Vicente Fernández Concert a No-Go
The concert of legendary Mexican singer Vicente Fernández was delayed until April 28th. The concert had been set for Saturday, April 4th, at the Ricardo Saprissa stadium in Tibás. The problem was that the producer of the concert, 28 Producciones, did not have the necessary sanitary and municipal permits required. The announcement of the cancellation came at 9:00 PM as a crowd of some 18,000 waited for the singer to perform. The crowd was left waiting in line for hours until it was finally announced that there would be no show. Lawyers of the group said that the money paid for tickets would not be returned. Weighing in to try to get officials to take action necessary for the show to go on were both Johnny Araya, mayor of San Jose, and Rodrigo Arias, minister and brother to President Oscar Arias. However, their efforts were to no avail. As the singer waited pensively in his hotel room for word of whether or not he would perform, officials of the production team scrambled in a race to get all the permission filings accomplished. However, in the end they came up short and word was given to El Rey that he would not be performing, at least not this night. It is ironic, because last year when Alejandro Fernandez, son of Vicente, performed in Costa Rica, severe technical problems plagued that performance. It seems that the Fernandez clan may be jinxed when it comes to Costa Rica. As a big fan of both, and one of the only gringos known to belt out a Fernandez tune at the local karaoke bar, I only hope that these unfortunate events do not impede future arrivals of the two to Costa Rica.