy got up on the catwalk, unsolicited, and started dancing wildly. They asked a Cubana to get up and dance with him, and Pipi from Trabuco’s sister was nice enough to oblige. There is also a Cuban guy that gets on stage regularly at SM gigs: he can not dance for shit. It’s hilarious. He’s totally oblivious.
Despite the throng, I was able to get a nice spot down the front beside some balloons, which would occasionally spontaneously burst, for some reason, scaring the shit out of everybody. After a while I took it upon myself to burst those that remained to put an end to it. Yo soy bruta.
Se acabó el amor sounded like it was going to be the end of the set, but Maikel was loving the crowd, so they did La cara de salir pa andar. I’d actually had enough, but if Yordi is still singing, well, I have to keep watching.
Elito and Emilio got up to have a sing, in the case of the latter, and to spruik Revé’s Sunday matinee at Miramar in the case of the former. Emilio stumbled several times leaving the stage and I don’t know if he was pissed or just having some cable trouble.

The first song the DJ played after they finished was the studio version CH's Nube pasajera, with a video made from footage of the suspension concert, with Michel as a wild and unruly but as yet mostly unsullied teenager. Man, it was awesome. That song still sounds unbelievable more than a decade later.

Put some things in perspective.