Tour of the Mongoose: Difference between revisions

Tour of the Mongoose (also known as Tour de la Mangosta in hispanophone countries) is the third concert tour by Columbian singer-songwriter, Shakria, in support of her first English album, Laundry Service. It is also noted as the singer's first global tour, reaching North America, South America and Europe. ^[1]

Clear Channel Entertainment annoucned the "Tour of the Mongoose" in September 2002. ^[1] The tour came shortly after Shakira reached international sucess with her third studio album, Laundry Service. During a press conference in New York City, Shakira summarized her show as an "entertaining rock show", stating ^[2] "I'm not saving any effort to make sure that this concert [tour] will be the best I can offer to my fans. And it's going to have a strong spirit of rock and roll, so you will see a rock-and-roll show, but it will have all of the nuances and the subtleties of a show that attempts to entertain."

At the same press conference, Shakira explained the tour's name as symbolizing the strength of the mongoose, stating "...I was really impressed by it because it is an animal that can defeat the snake with just a bite. It's like a living miracle, this animal, to me, because if there's an animal on earth that can defeat the snake--a venomous viper--with a bite, I think that there's got to be some way for us to defeat, or to bite the neck of hatred in this world, no? "It's called the Tour of the Mongoose, and the mongoose is basically one of the few animals who can defeat the most venomous snakes with just one bite and that's why I decided to name my tour that way, because I think that if we all have a little mongoose inside that can defeat the hatred and the resentment and the prejudice of everyday, we can probably win the battle." ^[2][3] At the tour commencement, Corey Moss of MTV compared the singer to Britney Spears, Tommy Lee, Elvis Presley, Sheryl Crow and Rage Against the Machine. ^[4] The show sparked contreversey in 2002 due to anti-war message infused into the show. The video plays before she performs "Octavo Día". It displays war footage and later reveals the Grim Reaper to be a puppeteer. Shakira defended the video stating ^[3]

"I think that we see war as a virtual thing and we even get to believe that bombs fall on top of cardboard cutouts and stuff like that, they don't. They kill real people, real children, real mothers and millions of innocent people. I come from Columbia, which is a country that has been under the whip of violence for more than four decades, so I've seen the consequences of war and I've seen the psychological damage that it does in a society. And I think that we're never ready for war. I just feel that there are always pacifist solutions, and I think that the leaders know the exit to the conflict, it's just that sometimes they don't want to use them, they just want to continue playing their little game of power. And I feel that us people have the responsibility and also the obligation to demand to our leaders to give us the pacifist solutions. To give us a world in peace. I might be sounding like an old fashioned hippie, but I believe in pacifist revolutions and I think that we have to look for those solutions, otherwise there's no way to survive in this world. In the First World War, 13 million people were killed. In the Second World War, 40 million people were killed. I think that if a third war takes place, nothing is going to be left on the face of earth. 'Octavo Dia' talks about God when he created the world, the eighth day he went for a walk to outer space and when he came back he found our world in an infernal mess and he found that we were being controlled and manipulated by just a few leaders and that we were like pieces of a chess game. Not always do the governments represent their people. Not always do the governments make the right decisions, because the governments are controlled by just a few, and those few do not always represent faithfully the ideals of the people."

1. "Welcome To The Jungle" (Instrumental Introduction)
2. "Ojos Así"
3. "Si Te Vas"
4. "Fool"
5. "Ciega, Sordomuda"
6. "Dónde Están Los Ladrones"
7. "The One"
8. "Dude Looks Like A Lady"
9. "Back in Black"
10. "Rules"
11. "Inevitable" ¹
12. "Underneath Your Clothes"
13. "Estoy Aquí"
14. "Octavo Día"
15. "Ready For The Good Times"
16. "Un Poco De Amor"
17. "Poem to a Horse" ¹
18. "Te Dejo Madrid" ¹
19. "Tú"
20. "Objection (Tango)"
21. "Whenever, Wherever"

¹Performed at select dates

The tour was chronicled on Live & off the Record. The disc included the concert along with a documentary showing the performer preparing for the show, her song writing process and her ideas about social responsiblity. It also includes a live CD that features ten songs that were performed during the show. The CD spun off two singles, "Poem to a Horse" and "Whenever, Wherever Live". ^[6]

• Shakira's Official Website