Heavens above! I’ve never seen Gaga so excited. She’s gone bananas over this Rod Stewart concert and quite frankly I think I’ll be sitting as far away from her as I can get just in case she decides to do a Tom Jones and throw her knickers on the stage.

There’s a lot of buzz about free tickets and promotions  so if you are interested in getting your sticky mitts on some here’s the deal:

Número 1 Stores : get a free ticket to the Rod Stewart concert on May 16th 2009 when purchasing more than 150€ in any of the Número 1 stores.

Adrian Hoteles: Book your 2 or more nights stay in Adrian Hoteles and get a free ticket per person

Dreamplace: Get 2 free general tickets when booking any of there Dreamplace Hotels:
Dream Gran Tacande 5*, 2 nights or more.
Dream Noelia Sur 4*, 7 nights or more.
Dream Villa Tagoro 4*, 7 nights or more.
Jardin Tropical: Book your 7 night stay in Hotel Jardín Tropical and get a free ticket per person

Paradise Park: Book your one week-stay in the Hotel Paradise Park and you get a free ticket per person

Spring Hoteles: Book a one week  in one of the  Spring Hotels and you get a free ticket per person

Raffle of 50 tickets
Register at the Canary Festival website to get information about concerts organized by Canarias Live Sun Festival, and you participate automatically in the raffle of 50 tickets for the Rod Stewart Concert.

For more information on the concert you can also vist the official event website at Rod Stewart Tenerife.

Despite being a hard-working travel writer and co-author of both  Real Tenerife Island Drives and Going Native in Tenerife, Jack Montgomery stills finds time to write to please himself. His blog Living Beneath the Volcano about life in Puerto de la Cruz with his wife and writing partner Andy (that is living in PDLA with Andy who is his writing partner and his wife, not his wife AND a separate writing partner. Jeez!), is an entertaining testament to doing what you love.

From musing about the general uselessness of cats to a helpful guide on how to read between the rules in Tenerife, Jack shares his slightly mad outlook on life in the north of Tenerife. Seeing as I know nada about living in the north of Tenerife,  Jack kindly agreed to donate one of his ponderings about the laid back lifestyle in Puerto de la Cruz.

Puerto de la Cruz – Cool, but not Cold

Sometimes I wonder why I live in Puerto de la Cruz. It’s cloudy all the time and its streets are populated by geriatrics who think of the town as an ideal holiday location because life here is so sedate and quiet. Well that’s what I keep reading on travel watchdog sites; usually written by someone who knows Puerto as well as I know the inside of the local bingo hall (I’ve never been but my neighbour, Jesús, insists it’s popular with young Canarios).

I pondered this on Saturday night as Andy and I were sitting on the harbour wall opposite the old custom house listening to an enthusiastic young band, clearly influenced by Radiohead and the Kings of Leon, giving it all they were worth at the last gig of the Canaries Alternative Music Festival.

We were surrounded by a mix of mainly trendy young Canarios and a handful of neo hippies. It was pretty much a crowd of the same ilk which had filled the streets at the street art festival a couple of weeks previously and the ‘Battle of the Bands’ in Plaza Charco a couple of weeks before that.

I absently scratched at some minor sunburn on my stomach; a result of a rare excursion to the beach last week and the effects of a fierce sun zapping my abdomen with its 27 degree strength rays.

Cloudy and sedate…hmmm.

As I kind of shuffled on the spot, more or less in time with the music, a girl tapped my arm.

“¿Como se llama?”

“No se,” I shrugged my shoulders, but her quizzical expression at my answer had me doubting myself. Maybe she wasn’t asking the group’s name, maybe she was asking mine. I thought I’d better clarify.

“¿El nombre del grupo?” I asked her.

“Si, claro,” she confirmed.

“No se,” I replied again. This time there was no mistaking her expression; it said ‘well why did you speak to me again, you already told me you didn’t know their name.’

The reason I mention this discourse is because it dawned on me immediately afterwards that all the fiestas and concerts which take place in Puerto aren’t put on for the benefit of the tourists; they’re staged for the benefit of the locals. On a Saturday, or any other night for that matter, many British visitors tend to head to a British bar where they can enjoy the company of people they understand.

The only thing is that the British bars are not where it’s happening in Puerto. Ergo, stick to them and the impression you get of Puerto is one of relatively quiet bars filled with a mature clientele.

The garage group were replaced by a modern punk band who, as far as I could see, just sang the same song over and over again (god, how old does that sound) and seemed to have an obsession with shouting ‘REDCAR’ every few seconds (well that’s what it sounded like to me). Still it was good fun and everybody was enjoying themselves. I leant against a post to watch the rest of the performance and passively breathed in a lungful of air that was thick with the unmistakeable scent of illicit substances. Sedate Puerto? Aaah…that’s what they meant.

Mago de Oz are the Celtic metal band responsible for the Costa Del Silencio song that had half the world turning up on Tenerife Tattle’s doorstep a while back. Wondering why all these lost souls landed on the blog from search engines using ‘Costa Del Silencio’ a search phrase that would bring them to information and articles and yet seemed to leave almost immediately afterwards, I found that in fact they were searching for the Mago de Oz song.

As part of their El Leyenda de la Mancha tour the band will be playing Tenerife (at Plaza Maritim in Santa Cruz and not in Costa Del Silencio sadly) on 23rd, Lanzarote on the 24th and Gran Canaria on the 25th of April.

The last release the band made is called ‘Ciudad de los Árboles’ which is intriguingly described as “.. un disco lleno de armonías ninfómanas…”. I can’t quite get my head round that one but nymphomaniacal or not, the music is brilliant.

If you are not familiar with the band or with Celtic metal for that matter, you can click on the Amazon wotsit below and see if the music tweaks your fiddle strings. The concert starts at 22:00, seats cost €18 and you can book tickets at General Tickets though you’ll have to search for the event once you get there because they make it stupidly difficult to link direct to particular events. (Or maybe it is difficult because I am stupid? No se. )

June 13 to June 21, 2008

Aguaviva Canarias celebrates the arrival of summer, World Environment Day on 5th of June and World Ocean Day on 8th of June for its fourth year running.

There are two free concerts at Playa del Conquistador On 13th of June at 21:00 h and 14th June at 18:00 h. The first features Chamboa, Black Strobe and Superstereo. The second features Fiction Plane and Oscartienealas.

On Saturday 14th, Jamiroquai, El Canto del Loco, Calle 13 and Aristides Moreno play at the Los Cristianos Stadium. It all kicks off at 22:00 h and there is an entrance fee of €45.

Finally snakehips Marc Anthony does his thing on 21 June, starting at 22:00 h in the Los Cristianos Stadium. Entrance costs €28.

Tickets for both paid events can be purchased from Cajatique.