On September 15, 2022, I went to one of the free concerts around the city to celebrate Mexico's Grito de Independencia.
Though the real one is in the Zocalo, you have various "gritos" and concerts held around the city.
Given where I live, I chose to go to the one in Iztapalapa this year.
Especially since it's unlikely I'll ever go to the one in Iztapalapa again after I move away from this neighborhood in a few months.
Next year, perhaps I'll go to the one in Zocalo to see the Mexican President shout "VIVA MEXICO!"
But, for this year, I figured I should see how the good people of Iztapalapa this day.
On Facebook, there's a local neighborhood group I'm part of that had plans to celebrate the night locally a few streets away.
From what I understood, it looked like they select a "king" and "queen" at the event and whatever else.
There was a part of me that felt weirded out by the idea of going to that one and perhaps, by pure chance, I get selected to be the "king" as the literal only gringo in the neighborhood.
That'd be weird as fuck.
But, more importantly, I wanted to see the main event held in Iztapalapa.
It was held in the Macroplaza that is only about a 20 minute walk from my house.
Before leaving, I met up with some chick I don't know well but is from the neighborhood.
I think her name is Jessica if I remember right or it begins with a J anyhow.
Let's called her Jessi.
Once she told me she was outside my house ready to leave as you can see here, I got out and ordered an Uber for us to ride on over.
The Uber wasn't able to take us all the way over as some road was blocked so we walked the last few minutes.
They had some line for all of us to get past some machine that would scan us and were checked for weapons.
To my surprise, they didn't allow alcohol inside the event (with signs on a few locations saying it is prohibited to bring beer).
I wish I had known that they would do a dry law on this day.
It's one thing I've been annoyed by in Mexico City over the last few years is there increasing tendency to do dry law on the most retarded times of the year.
Why the fuck would you do a dry law on such an important night?
Get the fuck out of here.
I should've brought my own vodka to the event in hindsight but I didn't.
But, as I later saw, there was no shortage of people who brought their own beer to the event and somehow got it snuck past the security.
Similarly, the security wanted us to have a mask on to get past the machine but, once Jessi and I got past the machine, we took the mask off right away.
And literally most people took their mask off once past inside.
As I wrote here, sometimes left leaning retard gringos think only gringos choose to not wear a mask and will even say shit like "it's Mexican culture to wear a mask."
Yet countless Mexicans in the neighborhoods I hang in don't wear masks and most people were not at this event either.
And one other thing too was how retarded all these "procedures" are in Mexico.
Mexico has no shortage of rules they claim are rules to look "professional" and "orderly" but actually don't enforce and all the locals wipe their ass with.
Like saying we can't drink but yet everyone brings their own beer or people having to wear a mask in the line but take it off once past the security.
Sometimes you wish Mexico would just drop the retarded "rules" that they half-ass in enforcing to look good to themselves and just chill it.
Like let us buy beer on this special night -- what the fuck?
Anyway, I kinda wish I had brought vodka with me but, on the flip side, not entirely either.
We were there for about 5 hours and more from 9:30 PM to 2:30 PM more or less.
On one hand, having some vodka would've been fucking nice.
There came a point where I absolutely wanted a drink.
To listen to 5 hours of music requires a fucking drink.
Jesus fucking christ -- give me a fucking drink. IT'S BEEN 5 FUCKING HOURS!
But, on the flip side, having too much to drink wouldn't have been good because we didn't have any of those special seats up front and had lots of people behind us.
So it would've sucked ass trying to find a bathroom and losing my place in the crowd if I had too much to drink in those hours.
It is what it is.
If I do the Grito in Zocalo area in the future, I'd recommend to my future self to make sure to get enough booze and to be in a more comfortable spot where I can find the bathroom when needed.
Those were my three complaints about the time there:
1. No booze (seriously -- no booze after having to listen to 5 hours of music, including some shit music like banda?).
2. Not having access to a bathroom if needed.
3. Having to stand up for 5 hours straight.
On the last complaint, my feet were actually starting to hurt after 5 hours of standing up.
It definitely would've been nice as fuck to have been siting down for a lot of the event.
So, in the future if I do the one by the Zocalo, I'd guess that I'd need to spend more money to sit in a restaurant with a good view that sells alcohol.
