I was standing in a crowd of hundreds or maybe even a thousand and more people in Iztapalapa.
I was at the Macroplaza with a Mexican chick named Jessi and celebrating the Grito de Independencia on September 15.
The night was as exciting as you could imagine.
Plenty of great music.
No shortage of salsa with Grupo Niche playing for us live.
Then a show of some clown and a cowboy playing their own songs with some cute women dancing behind them.
And then we kicked it to the reggaeton.
Some more modern reggaeton artists playing their own songs and some older ones.
Something like this here or whatever it was (I don't remember).
Mayor Que Yo
People dancing everywhere you can see.
To the front of the crowd.
Some dancing in the distance.
Some cute chick being put on the big screen by the drone in the sky and flashing her panties.
Was a good night.
While I was getting tired and my feet were starting to hurt as I had been standing for 5 hours until 2:30 AM, I did like the music choices overall.
Though, in the back of my mind, I was wondering "when does this end?"
And then we got the message.
While it seemed like I was surrounded by a crowd of hundreds or even a thousand people all dancing along, always yelling "NO!!!!" when asked if "they are tired yet" by the reggaeton singers and all around part of a very active night, that seemingly ended in a quick second.
The reggaeton was over.
And then, with just an hour left of the concert until 3:30 AM, they began playing fuckin banda music.
We were having a fun party.
Now we're playing fuckin' banda.
And, while I was seemingly surrounded by an endless crowd of people, I looked around me to find half the crowd gone and empty beer cans on the ground.
Jessi was looking at me and back at her phone asking "so we heading back or you want to stick around for more music?"
And they kept on playing banda.
I could see why Jessi was bored all of a sudden.
A second ago, she was yelling along "NO!!!" when asked if "she was tired yet" by the singers on stage.
Recording all the songs played.
Now she looks bored as fuck and is looking at her phone.
I asked her "how much longer does this go on for?"
She said an hour.
I look back at the stage to the blasting of this lame ass fuck banda music.
And ask her "anything cool happen after this? Anyone else going to go on stage and yell VIVA MEXICO!!! Anything?"
"No" she said.
And I look back at the stage and contemplate if I want to waste an hour of my life listening to fuckin banda.
"Hmmmm, yeah let's go" I said.
We joined the crowd of people leaving.
There were still some dancing along to the banda music.
Some homeless looking lady walking around picking up empty beer cans and putting them into a plastic bag.
And we continued home at 2:30 AM as ....
Well .....
We don't give a fuck about banda.
While it did seem odd as fuck to me that they would end the night on banda after some exciting salsa and reggaeton music with cute gals dancing in short dresses, I shrugged and carried on.
And such a moment reminded me of another incident some years prior.
No More Fiesta in Roma Norte
Over a year and a half ago, I was living in Roma Norte.
I was living in an apartment building that had so many people living there and they often held little parties on the rooftop.
And, to be fair to them, their choice of music was usually pretty good.
They'd often play music as well until sometimes as late as 6 AM (to the ire of some old European lady that complained of our parties to the management).
Anyway, I remember one day in particular where I was there and were just having drinks, dancing, etc.
And this was after another complaint by the European lady who got the management to threaten to kick us out if we continued to have parties until too late in the night.
Which was a compromise from their previous "no parties at all."
Anyway, for that specific night, we decided to end it earlier than normal.
And, as we got closer to 2 AM, the music changed.
It was mostly playing rock and reggaeton throughout the whole night.
And then, out of nowhere, that fuckin band was playing again.
For those who don't know, this is banda here.
What a fucking contrast, huh?
Going from good shit to BAD SHIT.
I was sitting in a chair.
Listening along a bit drunk and thinking "wait ... what dipshit took control of the playlist?"
Soon after, the night ended anyhow.
So at least I didn't have to suffer too long listening to that shit.
The Point
There's been a few other incidents like this also that I've noticed.
And a trend I've picked up on.
I'm not Mexican though.
So what I'm going to say might simply be a misunderstanding and not accurate.
It's only an impression I've had as an outsider over the years here in Mexico.
But that impression is that it seems like Mexicans like playing banda music at the end of a party or celebration as a low key way to end the event.
"OK, let's play some lame ass music that nobody likes so they'll get bored and leave already."
After all, who the fuck plays banda after salsa and reggaeton?
Your grandma?
Insanely confusing.
But it seems to be something that happens down here.
Or something I have noticed over the years here anyway and noticed again on the Grito de Independencia concert in Macroplaza of Iztapalapa on September 15, 2022.
The odd switch to banda after such an exciting night.
It is what it is.
Not sure if Mexicans intentionally switch to boring music as an indirect way to tell people to "fuck off back home already" but it's the only explanation I have for this odd ending of a playlist I see down here from time to time.
Anyway, that's all I got to say.
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Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt