Gipsy Kings at the beach

Miami Brings In The Year 2000

Miami 

04/01/2000 - 

Florida has certainly had its share of mega-concerts in recent months: the Bee Gees in Fort Lauderdale, rock stars Phish in the Everglades, not to mention Cuban-American diva Gloria Estefan in downtown Miami. Opting for a more spectacular decor, the Gipsy Kings - those popular pioneers of French-style 'world music' - decided to go one better and celebrate the dawning of the New Millennium on Miami Beach.

The Gipsy Kings - more often to be found on the road in the US these days than playing to audiences in France - finished up their summer tour of the States last June bringing the house down at the "Americas Midem" in Miami. When it came to bringing in the year 2000 the six musicians, who began their career playing at private celebrity parties in St Tropez (most notably in Brigitte Bardot's villa in La Madrague!), returned to Miami to perform a special concert on Miami Beach. And it was here, opposite the pastel facades of buildings in the Art Deco neighbourhood between 8th and 10th Street Ocean Drive, that festive audiences caught up with France's Gypsy guitar heroes.

The Gipsy Kings got things off to a lively start on Miami Beach at 10pm, warming the audience up as a support act before New York super-group Blondie hit the sands. The six musicians from the South of France must have been reminded of the early days of their career playing at celebrity parties - the front half of the audience was made up of hundreds of VIPs who had forked out 600 dollars (4,000 francs) for a ticket, which included a special Millennium buffet. Those who had bought (relatively) cheaper tickets - 175 dollars (1,000 francs) - found themselves further back on the sands, trying to catch glimpses of the Gipsy Kings on stage. This proved to be rather difficult as the stage was largely obscured by the afore-mentioned VIPs jigging about on their tables in the front rows!

In fact, neither part of the audience appeared to need much warming up! As soon as the Gipsy Kings picked up their flamenco guitars and launched into a rousing rendition of "Jobi,Joba", the crowd erupted en masse, partying with abandon. The Kings, who hail from Saintes Marie de la Mer (a town near Arles in the South of France) are made up of two related Gipsy families and perform their show in Spanish. No wonder then that they brought the house down in Florida, a state largely dominated by Hispanics and Cuban influences.

After a dozen songs the Gipsy Kings brought things to a climax with "Volare" and then the crowd erupted once again as Debbie Harry leapt on stage followed by the rest of Blondie. As the two groups began the Millennium countdown together on stage, VIPs went wild on the tables below and the rest of the audience shouted back in unison - five, four, three two, one!!!! A thunder of fireworks and a burst of Beethoven's 9th … and Miami exploded into the New Millennium.

Pascale  Hamon

Translation : Julie  Street