My experience and expectations into seeing Ivan Cornejo for the 3rd and 4th time

With Ivan Cornejo’s Mirada part 2 tour starting, I will recount my opinions on past experiences and what I hope and expect to see this time around.

By Karisma Nava

The first time that I saw Ivan Cornejo was in 2023 for his Terapia tour. The show that I went to was on August 4th, which was after Lollapalooza. Due to this show being called a Lollapalooza aftershow, the concert ended up starting at the time in which Lolla was ending for the night; the start of the concert was pretty late. At the time of this concert, Ivan did not play at a big venue as you would expect from his recent tour, he played at Park West. This venue was, for the most part, standing room only as I waited in line for hours to get in. Ivan arrived on the stage at midnight. Any negative thoughts I had thought about it in terms of the wait and the crowded room all disappeared when I saw Ivan walk on stage. My hours of waiting outside the venue paid off, as there were only about 5 people in front of me! The small venue and his personality made the concert feel very intimate as I could tell he was a little nervous, probably as this show was the first show on his Terapia tour. All in all, I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to see Ivan so close and in a smaller venue for my first time seeing him, as it made it all so special. (And yes, for the record, I did cry at his concert, whether it be from the songs to actually being so close to Ivan, the world will never know!)

Photo by Karisma Nava (Terapia tour 2023)

The second time that I saw Ivan, I saw many other artists that day. Sueños 2024 consisted of many amazing artists as Ivan performed on Saturday, May 25th, as a special performer. The format of Sueños, like all music festivals, leaves a specific allotted time for performers, and with that being said, Ivan played before the big headliners that day. With this being a music festival, it was not a small, intimate setting; however, being in the VIP section for that festival, I was able to see Ivan up close. I will never turn down an opportunity to see Ivan, as he is one of my favorite performers, however, a notable mention is the type of music he makes in comparison to the Sueños artists. I'm not going to say that Sueños is just a reggaeton music festival, as the main point of it is it being a Latin music festival, in which Ivan fits in, being a Latino artist. The type of music that is usually played by these performers are corridos or reggaeton, and with the time slot that Ivan has, he performed after Bizarrap, and before Young Miko, which are performers that have upbeat songs. Ivan’s music style is usually sad, and talks about heartache, usually with music played on the guitar. Many people that attended the performance have stated how out of place his performance was, but from my eyes, I loved the opportunity to hear him perform live, as the main focus of this festival is to celebrate Latin music and cultures coming together. (I did cry for this performance as well!) 

Photo by Karisma Nava (Sueños 2024)