THE DOORS OF THE 21st CENTURY
National Auditorium in Mexico City, Mexico
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Review contributed by Fer
The show was scheduled at 7 pm. I got there at 6:30 pm at the auditorium, met my friend Abel Garza, Webmaster of www.doors.com.mx and we went in.
Our seats were just in the middle of the second row. Just a few seats from us was a man and his wife. They had a pair of badges, so we asked them what those were, and he said, “I’m the promoter, I hope it gets as good as 35 years ago, or better” so we asked his name, and he said “Mario Olmos.” We almost fainted. In Mexico, he is really important for Doors fans because he was the promoter of the Mexico ‘69 show.
That made the night, but it was nothing. At 7:05 I turned back to see the audience, and it wasn’t even half full, but in less than two minutes it was completely full. At 7:05 the lights went off and O Fortuna started. The people started cheering and screaming, and even with the lights off, we could see Ray, Robby, Ian, Ty and Phil enter the stage.
Ray was wearing black jacket and pants, and a tee shirt with white lines. Ian was wearing snake skin boots, blue jeans, a leather jacket, his black shirt with a red feline and sunglasses. Robby was wearing green camouflage pants and the “let the ceremony begin… again” tee shirt. Phil was wearing white.
The crowd went totally insane, you couldn’t hear the announcer behind all that noise, and just then, Break On Through went on, people were singing it as loud as they could, I saw a few people CRYING with the emotion of seeing them. They played just perfect, everything in order, Ian was really active, jumping, spinning, getting on his knees and everything. When it ended, Ray said: “Gracias, Muchas gracias Mexico” (Thanks, thank you very much, Mexico) and the crowd went even louder, but not at the top, as I could hear when Love Me Two Times started.
At the end of Love Me Two Times, Ian also said “Muchas gracias” receiving an extreme applause. Just when the noise was starting to go a little down, Not to Touch the Earth started. Man, it was just crazy, people went nuts. At the end of it, Ray introduced Ian, then Ty, then Phil and finally Robby, and everybody made some really good noise for Robby. After that, Robby introduced Ray, and the crowd exploded in applause.
Take It As It Comes came next and Ian tossed a pandero (tambourine) which landed on the stage, breaking in pieces. A bunch of guys ran to grab a piece of it (a metal disc of it landed on my feet, so I just had to bend down and take it) at the end of the song, Ian said “Cabrones!! Ay muchachos, Muchachos!! Hehe” which means something like “You fuckers!! Oh guys, guys!! hehe”
After the cheering, 21st Century Fox got started. After this, Ray started playing a small instrument like a turtle-shaped flute that he got in the pyramids of Teotihuacan, and did a small song that sounded like pre-Hispanic Mexican music. Ray then started to talk about their visit to the pyramids and said that Mexico was really hot and made him thirsty. Everybody knew what that meant, the tequila references, and of course, Whiskey Bar (Alabama Song), went on and was followed by Back Door Man as usual, in which Ian did an improv about the Mexican revolutionary “Subcomandante Marcos” the leader of the Chiapas Guerrilla, and chose the ... (ahem) … other thing on the menu for dinner.
Five To One followed after Ray did one of his political speeches. He apologized in the name of the USA for the war, and said that he hopes things change for good, and North America gets together once and for all. Again, it included part of Do It and Ian tossed stuff at the audience.
They went off of the stage, three stools were set and Robby, Ray and Ian came back to the stage. Ian was without his jacket and sunglasses, and Ray was without his jacket, too. Everybody sat down, and Crystal Ship was the next song, followed by People Are Strange. Ray said his now famous lines about introducing the only guitar player he knows that can play flamenco and blues and rock, and Robby started his Flamenco solo and was left alone onstage, then the whole band came back to start Spanish Caravan, which was followed by Roadhouse Blues and The Changeling.
Just before When The Music’s Over started, people got to the top again. In the scream of the butterfly part, Ray again used his turtle-flute which made people go absolutely crazy. By the end of the song, the security guys were taking out a guy for an unknown reason and Ian said “Everybody wants to be a cop thess days.” People again went crazy shouting and cheering,. Ray said something to Ian, and then said “This one is for the ‘indios’” and Wild Child was the next song.
Then, Ray said: “Let’s sing something ‘en español’” and Robby started singing The Mosquito. People got hypnotized by the guitar solo of Robby, nobody could move. It was really weird, people started sitting and staring fixed at Robby, and when the song ended everybody got to their feet and gave them a standing ovation. He said “muchas gracias Mexico” and started playing Peace Frog.
At the end of that, Ray said something about singing a song about “la ciudad de Los Angeles” the city of Los Angeles, but instead they played Touch Me. By the way, it was excellent. Anyway, after Touch Me, Ray said “Ahora si, la cancion sobre la ciudad de los angeles” (this time is true, a song about the city of L.A.) and L.A. Woman went on. At the end of that song, Ty tossed his drumsticks into the audience, and the band left the stage.
People asked for more, and when they came back for the encore, everybody had red bands on their heads. Ian was wearing a big one that made him look like a brown-and-curly-haired Axl Rose. Ray said, “What do you want to hear? Let’s play a hit single! Let’s say… Light My Fire?” and Light My Fire was on its way. Everybody sang along and the solos were cheered as loud as the crowd could. Ray played standing, on his knees, with his foot, with his forehead. Robby walked around the stage playing his solo and added some Eleanor Rigby and at the end of Light My Fire.
It was over, the band bowed and left the stage with an applause that proved that Mexico loves The Doors of the 21st Century.
(thanks, Fer)
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