Julio Wows Miami with Valentines Day Concert
From: Latin American Herald Tribune
MIAMI -- Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias entertained his Miami fans at a Valentine's Day concert that drew nearly 20,000 people and was attended by seven of his eight children."Miami is my old city," Iglesias said during the two-hour concert Saturday night, which the singer marked by repeated references to his family, his life, the Spanish presence in Florida for 500 years and the transcendence of Latino music.
One of the most emotional moments during the show was when Iglesias mentioned the names of his seven children present there: Isabel and Julio Jr. from his marriage to Isabel Preysler and the five kids he had together with Miranda Rinsburger - Miguel Alejandro, Rodrigo, Cristina, Victoria and Guillermo.
The only one of the children not to attend was popular singer Enrique Iglesias, whom Julio also mentioned, saying that next year he hoped he'd be present.
Iglesias also had some loving remarks to make to Miranda, who - during almost the entire show - held in her arms the couple's youngest child, Guillermo, who will be two years old in May.
The singer joked with the audience and said that a man never knows if his children are really his, but it gives him faith that that is the case because all of his kids "were born at home."
"But the important thing with children is how you love them and how you teach them," the singer said.
He invited to the stage at the American Airlines Arena his second son, Julio Jr., to sing with him "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," by Willie Nelson, to the enthusiastic crowd.
For the past four years, Iglesias - who shuttles between his homes in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, Marbella, Spain and Miami as he travels the world giving about 100 concerts per year - has not performed here and so he mentioned the city several times during the evening."This is my place. Miami is my place," Iglesias said, joking that he liked this city above all because here he makes love more than anywhere else in the world.
Iglesias also emphasized the importance of the Spanish presence in Florida, just four years before the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Ponce de Leon on the coast of the territory that he called Florida.
"Also, 450 years have passed since Spaniards arrived at Pensacola and St. Augustine. The magic of my country projected itself in so many things that today we can say that we Latinos have been here for 500 years, but we were so dumb that we didn't stay," the singer said.Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia on
Thursday will celebrate the 450th anniversary of the establishment of the first European and Spanish settlement in the northwestern Florida city of Pensacola by Tristan de Luna in 1559. The Spanish royal couple will also travel to Miami to attend a banquet on the evening of Feb. 19 in honor of Spanish cooking to which Iglesias and his wife also have been invited. EFE
