The Riders on the Storm band came to Mexico City last night, and despite fate attempting to keep me away, I made it. Are they just the Doors minus Jim Morrison and their old name, or just a tribute band? A bit of both I guess - Ray Manzarek might not quite have captured the public imagination in the way Morrison did, unsurprisingly, but he was very much part of the driving force behind the band.

My original plan, to get my mum to buy the tickets with her credit card failed, because Ticketmaster Mexico don't like foreign cards. Luckily, Paola's dad took pity and bought four tickets for us all to go. Things looked dodgy again on Friday morning though - will I never learn to leave iffy looking street food alone? But other than a few cramps, I recovered in time to make the trip without having any undue concerns!



The concert was a real cracker. The arena doesn't allow cameras inside, sadly, so you'll have to make do with a look at the ticket! Meh - some people collect all their tickets, but I can't be bothered to have excess paper about. A quick Photoshop frame and online wall will have to do.

Auditorio Nacional is a great place to go see an event. Not so big the stage is a dot on the horizon (ok, I usually buy the cheapest tickets, I admit it), but big enough to get a decent sized crowd in to crank up the atmosphere. Not that everyone was jumping around the whole time. I did notice a few people discreetly smoking some Mary Jane; one trio just two rows in front of us. I did try and strain forward to try and grab some of their second hand goodness, but I started getting disapproving looks, and it wasn't working anyway. Oh well, It'd just have sent me straight to sleep anyway!

You might think; no Jim Morrison, no point going. But to be honest, Jim would be in his 60's now, and probably not as energetic as the guy standing in for him. I have no idea what his name was, but he was outstanding. Really, really outstanding. Excellent voice, made the stage his own. The show was very much an upbeat rock event - Love Me Two Times, When the Music's Over, The Whisky Song, Love Her Madly, Break on Through and others before finishing off with Light My Fire. The End and Riders on the Storm were noticably absent, although with other slower paced tracks, but fair enough - they wouldn't have quite fit in with the show tonight.

There's no new stuff or any garbage like that. It's a Doors 40th Anniversary Tour, and even though Jim missed 35 of them, they've stuck with what the Doors really were. If they come to town, and you're debating whether they're worth the money - if you're a fan, you'll have a great time. If you're not; what sort of saddo are you??