The Clippers’ new stadium adds to the legend of Marco Antonio Solís

Since this week, there are three large stadiums in Los Angeles on the same avenue and separated from each other by a few kilometers. Marco Antonio Solís has already conquered two of these buildings. First he did it with a successful reunion tour with the Bukis at SoFi, home of two NFL teams and which has hosted a Super Bowl and will do so again in 2027. The second conquest came this Sunday at the Intuit Dome, the new home of the NBA Clippers. The elder Buki has inaugurated this forum in its first weekend with his Eternally Grateful tour.

The dome opened to the public on Thursday night, and Marco Antonio Solis became the first Latino to perform at the stadium, and the third overall after Bruno Mars and comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. When the NBA season begins on October 22, the arena will be packed with basketball fans. Now music fans are the first to see the inside of the $2 billion venue.

Thursday’s opening was marred by technological glitches. The stadium wants to be at the forefront in the United States. The owner of the Clippers and the brains behind the Intuit Dome, tycoon Steve Ballmer, an eccentric former Microsoft executive, built it as a state-of-the-art temple for fans. Organizers say visitors can enter the facility without having to take their cell phones out of their pockets, thanks to a facial recognition program. On opening night, the app and WiFi had problems. Social media was filled with videos of the disaster that became the entrance to the concert. Thousands of people waited to enter in a bottleneck. Bruno Mars started an hour and forty minutes later than planned.

By Sunday, most of the kinks had been fixed. A new version of the app was ready for download, and an army of employees in red jackets helped fans download it — one of the stadium’s requirements. In the land of the Clippers, there are no paper tickets. Tiny cameras embedded in basketballs capture the faces of the 18,000 people who can fit in. They are greeted with a message embedded in the floor: “From one superfan to another: Welcome to the Intuit Dome,” reads the text, accompanied by Ballmer’s signature.

Marco Antonio Solís came out a little later than planned, accompanied by a video that was intended to introduce him in case there was someone missing inside the arena. “The musical soul of a continent,” “The most important singer-songwriter in Latin America and Europe” and “A voice that has been an accomplice to an infinite number of affairs,” was what was said in the images taken during the tour. The delay mattered little to his fans, who spent the time taking photos inside the stadium and uploading the images to social networks. Many were surprised to find USB ports in the armrests to charge their phones. This proved to be useful tonight. From the first chords of My soul is dying Many began recording on their phones or even broadcasting the concert via Facebook or Instagram.

Solís, a fervent believer, thanked God for the opportunity to add the milestone to a long history of successes. In the front row to witness the moment were his two daughters, Marla and Alison, who are trying to take off in the industry as solo artists, as well as actor Demián Bichir, Ecuadorian producer Pablo Aguirre and other celebrities.

The Mexican artist performed many of the songs from the more than 40 years he has been on stage. He started with hits he made with the Bukis, the group that launched him to stardom in the grupero movement of Mexican music in the 70s and 80s. How I fell in love with you followed by And now you’re leaving. These are songs that the composer from Michoacán has very fresh in his mind. Solís is taking his Eternamente Agradecido tour to stadiums in parallel with the residency he is maintaining with the Bukis in Las Vegas until September 21. The difference is that in the gambling capital, he is not allowed to perform songs that he made solo as a gesture of respect for his original group.

The public enjoyed MAS, as Solís is known, without limits this Sunday. If he started with a generous repertoire of Bukis, he left some of his most chanted songs for the end, such as the ballad of heartbreak Where are we going to end up? and Blessed venia, a song that has become a modern mariachi classic. This was followed by If you hadn’t leftthe song he wrote for Marisela in the 80s and which he recorded with his own voice the following decade, making it one of the anthems and the song of the most famous scene in the film And your mom tooBut there was more. To close, Solís made the Intuit Dome dance with More than your friend.

After the Mexican, it will be the turn of pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo, who has already sold out two nights of concerts at the stadium. In October, the Clippers will finally be able to inaugurate their state-of-the-art home with the pressure of still being one of the five NBA teams that has never played in the finals.