Manu Chao

I was able to go see a show last Sunday at the Aragon and it was a pretty cool experience. The person I went to see was Manu Chao. His band that plays behind him is called sound system. The Aragon was packed when we got there. Luckily we had tickets cause it was sold out and there was a line literally around the block. Manu Chao was born in Paris, France and after, forming a band, he moved to Madrid, Spain. That alone makes his music interesting, but over the years Manu has played with all sorts of different people - groups from Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Manu is very much influenced by the places he has been and therefore his music is very diverse. At any moment you will be listening to French, English, Arabic, Portuguese, but mostly he sings in Spanish. The concert was crowded, ridiculously hot with no AC, the sound was not the best (not to mention in Spanish most of the time) and yet this concert was one of the best I had ever been to. The atmosphere was unbelievable and it felt like at any moment the people in the crowd would run out into the streets singing his songs. The crowd felt as though they really were hanging onto every word that Manu Chao spoke. He would stop, say some words in Spanish ("papers for all") and the whole place would erupt into cheers with several different flags being flow in the air. Also, the music itself was like nothing I had ever heard before. He would go from a slow style of rock to reggae to what sounded like Rage Against the Machine all in the same song. Being down in the middle of the madness will not be forgotten. Once it was over and I was leaving with a shirt that was now completely covered in sweat and my ears ringing all I wanted to do was go out and by one of his CDs and if he is to come to Chicago again I will with out a doubt be there again.