Maná: Mexíco Lindo y Querido Tour Review
Written by Andrea Diaz, Alina Velasquez on April 5, 2023
Maná performed for their highly anticipated tour, “Mexíco Lindo y Querido,” at the Toyota Center on Thursday, March 30th. A full crowd waited for the spectacular performance to come.
The night started with Maná’s promotion of their ecological foundation, Selva Negra, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. On January 26, 1996, the members of Maná created the Selva Negra Ecological Foundation, which carries out actions to protect species, restore ecosystems, and promote environmental education.
The crowd became enthused when the instrumental of “Comó Te Deseo” began to play, and the members of Maná took the stage. Maná is a Latin rock band and is one of the best-selling recording and touring acts in Latin music history.
Each member comes with an amazing variety of artistic abilities, with official members Fher Olvera (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar), Alex González (drums, backup vocals), Juan Calleros (bass guitar, acoustic bass guitar), and Sergio Vallín (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, classical guitar). Touring live band members consist of Juan Carlos Torbio (keyboards, piano, flute), Fernando “Psycho” Vallín (rhythm guitar, 2nd bass guitar, backup vocals), and Hector Quintana (percussion, backup vocals).
Having formed in 1981 and 9 world tours done in that time, this tour is their 10th world tour. Their impressive artistic ability was seen all throughout the night. Maná continued performing, following with “De Pies A Cabeza” before talking to the crowd after the song.
Muy buenas noches Houston, Houston, Houston! Muy buenas noches Latinoamérica! Muy buenas noches México! Que bonita noche acá en Texas, ya los extrañábamos un chingo. Estabamos muy emocionados de volver a esta gran cuidad nos sentimos como si estuviéramos en México. Y bueno, en esta noche quiero decirles que para nosotros la banda, iniciar nuestro tour mundial por esta zona de los Estados Unidos, repito nos sentimos como en nuestro país.
Fher Olvera of Maná
Hello Houston, Houston, Houston! Good night Latin America! Good night Mexico! What a beautiful night here in Texas, we missed you a lot. We are very excited to return to this great city. We feel like we are in Mexico. And well, tonight I want to tell you that for us, the band, to start our world tour in this area of the United States, I repeat, we feel like in our country.
Fher Olvera of Maná
They continued with their performance of “Corazón Espinado,” which had both Calleros and Vallín showcasing their impressive ability on the guitar with a guitar solo from both. It really set the tone for the night with the showcase of amazing instrument prowess.
“Cuando Los Ángeles Lloran” was dedicated to Selva Negra and their contributions to saving the environment with a giant turtle floating above the stage as they performed. Following that performance, “Vivir Sin Aire” was next, in which Olvera showed his skill with harmonica at the intro and end of the song.
Olvera explained that there was a concern about possibly canceling the tour due to a surgery he recently underwent.
La neta no debería estar yo aquí cantando porque estoy con una cirugía, en una prótesis completa de rodilla, pero yo le dije al doctor, “No, mira, yo no quiero cancelar [el tour], no nos gusta los Manás’ cancelar y nos vamos aventar el tiro.” Entonces de repente me pueden ver un poco mas sentadito acá, es esta pata que me tiene [silbato de hasta aquí] inflamada.
Fher Olvera of Maná
The truth is that I should not be here singing because I have had surgery, a complete knee prosthetics, but I told the doctor, “No, look, I don’t want to cancel [the tour], us the Manás’ don’t like canceling so we will shoot our shot.” So if suddenly you see me sitting down around the stage, it is because this leg has me [up to here whistle] swollen.
Fher Olvera of Maná
During the performance of “Oye Mi Amor,” before the song ended, Olvera got the crowd chanting, repeating after him, starting with one half of the crowd, then the other half, and then everyone together. It was amazing to see such collective energy in the crowd. Using the same key and instrumental of “Oye Mi Amor,” Maná performed their own short rendition of “Get Up, Stand Up” by The Wailers.
In performing “Como Un Perro Enloquecido,” González takes lead as the song’s vocalist. Afterward, an impressive instrumental performance began with guitarists Vallín and Calleros freestyling, then drummer González had his solo performance showing off his impressive skills keeping the crowd engaged while just playing the drums by himself with the platform he was on rotating, which lasted 8 minutes.
Following the performance, Maná moved to a smaller stage at the center of the Toyota Center. Olvera held a giant flashlight shining it in on the crowd and increasing the excitement in the venue. They played hits such as “Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez,” “Te Lloré Un Río,” “El Reloj Cucú,” and “Huele A Tristeza.” After “Huele A Tristeza,” Olvera invited two fans onto the stage, where the band performed “Eres Mi Religión” before transitioning back to the main stage walking through the crowd and greeting fans along the way.
Once they returned to the main stage, they performed “Me Vale,” “En El Muelle De San Blas,” and “Clavado En Un Bar,” during which Olvera introduced all the members of the band. After the performance, it seemed that it was over, but the crowd chanted for another song, and the band soon came back to perform their final song.
“Rayando El Sol” is their grand finale song, with the whole crowd singing along. Olvera asked for the light to be turned off of the stage and for the crowd to turn on the flashlight on their phone. It was such an emotional ending to the concert, especially with Olvera’s final words to the crowd.
Yo me siento muy orgulloso, y la banda, de estar de hace 30 años mirando todo este cambio histórico. Me siento verdaderamente orgulloso, muy orgulloso de ser Mexicano. Y este rayo, este rayo de luz, se lo mandamos acá a todos estos 18,000 corazones latiendo, para todo Texas, todo United States, México, Centroamérica, Latinoamérica, Caribe, todo Europa, África. Un rayo de luz y esperanza desde aquÍ para todo el planeta.
Fher Olvera of Maná
I feel very proud, and the band, of being here since 30 years ago and seeing all these historical changes. I feel really proud, very proud to be Mexican. And this ray, this ray of light, we send it here to all these 18,000 beating hearts, for all of Texas, all of the United States, Mexico, Central America, Latin America, the Caribbean, all of Europe, Africa. A ray of light and hope from here for the whole planet.
Fher Olvera of Maná
Throughout their entire performance, Maná’s stage presence and natural prowess in engaging the crowd was astounding to see live. Having so many hit songs in their large discography, it is unsurprising to see so many people singing along with enthusiasm. It was a phenomenal performance overall, and if you want to see them, they added new dates for their world tour, and they will return to Toyota Center on September 1st.
