Vicente Fernandez enthralls thousands at Stockton Arena

STOCKTON - Vicente Fernandez. El Rey. The first performer to sell out Stockton Arena with 9,847 ticket sales has a new city to lay his crown - or sombrero - at.

An hour before taking the stage Sunday night, Fernandez was presented with the key to the city by Stockton Mayor Ed Chavez.

"A performer of this stature is something we need to recognize in this city," Chavez said.

The gray-haired Fernandez, in a brown leather jacket and brown pants, was handed a black plaque with a golden key.

"Thanks to the public. If it wasn't for the public, I wouldn't be here," Fernadez responded.

Two more awards were presented to him from the Stockton Arena and KSTN's La Poderosa radio station.

Fernandez exited the conference room. I must have accidentally stood in his way. And as he passed me by, I stood in shock. He had clutched my face next to his, then kissed my cheek.

He stepped onto the stage at 7:30 p.m. While sitting in the audience, still in shock, I realized what made Fernandez so loved by people. Sure, his voice exalts high, as if the 67-year-old performer was in his prime years.

"The fact that he can pull the mic down and still sing loud and clear, is the reason no one can compare to him," said Victoria Del Rio, 30, of Modesto.

And he belongs to a small pool of famous traditional ranchera singers, an old genre.

But the intimate interaction, even in a large arena, between Fernandez and his audience is something rare. This is what my mother talked about. He relates to them. He was her favorite singer.

Fernandez didn't play by the typical rules. That's typical of him.

He only sings what his audience requests. From time to time, they also accompany him. Notes with song requests were constantly being passed to Fernandez by security. He sings them. He pleases the audience. The crowd roars before and after every piece.

"Everyone is in a high cloud, just seeing him," said Nancy Ramos, 56, of Stockton. Ramos came with her family to see the Mother's Day performance.

During the show, Fernandez intermittently took shots of what appeared to be alcohol.

"We drank with him, and we sang to Vicente," said Darlene Barajas, 22, of Stockton.

Fernandez fed off the crowd's constant cheering. The charro, dressed in a white suit and sombrero, tightened his fists, held his arms out and closed his eyes in a euphoria that built with the roar of the crowd. He listened, nodded his head and continued singing "Mexico Lindo Y Querido (Mexico lovely and dear).

"Si muero lejos de ti, que digan que estoy dormido y que me traigan aqui." (If I die far from you, they should say I'm sleeping and then bring me back here.)

That's the song Mary De La Rosa, 42, related to.

"He makes you feel like you want to be in Mexico," said De La Rosa, a native of Jalisco, Mexico, who lives in Manteca.

"In February, I just went to Mexico, and on the way back, that's the song we sang in the car," she said.

Fernandez put on a zarape that someone from the audience threw to him. It read "Chivas," his favorite soccer team from Mexico.

There was an ongoing connection, from the melancholy "Aca Entre Nos (Here Between Us)" that brought tears, to his Mother's Day dedication song "Las Mananitas (The Mornings)," that brought smiles.

"They're old songs of Mexico," De La Rosa said.

They're old songs my mother, who passed, listened to. Songs she did chores to. Songs she cried to. Songs I remember her by. And the Mother's Day kiss that brought it all back.

Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com.