Alejandro Sanz’ Paradise Tour is said by the promoters to be the most important of his career. Certainly his Looking for Paradise release with Alicia Keys is a cracker. Here are the two of them giving it laldie (Scottish for singing their hearts out) on tour last year.

Both artists are playing in Tenerife this summer. The lovely Alicia Keys will playing Quayside in Santa Cruz in June with tickets going for €35 or €60 while Alejandro Sanz is playing Tenerife on August 28 in the Adeje Soccer Stadium. Tickets for Sanz concert are €25 for the masses while the chosen few may opt for ‘Paraiso LG’ seats for €50 which allow them to enjoy ‘toda la fuerza’ of the experience plus have their own special entrance so they can avoid rubbing shoulders with the hoi polloi.

Tickets for both events are available from generaltickets.com

If you are on holiday in Tenerife at the end of August  you will find lots of free beach-related activity and workshops centred round the Los Cristianos area. It’s all to do with the annual Aguaviva Canarias festival which is held to celebrate the sea and drive home the message that the wide blue oceans of the world are full of natural treasures that need to be tended, protected and loved. It is a collaborative effort with input from scientists, government bodies, musicians and entertainers, educators and the public.

There are free events and activites from August 22 and an open air concert on August 29th which requires payment but at only €15 should be worth the entrance fee.  The whole festival comes to a close on 30th of August with the release of turtles which has been co-ordinated by members of the Neotropico Foundation.  There are also volunteer educational projects like the cetacean research project run by Buena Proa.

Saturday 22 August

10:00 hrs – Beach Clean Up at Playa de Las Enojados, Las Galletas (free)

Sunday 23 August

18.30 hrs – Marine Life First Aid Workshop (seabirds, turtles and whales), Playa de las Vistas, Los Cristianos (free)

19.00 hrs – Marine Graffitti Workshop on the seafront of Los Cristianos, Memorial Plaza (free)

Friday 28 August

11.00 – 14.00 hrs and 15.00 – 17.00 horas, Aguaviva Baptisms – Make a spiritual connection with the ocean (free)

Dive into Aguaviva – Playa de Las Vistas. Playa de Las Vistas.

10.30 – 15.00 hrs – Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos. (free)

18.00 – 20.00 hrs – Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos. (free)

21:00 hrs Street Parade with CIRCUS JAM -Paseo Marítimo de Los Cristianos – Plaza de Los Caídos (free)

22.00 hrs – CONFABULADOS in concert. – Paseo Marítimo de Los Cristianos – Plaza de Los Caídos (free)

Saturday 29 August

11.00 – 14.00 hours and 15.00 – 17.00 am Aguaviva Baptisms – Get baptised in the ocean (free)
Dive into Aguaviva.- Playa de Las Vistas

10.00 hrs -  Cleaning the Deep Arona in Playa de Las Vistas. (free)
13.00 hrs -  Human Chain of Pollutionfrom the Playa de Las Vistas to the Centro Cultural de Los Cristianos. (free)
19.00 hrs Round Table in Arona in Playa de las Vistas (next to the breakwater of the port).
Panel discussion on the current state of conservation of the seafloor and the coast of the Canary Islands.Various interested groups are invited to attend including scuba divers, fishermen, scientists, researchers at the ULL and the Natural History Museum, conservationists, politicians and hoteliers.
10.30 – 15.00 hrs Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos.
18.00 – 20.00 hrs Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos.

21.00 hrs  AguavivaFest Concert

The Zaragoza pop rock band Amaral are the headliners with We Are Standard, Line, Ramon Dominguez and Adjacant and DT Project also in the line up. See clips of Amaral, We Are Standard and Ramon Domingues below for a wee taster of what the night will hold.

Estadio de Los Cristianos, Annex. Advance tickets 15 euros.

Sunday 30 August

11.00 – 14.00 hours and 15.00 – 17.00 am Baptisms Aguaviva. Make direct contact with the underwater world with a free ocean baptism.

Dive into Aguaviva. Playa de Las Vistas.
10.30 – 15.00 pm Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos.

16:30 hrs - Turtle Release in  Playa de Las Vistas
21.00 hrs – Cinema on the Beach in Arona in Playa de Los Cristianos.

