Concerts are my favorite thing, and finding out that one of my favorite artists, Omar Apollo, was coming to Tucson, I begged my mom to go. Omar Apollo is a Mexican American artist who gained popularity over his song, “Ugotme.” The concert took place August 29th 2019 at Historic Hotel Congress as a part of Tucson’s HOCO Fest, and Omar’s set started at 9.

The opening act was a group named Ojala Systems. They were fantastic and played songs that all had their own unique political or personal message weaved into them. The first person who sung in the group was A Sad Gal Nina and after that each person started to perform and that went on for an hour. Everyone in the crowd was vibing out to every song they performed and there was nothing but good energy all around. Even if someone didn’t know the songs they were singing, the energy never fell.

Omar Apollo came onstage at nine and opened with his song Hijo de Su Madre (son of his mother) It was a really good upbeat song to start his set with and the crowd was going crazy. Although I don’t speak Spanish fluently, I and most of the crowd were still vibing throughout the whole concert. He sung most of his popular songs such as: Ashamed, Trouble, Kickback, Breaklights, Ugotme, Erase, Unbothered, and Ignorin.

The whole time his energy matched the audience’s and I can’t emphasize this enough – it was so amazing. Omar was very interactive with the crowd. He would joke around about how hot it was, shout out everyone in the audience, and would ask questions so we would get even more involved.The crowd was big but small at the same time, and there was no drama between anyone in the audience like at many other concerts I have attended.

Although there were technical difficulties, Omar and his band were all still kind to the staff who was helping and tried their best to continue going. The staff was also very nice to everyone and again weren’t rude to people unlike other staff members I had to be in contact with at other events I have been to. Everyone in the audience was nice too and my friend and I talked to a few girls who were around us and we all had a good time even though we didn’t even know each other.

I would honestly recommend going to see him if you have the opportunity to, or to any concert because it is always such a great way to spend time with friends and meet new people.