Shakira Energizes San Jose Crowd

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The first song Shakira played on Saturday night at the HP Pavilion in San Jose was “Estoy Aquí,” which translates to “I’m Here.”

Boy, was she ever.

More importantly, from the look of things, it appears that she’s here to stay. The 29-year-old Colombian-born vocalist opened her two-night stand at the venue, which included a show Monday night, with a fiery performance that proved she has what it takes to make it for the long haul.

Shakira, as most of you probably know, is currently the hottest property in the crossover market. A huge star in the Latin pop world since the mid-’90s, the woman born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll now finds herself in the same league as Madonna, Britney Spears and Shania Twain in the United States. Her collaboration with Wyclef Jean, “Hips Don’t Lie,” is the jam of the summer, and her Oral Fixation Tour is doing banner business across the country.

The thing about Latin-pop crossover artists, however, is that their stars often quickly fade after the initial buzz wears thin. The crossover success might last for one, maybe two, catchy singles, but then it’s gone — see Ricky Martin for one recent example.

That’s not likely to happen with Shakira. She simply has too much going for her.

One of those things, unfortunately, is not her opening act. The choice of Jean as the opener on this tour makes sense — it makes it possible for the Fugees singer to join Shakira at the end of her set on “Hips Don’t Lie.”

But it also means that the crowd has to listen to a full set by Jean, who remains one of the most infuriatingly uneven live performers in the business. When he is focused on stage, which is rare, the 33-year-old Haitian-born rapper can really fire up an audience. At the HP Pavilion, however, Jean delivered a highly scattered show that was reminiscent of the one he performed on Election Night 2000 at the San Jose State Event Center. (It was so bad that probably even the Democrats in the house would have rather been home watching election results.)

The one true highlight of Jean’s otherwise ho-hum set was his version of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry,” which can be found on the Fugees’ “The Score.” It was a much better rendition than the one performed in the same venue only six nights earlier by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

Things improved dramatically once Shakira took the stage and hit the crowd with “Estoy Aquí.”

“Here’s the deal,” the vocalist told the audience early in the concert. “I am going to be singing and dancing and doing the required stuff. But I need you to do one thing for me — I need you to have fun.”

The capacity crowd certainly lived up to its end. The fans boogied, waved banners and Colombian flags, sang along to both Spanish and English language songs, and, in general, acted as if Carnival was in full swing.

Shakira sounded strong and showed far more vocal range than one hears from her on her studio records as she strutted her way through the first English-language song of the night, “Don’t Bother,” a lightweight rocker from last year’s blockbuster “Oral Fixation, Vol. 2.”

The celeb, as we know from watching the videos, can dance as well as she sings — perhaps even better. She mixed modern moves, old-school shakes like “The Robot” and the belly-dancing techniques she first learned as a child as she waltzed through such feet-friendly numbers as “La Tortua.”

Although her stats place her in true divadom, and thus she’s allowed to use all the tricks of the trade, Shakira impressively used a minimal number of bells and whistles during her show. She didn’t rely on video segments, fancy light shows or many big production numbers. She didn’t writhe suggestively in a bathtub, a la Britney Spears on the Onyx Hotel Tour, or affix herself to a cross, like Madonna in her Confessions Tour.

Instead, she just relied on her talent to get her through the night, and it was more than enough.

Appearing first in a simple black T-shirt and baggy pants, Shakira kept the focus on the music throughout the show. She did dust off that old stage trick of going unplugged on “Antologia,” and there was that elaborate red costume with the flowing sleeves that she wore for “Fijación Oral, Vol. 1” — track “No.” In neither case did the theatrics distract from the crowd’s ability to connect with the music.

She closed her main set with a tremendous version of the infectious “Whenever, Wherever,” the “Laundry Service” tune that made her a crossover star in 2001. She returned for two encore segments, eventually ending her show by bringing out Jean for an uproarious duet on “Hips Don’t Lie.”

Shakira Tour Dates

Shakira Tickets September 5 – Boston MA – TD Banknorth Garden
Shakira Tickets September 7 – New York NY – Madison Square Garden
Shakira Tickets September 12 – Atlanta GA – Philips Arena
Shakira Tickets September 13 – Orlando FL – TD Waterhouse Centre
Shakira Tickets September 15 – Miami FL – American Airlines Arena
Shakira Tickets September 19 – Houston TX – Toyota Center
Shakira Tickets September 20 – Corpus Christi TX – American Bank Center
Shakira Tickets September 22 – San Antonio TX – AT&T Center
Shakira Tickets September 23 – Dallas TX – American Airlines Center
Shakira Tickets September 25 – Hidalgo TX – Dodge Arena

Jim Harrington/MediaNews

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