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The concert was off the hook,the only blemish was that I would've like to see tha dogg pound do any of thier own songs from the last decade.They only did dogg food & songs they were featured on Dre's The Chronic. Frost was a big surprise. It was cool.

The Gipsy Kings concert (August 18, 2012) at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live was wonderful! This was the first time I ve ever been to this venue. I had seen the Gipsy Kings seven times before, but the Nokia is definitely the best place in the L.A. area to see them; it has the best acoustics, and the big video screens are HIGH DEFINITION (unlike the video screens at the Greek Theatre and the Grove of Anaheim). We were in the first row of the orchestra, not in the center section, but close to it on the Stage Left side (in front of Paul, who was in Canut s usual spot). As for the concert itself, I think it was the best ever, except for the absence of Canut, who is always greatly missed if he s not there (present were Andre, Patchai, Nicolas, Tonino, Paco, and Paul; the usual members of the backup band were also there, including percussionist Pacheco and their base player, The Professor ). The silver lining to Canut s absence was that Patchai and Paul were both there, and did more lead singing. I hadn t seen Paul since 2007, and Canut was there that year, so Paul didn t do much lead singing if at all that year. All of them looked GREAT, had so much energy and were having a wonderful time. Anyone who says they re getting old or they re not getting any younger should have seen this concert! I only wish that Nicolas had sung Habla Me, which he had sung so beautifully earlier in 2012 in Minneapolis. He did sing Un Amor,, of course; he sings it better every year. When Patchai and Paul started singing Pena Penita, I actually thought it was a brand new song; it took me a while to realize it was Pena Penita. This was because they played and sang it in such a new way (I wish I knew enough about music to explain how). This shows that they are continually evolving even when they sing old songs, they never sing them like they did years ago, they are always growing as artists. I don t know how long it has been since Nicolas has sung A Mi Manera in concert. He was so great, the powerful way he sang the high notes near the end. When the song was over, he crossed himself three times. I ve never seen any of the Gipsy Kings do this. He must have been really praying that he would sing the song well, and was grateful to God that his prayers were answered. This was such a touching moment. In order to get such good seats, we ordered the Diamond VIP Package on the first day tickets went on sale. I know this is supposed to be a concert review, but people may want to know what they re getting with the VIP package at the Nokia, so I m going to tell all, so people will know what they re getting for their money. The package includes parking (which is normally $25!) and access to the VIP lounge upstairs which has its own restrooms, plus all-you can eat hors d oeuvres and drinks. The pre-show party lasts an hour, so you can relax up there. I thought the hors d oeuvres would be just little canapés plus chips, etc., but they were much better than we thought. Besides little bowls of things like smokehouse almonds, mini pretzels, cheese popcorn, etc. on the individual small tables (so people could have snacks to themselves and not worry about people putting dirty hands in huge common bowls of snacks) this was the buffet spread: Charcuterie section with various sausages, plus toppings like grainy mustard and honey, plus olives, cornichons (tiny sour pickles), etc; Cheese board with a variety of cheeses (goat cheese with herbs, blue cheese, various yellow cheeses); basket of toasted bread & crackers; raw veggies with various dips (hummus; onion dip that tasted like it was made from real caramelized onions, not onion soup mix; ranch); little slider-sized sandwiches on buns chicken salad and beef tenderloin; assorted fresh fruit; tortilla chips plus nacho cheese, salsas, etc.; grilled vegetable quesadillas; corn and flour tortillas, plus carne asada and chicken for make-your-own tacos. Everything was very fresh and was nicely presented. They also had a bar with alcoholic and soft drinks. As usual, the concert goes by so fast, then it s over, after so many months of anticipation! .

Concert was great, VIP lounge and amenities were great, would definitely do it again!