I am surprised that this Youtube clip of Carlos Baute and Marta Sánchez singing Colgando En Tus Manos still works given the battering my daughter gives it every day.  In fact we all make quite an alarming racket murdering the lyrics out loud…

If she was just a little bit older I would love to take her to the concert in Candelaria on July 31st where Carlos Baute and Marta Sanchez will be singing  together in the for the finale of the Festival de Candelaria from 10 PM at the  Plaza Patrona de Canarias.

So are you all ready for Roddy then? Let’s just hope he didn’t book his hotel through Xcapewithus or he’s on a hiding to nothing. You know, with all the hype and Rod Stewart’s wizened mugshot gurning at you every time you turn around (sorry Gaga, but its true) I am surprised there are seats left. Maybe the concert will be stowed out but here we are late morning on Rod Stewart Eve and it looks like there are still seats aplenty on generaltickets.com.

After the security fiasco of the Elton John concert, don’t be surprised if there are beefy blocks of lard at five foot intervals round a three mile radius of Rod Stewart as he reprises his glory years (and ours, it has to be admitted). It will be like the raptor show at Aguilas Park. Don’t stand up during the show or you will get your head ripped off.

After the last red tartan scarf has fluttered to the floor read the Rod Stewart Concert Review on Joe Cawley’s blog. There is a reason the man is an award winning travel writer and with his Elton John review summarised by the immortal phrase, ‘…sugar and shite’, you can be sure his review will be as gritty and real as the lyrics of Dirty Old Town.

Me? I’m not going. I am waiting for U2

Chicago rock band Wilco are no wall flowers when it comes to embracing new technology. After an illegal release of their latest album ripped through the torrent sites this week – months before official release – they have decided to stream their whole album nattily named Wilco (The Album) through their website.

Brilliant ploy especially as they are now on a concert tour. Given that movie makers and music moguls are squealing the game’s a bogey over their inability to keep the latest releases off the internet at least long enough for a profitable number of mugs to actually buy the damn thing will Wilco’s generosity actually impact positively or negatively on the sales of their record or concert seats? I’m betting positive – it’s one thing to be able to click on and listen to a streaming album on the ‘net but its an even better thing to have the physical product in your own collection.

Anyway, see Wilco in all their living glory at the Tenerife Auditorium on 23rd May or just keep coming back here to replay this little video clip. I don’t mind. It’s not like your disturbing me or anything… The song is Impossible Germany from the Sky Blue Sky (2007) album.

I just don’t get Jazz, you know. To me it’s like listening to a cat with saucepan lids tied to its tail getting scalded over a pan of boiling porridge but hey… to each his own, right? I’ll stick to the Chinese Opera if you don’t mind.

But if you are into Jazz, then Arona council have got a treat lined up for you this weekend. Hie thyself and several like minded friends over to the Plaza de la Iglesia de Los Cristianos where on Friday 8th you can hear Guitarr Juice and Funkfarria strut their stuff.

(The video below is of Funkfarria playing ¨No Digas Nada¨ a Liquid Soul Band original -  credit to Kamenup for the Youtube upload.  Kamenup has uploaded several other videos of the Arona Jazz Festival so worth a look if you are a jazz fan).

On Saturday 9th it is the turn of Manolo Rodiguez on Jazz Guitar and Ann Peters doing her NU Groove.

III Arona Jazz Festival

Friday May 8th 2009 – 21:00 hrs
Guitarr Juice
Funkfarria

Saturday 9th May – 21:00 hrs
Manolo Rodiguez Jazz Guitar
Anne Peters Nu Groove

I don’t think Wilson Pickett is in town so if you have no prior committments why not indulge in a bit of pure nostalgia and belt out all your favourite hits from the classic movie The Committments at the Tenerife auditorium.

Scary to think the movie was released in 1991! I would have been about … ahhh… never mind. Anyway, tickets cost €20 from the box office or you can visit the Auditoria de Tenerife website for more information or groan along with Tenerife Matters in the pun-filled announcement of The Committments which they published way back in February.

In the meantime  just to get you in the mood here is a trailer for the Alan Parker film.