Prepare to spend big bucks.
Anyway, here's what we saw as we got to the event right away.
Near the beginning of the event, they had some patriotic moment with the Mexican flag and everyone putting their hand on their chest as you can see here.
One interesting difference I noticed was Mexicans seem to put their hand on their chest slightly differently than how Americans do it.
After that, they had some drones in the sky form the letters "2022" and "viva Mexico" as you can see here (among other images the drones were trying to make).
When it comes to the music anyhow, it wasn't bad.
In fact, I wasn't planning it this way but I got very fucking lucky for the music that was played at my specific concert in Iztapalapa.
Every specific free concert in the city had their own bands playing but this one in Iztapalapa had Grupo Niche as the main event.
For those who don't know, Grupo Niche is some famous Colombian salsa band that I learned about and still listen to occasionally after my brief time in Colombia.
One of my favorite, non-reggaeton bands from Latin America.
So it was cool to see them live and also enjoy some of the songs live that I have known and listened to over the years.
The other bands playing that night in other parts of the city were not ones I listen to and, outside of Angeles Azules, were not ones I ever heard of.
Here are some photos of Grupo Niche playing.
Outside of that, they had some other bands play afterwards as you can see here.
They had some clown dude, some cowboy dude, some reggaeton players, etc.
Honestly, because my feet were starting to hurt a bit, I wanted to get the fuck out of there after Grupo Niche was done.
They did keep my attention though with some of those hot cheerleader looking women dancing around.
And the big screen on the stage was showing images of the crowd and showed several times some hot chicks dancing too and showing their panties briefly.
Damn, they looked good.
So that kept my attention briefly but, beyond that, I was having less fucks to give with each passing song.
At one point, the reggaeton dude asked the crowd "have we had enough to drink tonight?!"
I thought to myself "of course fucking not, you wouldn't let me buy beer!"
Troll moment.
Anyway, I did like too that the reggaeton dudes were singing some more classic reggaeton songs.
And reggaeton was better to listen to than some of the other bands they played after Grupo Niche was done.
By the time the reggaeton was done, half the crowd was gone though and they began playing fucking banda.
For those who don't know, this is banda here.
Such an odd choice of music to play after reggaeton.
Not only is banda shit but it's just not as exciting to listen to.
I could see why most of the crowd was leaving when the reggaeton was done.
Anyway, when the banda began at around 2:30, I asked Jessi how much longer they are going.
I kinda wanted to stay until the end.
She told me it's another hour until 3:30 and is just banda from here on out.
She looked bored too and asked if we are leaving.
Given it was just banda and, according to her, nothing major happening after they're done playing shit banda music, I decided to head back home.
We lived in the same neighborhood anyway so the walk back was the same for both of us.
We didn't get a taxi and just walked all the way back late at night.
Took some pics of some murals as you can see here along the way.
And that was that.
All around, it was cool but, like I said, could've been much better if they gave me something to drink, a chair to occasionally sit down on and a bathroom to piss in.
One thing though -- there were a few couples standing and dancing on the outside of the concert but with a good view of it as you can see here.
For those thinking of enjoying the concert in Iztapalapa by the macroplaza on this day, that actually wouldn't be the worst idea.
You wouldn't have to be surrounded by hundreds of people, can dance to the music, still have a good view of the concert, can definitely bring your own alcohol (though many in the concert did also) and you can bring your own cheap, plastic chairs for when you want to sit down.
If I was to enjoy this concert again by the Macro Plaza, that's what I'd do.
I suppose there's greater risk of someone robbing you there without the security late at night but, from what I saw, it looked like they were having a good time anyway.
Smart on their part.
Just don't bring too much shit with you in case some asshole does pull a gun on you.
The other thing you could do -- if you can spend the money anyhow or somehow get access -- is be like these people in this photo here that had seats in the front.
I imagine the bathroom is not too far from them and they got seats.
Can probably bring their own alcohol if they sneak it past security or some shit.
Anyway, that's all I got to say.
It was a cool event overall but I'd change a few things about it to make it more enjoyable.
If you ever get to enjoy the Independence Day concert in Iztapalapa, then I'd recommend it if you do it right.
If you got anything to add, drop a comment below.
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Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt