House of Blues

House of Blues

Orlando, Florida - May 8, 2003

This is always one of my favorite venues as it is a giant dance party. There are only 100 seats in the place around the outer periphery of the room. The rest is a big dance floor. I went with my good friends Marte and Harvey. We got there early enough to secure a nice area pretty much front and center, there was maybe one person between me and the stage. The show was well attended and there were some great salsa going on to the house music so time passed quickly. Finally, "Are you ready for the Gipsy Fiesta?!?!?!!!!"

A great show. Everyone seemed in really good spirits and looked tan and fit. The music was pretty much what everyone says, except the order was a little different. It has the feel of a new show (which it is) that is still being worked on. I LOVE the cowboy song. Toooooo funny. We need to come up with little Western line dance, a Gypsy Two Step so to speak. They obviously enjoyed it. There was much laughter on stage all evening.

Nicolas - his voice was good. Not super powerful but full of nuance and passion. He sang lead on Bomboleo.

Pablo - ruled on the guitar. He was burning the place up!!!! Animal!!! He had the place screaming!! One of my personal favorite moments of the show came in the 2nd song. :)) I was looking at everyone in the band, and as I look back at Pablo he's got his head dropped down and is staring at me with furrowed brow, likes he's squinting at me. When I make eye contact he just lights right up like "It IS you!!", smiling and nodding. Very funny and made me feel pretty good I gotta say, that he picked me out of the mob. I was up front but not that close to him. Good eyes Pablo!!!!

Andre - just gets better and better. Solo Dire is one of my FAVORITE songs. He is always very interactive with the audience.

Patchai - the total front man now. He sang several leads and had the place rocking. He is sooooo into the crowd.

Titi - yeow!!! He is one fine looking man. :))) He still hasn't developed much stage character yet, but he's watching and learning from the masters. He played well and took it all in.

Tonino - the lonely Baliardo. He played well. I could hear the absence of his brothers and Canut. Patchai was moved back over to stage left with Titi, but htat is not enough to cover both a missing Canut and a missing Baliardo or two.

And the Back-up Band - Awesome again!!! I love Pacheco and the new guys are hot stuff. Again, only the roughness of working on new music and new set rotations that will only get better.

They went off stage after Bamboleo. The house went wild!! Started clapping and stomping for an encore and then someone starte the Ole Ole, Ole Ole soccor theme song. Way cool, everyone started singing it. No clapping or stamping, just singing that went on and on. Fun to be a part of, and it brought them back onstage for an encore faster than I've ever seen before!! I'm really a horrible reviewer cause I can't tell you the name of the encore song. Oops. Sure hope someone went that kept track of those things. Anyhow, it wasn't one of the regulars.

So..... new music, great attitudes, great venue........ EXCELLENT NIGHT!!!!

Added note on the HOB show. For Bomboleo and another song, a female flamenco dance came out. I've seen her dance with them in Miami and the last time at House of Blues. She and our very own Kivanc danced together that time. She was on the list at one point. Anyhow, she is very dramatic and had beautiful outfits, a different one for each song. The crowd went wild. That's it for now from me. :))) Cathy

The place was not that packed, maybe because the concert was on a Thursday and plus there was not any or maybe no announcement, not on the radio anywhere (who's fault its that?). But again... I tried to stand as closer as I could, they started like always on the dot 8:30. I do not remember what song was the first one. They all look very good. But the absence of Canut was very noticeable. TiTi was doing his best.

Some of the songs that they played:

Allegria, Un Amor, Todos Ole, Poquito a Poco, Una Campana, The Cowboy Song (dont know the name), Some of Tonino's CD, Canto a Brazil, and of course Bamboleo for the closing.

They were supposed to finish around 10:30, the last song was finished @ 10:10 and for the encore they play a song that I never heard before . For the Encore Nicolas did not came out, he seem to be very tired.

After the show I was hoping to meet at least one member but no luck. The show was very good, a lot of people dancing and singing, including myself.

The same lady from the last time came out for the Bamboleo song and then for the encore.

It was a great Gipsy Fiesta.

Peace and Love.... Carmen

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