By: Janel Spiegel

Marc Anthony

Opus Tour 2019

PPL Center

Allentown, PA

Thursday October 31, 2019

http://www.pplcenter.com/events

 

Imagine being such a talented, gifted performer. Someone who can tell any story, sing any song and even Mother Nature reminiscences and the heaven’s open up to wash away the sadness. Marc Anthony has that impact.

Marc Anthony brought the biggest party to the PPL Center on Halloween. I don’t think anyone anywhere was having more fun than all of us in the PPL Center singing, dancing and forgetting about the week’s problems. The PPL Center was all set up and everyone was helpful as always. I got to my seat and sat with a group of the most amazing people. They were so much fun and so happy. It made the show even better. Comedian Joey Vega opened the show for Marc Anthony. He was hilarious. You can follow him @comedianjoeyvega on Instagram.

Marc Anthony has a beautiful new album called OPUS. Marc Anthony is a singer, actor, fashion designer and a philanthropist. He is a two-time Grammy Award winner. He is a six-time Latin Grammy Award winner. His music knows no boundaries. From Latin, salsa, pop, blues, R&B, tropical. He could sing Instagram captions and people would fall in love and feel every word.

Marc Anthony has been doing this for a long time. His music is inspiring, uplifting. It makes you fall in love, fall out of love and back in love.

(Inside story, my mom always tells a story about her “heart problem.” She tells it best but one can never really replicate or duplicate anyone so I shall tell it how she says it. Someone will ask how she’s doing. She says, well, I am good… You know, except for my heart problem. “What heart problem?” That is always the general response. She goes on to explain, well, half of my heart is on the left side and half of my heart is on the right side. People often get upset and they want to offer kind words or say something uplifting. But, she continues in serious tone. My heart is broken. HER HEART IS BROKEN! Broken like Marc Anthony’s Broken and Mended. It is her own reference but she loves his music and no one can truly appreciate the heartache of a song than someone with a broken heart.)

Back to Marc Anthony. After Comedian Joey Vega had the PPL Center crowd in hysterics. I was laughing and crying. Joey Vega will be returning to perform in Allentown in January so be on the lookout.

The stage was beautiful. Marc Anthony’s OPUS album cover was the backdrop until he came out on-stage. The crowd settled in and a BIG HUG and thank you to Marisol and her family. They sat in my section and everyone was wonderful. It was the most energetic, happy, enthusiastic, HIGH SPIRITED crowd and Marc Anthony didn’t even come out yet.

He finally did after they played a beautiful tribute with so many of his songs from over the years including “I Need to Know” (One of the greatest songs ever made.) He finally appeared on-stage and his band was excellent. He greeted Allentown, PA with so much love. He stood and looked into the crowd, he looked up and all around at everyone. He asked for the house lights to be turned on, he wanted to talk to the audience. He sang everything from “Hasta ayer”, “Vivir lo nuestro.”

The crowd and his genuine love for what he is singing, what he wrote and his interaction he has with his musicians. He is a world-class performer. He could sing anything and it would be like you are at the Opera watching Giuseppe Verdi’s “Rigoletto.” So much passion, so much heart. He sings and interacted us with during every song, every turn and look to the crowd, he put his heart into it. You could tell.

The audience was having fun and it was fun to see people from all generations dancing. The younger folks grabbing someone’s hand to dance. Marc Anthony dancing right along with all of us. He sang all of the beautiful Spanish songs and salsa and it was just the most ENTHUSIASTIC, ENERGENTIC concert EVER! He caused a rumble as he left the stage at least three times and chants and cheers started from the crowd for him to return. He did with a slight hesitation, a slight tease to the audience.

His voice is beautiful, his personality is loving and fun. You feel that he feels and believes every word he is singing or HE WOULD NOT BE SINGING the songs. It was beautiful and romantic. Couples dressed up and dancing. A few people did have on some Halloween costumes in which Marc Anthony commented on. He also asked a gentleman to come up on-stage and share his enthusiastic dancing with the rest of the crowd. He did so and very happily.

This concert was unreal. People were turning around and watching the people in the back because every single one of us was singing along, and singing even before Marc Anthony started singing. An emotional moment as flags from Puerto Rico, Ecuador and more were given to him. He placed each one over his mic stand. He thanked everyone. He talked about some of his life story. He stood on-stage and looked into the crowd and you could see he was taken back by the amount JOY and LOVE from the audience. It looked as if he may have had tears in his eyes.

The man who creates music to help us mend and heal our broken hearts was overcome with emotion. He did about three encores until he did actually have to leave. The crowd would have stayed all night. If he wanted to sing every song he wrote, we would have stayed and sang and danced with him. But, as Halloween went on and Ghost, Devil’s, Witches, Michael Myers and the Jigsaw’s, Superheroes, Disney characters, Tigers, Lions and bears oh my sauntered about as Samhain, Mischief night, The Devil’s Night carried on, Marc Anthony was throwing the biggest celebration, the best party of the night.

The music, the love, the crowd and the happiness was so overwhelming. If you love music and you feel it, you will understand. (Have you ever sat in your car when you get home to listen to a song until it’s over? You may have heard the song a bazillion times but you still need to hear it through. That is one way to describe it. But, you had to be there to TRULY feel it, to take it all in.) You had to be there in the PPL Center, immersed in a sea of people dancing and singing. People who may know each other, who may have never met one another but somehow we all became the best of friends.

 

That is the power of music. It connects people, it gives you hope when there may not be any. Even Mother Nature couldn’t hold her tears back. It began to pour as the concert ended. I suppose the heavens weren’t ready for Marc Anthony’s show to be over either… So, the downfall of rain started. Some of the crowd waited inside the PPL Center and some of us walked outside and looked up at the night sky and felt the rain on our faces. (I was drenched when I got to my car but I didn’t care.) Many of us walked out together and I also heard so many people asking each other including myself, “Did you have fun?” The answer was…. WE HAD A BLAST! If you get a chance YOU MUST get tickets right away and see Marc Anthony’s show.

 

Thank you PPL Center and Marc Anthony and everyone in rows 11, 12 and 13 on the Floor.

MaestroCares

https://linktr.ee/maestrocares

www.marcanthonyonline.com

 

 

Interviews & Articles By: Janel Spiegel