When Oasis announced its tour, I was unable to go on the east coast, so when I looked at other locations available of LA or Mexico City. Mexico City had the cheapest and easiest logistics and was a lot more interesting to visit than LA. We got in a couple of days early and had a couple low key days in the city before we went to the concert.
Classic blog below → Click Here for Upgraded Magazine Layout
Zócalo & Palacio de Bellas Artes
Zócalo is the central square of Mexico City and the last time we were here was in 2016 (https://staging-70d6-myjcweb.wpcomstaging.com/2016/09/06/week-139-mexico-city/) and was right before the Day of the Dead. This time it was Mexican Independence Day (not Cinco De Mayo) and the crowds for the evening concert were gathering. We did a quick loop then went to one of the restaurants overlooking the square and then headed down the street to the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Friends from Mexico City have always recommended Palacio de Bellas Artes and we finally made it this visit. The building itself is worth a visit. It was originally built as the National Theatre, but construction stalled during the Mexican Revolution in the 1910’s and was ultimately finished as the Palace of Fine Arts in the 1930s. After getting in, we were approached by a young art student who offered a tour (authorized by the museum). He was great and explained that after the Mexican Revolution, there were three great artists (the “great ones”) and all three painted large murals representing the change in Mexico at the time. All three were communists, two were followers of Stalin and one was a follower of Lenin – so they hated each other and during the construction the sections had to be separated with curtains. The tour guide focused mostly on the mural by Diego Rivera – “Man, Controller of the Universe” (pictured below) – originally painted for John D. Rockefeller and the Art Deco Rockefeller Center in NYC. Rockefeller destroyed the original because of the symbolism with Lenin in the picture on the “good” side (the ride side of the mural) and capitalism on the “bad side” and Rivera recreated the mural from photographs. The other murals were not as interesting and more focused on the struggle with the Spanish for independence. The other two “great ones” were José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Polanco
Flying to Mexico City, the guy next to me was trying to chat me up (we were leaving an industry conference) and at some point he realized I wasn’t going to buy what he was selling (detailed software tracking for sun-following solar panels). But he did mention we should visit Polanco – the “Beverly Hills” of Mexico City. At the same time, our friend who had lived in Mexico City gave us similar feedback and recommended an Italian restaurant called “Parole” so we made reservations. We arrived on the main street Avenida Presidente Masaryk which lived up to its reputation as the most expensive street in Mexico. Our restaurant was a block off the main street and the area between was a heavily wooded old neighborhood with large houses converted to restaurants and high-end shops – the two diagonal streets of Oscar Wilde and Jules Verne had the most going on. We stopped at one place for a drink which was very nice and then off to Parole – it was very good and we got a surprise as the wait staff were also professional singers. The design of the restaurant was confusing – we ultimately figured out that we were in the front yard of an mansion that was enclosed by a steel & glass space frame. After dinner, we walked next door to another restaurant, Blanco Castelar, which was even nicer. The architecture was very similar – we googled to find out it was one house for both restaurants – the former “Casa Domit” which was a famous mansion built in the 1930’s in the “California Style” and does resemble the architecture of Westwood Village near UCLA.
Bosque de Chapultepec & Castle
Reforma Avenue is the main east – west street in this part of Mexico City, running from the park next to the Palacio de Bellas Artes through the Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Park/Forest) for about 4 miles. The upscale financial district is called Reforma and is next to the park – but many hotels use the Reforma location in their titles and are near the avenue – not the district. We were on the “Holiday Inn Reforma” which was about halfway between the two ends (e.g. the worse location) – about 2 miles to the park. After a good enchilada breakfast, we walked down Reforma Avenue to the park with the intention of going to the castle – but the park entrance was closed for a ceremony associated with Independence Day. So as we looked for an alternate route to the castle in google – we got an AI suggestion that the castle was indefinitely closed with a weblink to a news article. However, we couldn’t confirm with other sources so we walked to the ticket office – it wa open but with a long line of pasty English people (mostly in Oasis shirts). Line moved pretty fast and so walked up to the top of the hill.
Chapultepec Castle was built by the Spanish for the highest colonial administrator and ultimately became the official residence of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and Empress Charlotte. Coincidently, we had just gone to Maximilian’s other primary residence in Italy (https://staging-70d6-myjcweb.wpcomstaging.com/2025/08/12/week-601-trieste/). Nice to be born into royalty, even if not a direct heir to the throne. The first floor was a history museum with the story of Mexican Independence and the upper floors where the residence rooms. The museum was interesting – seeing the other side of history with California and Texas shown as “Mexico” pre-1840. Multiple levels of gardens were on the grounds and the roof.
Oasis – The Main Event
I’ve seen Oasis once before, Noel solo twice, and Liam solo once – this was the best yet (although Noel performing with U2 in London was close and when we saw him at a rainy festival in rural Korea) with a great atmosphere. Initially I was a little bummed that the concert wasn’t at the Estadio Azteca which is a famous stadium, but the venue at the F1 track was perfect – better for concerts than a sports stadium as the floor area was much wider.
The F1 track is next to the airport – 20 minutes from our hotel without traffic – but we initially allowed 45 minutes but then extended to an hour when the rain started and showed up in plenty of time. The F1 stadium sits in the middle of the race course and you enter though the straight-away – really unique set up. Unlike the USA, there was dozens of merchandise booths outside the stadium “officially” selling bootleg merchandise at less than $10/T-shirt or bucket hat. Explains why we saw so many people wearing Oasis gear during the day – very inexpensive.
We had seats about 4 rows from the top – our usher took us to our seats – kicked out the people sitting there – then asked for a tip. That was a first. Once seated – had 2 hours of 70,000 people standing pretty much the whole time.
