Complicated Iglesias
By Mark Faulkner
JACKSONVILLE, FL
2/16/02
His personality's dual nature perplexes the mind. There's Julio Iglesias the icon, the silky-throated Spaniard whose made himself internationally a household name and sold hundreds of millions of records. Then, there's Julio Iglesias the man, the former professional soccer player who turned to music when he was paralyzed in a car crash, whose love of audiences and love itself keeps him touring after decades in the business, who chit chats with his father about sex like American fathers and sons talk about football.
At his concert last night at the Florida Theatre, Iglesias brought both sides of his personality to the stage and was greeted with cheers of an admiring audience. Whether singing in English or his native Spanish, the near-capacity crowd loved every minute of the show.
Even the singer's material showed that dual personality. His Spanish material, songs such as Ni Te Tengo Ni Te Olvido or Bamboleo were accompanied by a light show that would make Pink Floyd blush, a couple of dancers and such an enveloping realm of sound that it stretched to the hall's farthest seats. Accompanied by an ever-present synthesizer current and with just all about of his vocals run through an echo-effect box, Iglesias' performance was hypnotizing.
For the English material, Iglesias chose a much more sedate approach. His restrained -- compared to the carnival of Spanish material -- performance of Patsy Cline's signature song Crazy, Elvis' Can't Help Falling in Love or the concert's closer Unforgettable with two of his three backup singers taking the lead, proved quite polite and touching without the hoopla. The night's most poignant moment came when he performed Sting's Fragile and dedicated to all the men and women who are fighting to defend the rest of us.
After seeing the show, it's obvious to see why Iglesias still tours, still hitting smaller markets after decades in the business. The stage is Iglesias' element; his voice, his band, his light show, his backup singers in their holy-frijole-high-cut skirts, he's become a master of mesmerizing his fans.