Tijuana Bullish on Return of Favorite Son Carlos Santana

There has been a crescendo building in Tijuana for the past month, an almost tangible euphoria surrounding concerts this weekend by native son Carlos Santana in the city’s Bullring by the Sea. According to promoter Bill Silva, who is presenting the Bay Area-based musician and his band in what is being billed as Santana’s “ Regresa a Casa ,” or “Homecoming” performances, excitement among Tijuanans has added an unusual dimension to the event.

“From the start, we tried to approach this as not just another Santana concert, but as an event,” Silva said on Wednesday, minutes after returning from overseeing the construction of a portable stage in the bullring. “And that seems to be the way people in Tijuana are perceiving it. Every time we go into the stores or restaurants down there, people have this almost visible swelling of pride. You know, ‘Carlos cares so much about Tijuana that he’s coming home.’ ”

The guitarist’s hometown fans are putting their money where their pride is. In a market known for its walk-up, day-of-show buying habits, advance ticket sales for Saturday’s show at the 18,000-seat bullring were strong enough to justify the addition of a Sunday show. As of Wednesday, the Saturday concert was virtually sold out, with only $10 seats behind the stage still available. About 2,000 tickets had been sold for Sunday’s concert.

Both shows, which start at 3 p.m., will also feature reggae star Pato Banton and Santana’s father, Jose Santana, performing with area Mariachis. But for Silva, the explanation for the unprecedented ticket demand went beyond the appeal of a promising lineup.

“Everyone is so caught up in the homeboy-made-good theme, that if Carlos wants to do this concert, people want to make sure they’ll be there,” he said.

Santana, 44, was raised in the tough Colonia Libertad section of Tijuana. These concerts fulfill a long-held dream to return something meaningful to the area where, in the late ‘50s, Santana cut his first musical teeth playing violin on the street for turistas . Santana broached the possibility of a homecoming gig last September, when Silva promoted his concert at the Starlight Bowl. Originally, Silva hoped to produce the event at Tijuana’s Caliente Race Track, where he’d produced the huge Mex-Fest concert in 1987.

“When Carlos and I first talked about him doing Tijuana, he introduced me to a gentleman named Manuel Bejarano, who is the minister of culture for Baja California,” Silva said. “Manuel and I kept in touch, and when the Caliente thing fell through for various reasons, he was the one who suggested the bullring and helped us put the show there.”

The Bullring by the Sea, which replaced an older, smaller facility in the early ‘60s, has a sporadic, albeit interesting history as a music venue. In 1969, the band Chicago (then known as the Chicago Transit Authority) played the first-ever rock concert there for a crowd of only a couple thousand. Chicago’s agent at the time, Dan Weiner, accompanied them on the gig. Weiner, whose current client roster includes such artists as Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis, and Dire Straits, recalled the fiasco in a phone call Thursday from his office in Carmel.

“The promoter for that show had been a soda vendor at a festival in Orange County,” Weiner said. “He saw all these people making money promoting rock concerts so he decided to get involved. I remember waiting forever at the border for a police escort, which then took us the wrong way down a one-way, unpaved road that had just been opened. They were forcing cars to the side of the road to allow us to pass. Then we got to the bullring and felt like we were the only ones there. I never took another act down there.”

In the ensuing years, the bullring occasionally hosted concerts by Latin artists, but the site had fallen out of use as a music venue until the Santana show came along. Already, Silva is making plans to produce future shows both there and at the race track.

“We’ve been asked by a couple of major recording acts to explore Tijuana for them, and I think we’ll do two more large shows there this year--assuming the Santana show comes off without a major hitch,” Silva said. “One of those shows probably would be at Caliente, and one at the bullring.

“So far, the bullring has worked out spectacularly,” Silva added. “The people who operate it have been great to deal with, and they, the mayor, and the city manager have all asked us to bring more events down there. For one thing, it’s a tax windfall for them, and second, it means (attracting) people and dollars that might not otherwise be there, so it’s a boon for the merchants. We all agreed that after the Santana show, we’ll sit down and discuss the pros and cons and decide how business can be made easier for future shows.”

Although the Iguanas nightclub has been presenting American and international rock acts for several years, Silva would be the first Stateside promoter to actively mine what many feel is a large-scale concert market with untapped potential. But he cautions that even though Tijuana and San Diego compare well in terms of overall population, other factors could put limitations on any ambitious operations south of the border.

“I think there is a much smaller percentage of people in Tijuana who have the disposable income to afford today’s ticket prices,” he said. “I think in the foreseeable future, we’d use Tijuana mostly for special events, when an artist really wanted to do something different from just playing San Diego. If, for example, they wanted to make a foray into Mexico without going all the way to Mexico City. In Tijuana, they’d have the security both of an American border at their back and of dealing with a familiar, American promoter.”

Whatever the future holds, Silva has laid the groundwork for a cooperative relationship with Tijuana officials and businessmen that could pay off handsomely for both sides. But the promoter admitted that the road to rapprochement at times has been as bumpy as the one Chicago traveled in 1969.

“I thought it would be much easier than it has been,” Silva allowed. “For example, because there isn’t a formal ticketing system in place down there, we had to create an outlet distribution system and place hard tickets (as opposed to computerized reservations) at every outlet. Then, we had to train the ticket sellers on such things as how to give out information, how to make their tickets accessible, how to keep an ongoing inventory so we could keep track of ticket sales. It was quite a process.

“And, obviously, the different language and culture presented a learning curve for us,” he continued. “We knew we couldn’t come into Tijuana and do business the way we do it in San Diego. And for a while, it seemed that at every turn there was some new law, or new permit, or new something we weren’t aware of that had to be worked out.

“But we’ve tried to treat everyone down there with great respect and professionalism. We’ve thanked them for their patience as we’ve learned their processes, and we’ve formed some great alliances and friendships, and I think we’re feeling today much greater groundswell of support for the show and for our presence than we did at the beginning.”

In acknowledging the reciprocal nature of the educational process, Silva confided that he is deriving benefits from the Santana weekend that he didn’t anticipate.

“Today, my Spanish is not very good, but it’s 300% better than it was four weeks ago!” Silva said with enthusiasm. “I’m reading and even writing letters in Spanish, and, frankly, it’s been a kick for me.

“I’ve been promoting concerts for 12 or 13 years, and it’s rare for me to get to do something so far off the beaten track. This show has got all my creative juices flowing, and everyone here in my office is excited that we’re doing something different. It’s fun, it’s challenging, and the artist has trusted us with the freedom to create the event instead of mandating how it should be done. For me, the whole thing has really been a rejuvenation.”