Week 606 – Test

When Oasis announced their reunion tour, the east coast dates were gone. The choice came down to LA or Mexico City — Mexico City won on logistics, price, and sheer interest. We got in a couple of days early and had a couple of low-key days in the city before the main event.

The Heart of the City

Zócalo is the central square of Mexico City — the last time we were here was in 2016, right before the Day of the Dead. This time it was Mexican Independence Day (not Cinco de Mayo, as every American assumes) and the crowds for the evening concert were already gathering. We did a quick loop, 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 — originally built as the National Theatre, construction stalled during the Mexican Revolution and it was finally finished as the Palace of Fine Arts in the 1930s. A young art student offered us a tour, authorized by the museum, and he was exceptional.

He explained that after the Mexican Revolution there were three great muralists — the “great ones” — and all three painted large murals representing the change in Mexico. All three were communists: two followers of Stalin, one of Lenin. They hated each other, and during construction the sections had to be separated with curtains. Our guide focused mostly on Diego Rivera’s Man, Controller of the Universe — originally painted for John D. Rockefeller at New York’s Rockefeller Center. Rockefeller destroyed it because Lenin appeared on the “good” side of the mural. Rivera recreated it from photographs. The other two great ones were José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

The atrium of the Palacio de Bellas Artes — Art Deco and Art Nouveau fused into one of the most ornate interiors in Mexico City. Construction started in the 1900s, stalled during the Revolution, and finished in 1934.

The Beverly Hills of Mexico City

Flying to Mexico City, the guy next to me was trying to sell me detailed software for sun-tracking solar panels. At some point he realised I wasn’t buying — but he did mention Polanco. Our friend who had lived in Mexico City gave the same recommendation and suggested an Italian restaurant called Parole. So we made reservations.

We arrived on Avenida Presidente Masaryk — the most expensive street in Mexico, and it looked it. Our restaurant was a block off the main strip in a heavily wooded old neighbourhood where large mansions had been converted into restaurants and boutiques. The diagonal streets of Oscar Wilde and Jules Verne had the most going on. Parole was very good — we got a surprise when the wait staff turned out to also be professional singers. The design confused us for a while: we eventually figured out we were sitting in the enclosed front yard of a mansion, with the actual house walls behind glass panels.

Inside Parole — what looks like an outdoor courtyard is actually enclosed in a steel-and-glass space frame. The walls you can see are the exterior walls of the original mansion. The wait staff are also professional singers.

A Castle Built for Emperors

Reforma Avenue runs east–west for about four miles from the park near Palacio de Bellas Artes through the Bosque de Chapultepec. We walked the whole thing after a good enchilada breakfast, intending to visit the castle — but the park entrance was closed for an Independence Day ceremony. Google’s AI helpfully suggested the castle was indefinitely closed, with a link to a news article. We couldn’t confirm this from any other source, so we walked to the ticket office anyway. Open — with a long line of pale English people, mostly in Oasis shirts. Line moved fast.

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. Coincidentally, we had just visited Maximilian’s other primary residence in Trieste, Italy a few weeks earlier. Nice to be born into royalty, even if you’re not a direct heir and end up getting shot. The first floor was a history museum covering Mexican Independence — interesting to see maps showing California and Texas as part of Mexico pre-1840. The upper floors were the royal residence, and multiple levels of gardens covered the grounds and rooftop.

Oasis — Live at the F1 Circuit

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez  ·  Mexico City  ·  September 2025  ·  70,000 people

I’ve seen Oasis once before, Noel solo twice, and Liam solo once. This was the best of the four — although Noel performing with U2 in London was close, and there was a rainy festival in rural Korea that I still think about. Initially I was a little bummed that the concert wasn’t at the Estadio Azteca, which is a famous venue. But the F1 track turned out to be perfect — better than a sports stadium because the floor area is much wider.

The F1 circuit is next to the airport, about 20 minutes from our hotel in normal traffic. We allowed 45 minutes and then extended to an hour when the rain started. The stadium sits in the middle of the race course — you enter through the straight-away — a genuinely unique setup. Outside, dozens of booths were selling bootleg merchandise at under $10 a T-shirt or bucket hat. This explained why we’d seen so many people in Oasis gear all day around the city. Very efficient.

One of several dozen unofficial merchandise stands outside the circuit — T-shirts under $10, bucket hats the same. Explains the universal Oasis gear visible across Mexico City all day. Unlike the USA, they were openly set up right outside the gates.

We had seats about four rows from the top. Our usher took us to our seats, kicked out the people already sitting there, then asked for a tip. That was a first. Once seated — two hours of 70,000 people standing pretty much the whole time. Champagne Supernova, Don’t Look Back in Anger, Live Forever, Wonderwall. Worth every logistical headache of getting to Mexico City instead of a US date.