Enrique Iglesias 'tricked' Into Landmark Concert....
Enrique Iglesias has accused a concert promoter of tricking him into performing the first concert in Syria for 30 years.Iglesias made history at the gig, in a country U.S. President George W. Bush once claimed was in the "axis of evil" - but was oblivious until he was told at a press conference.The singer says, "They just invited us, the promoter there. There's this guy that's trying to promote the arts there. He didn't tell us there hadn't been a concert there in 30 years. He probably didn't want to scare us."I found out at the press conference! I knew that nobody had played there in quite some time, but never in my mind did I imagine 30 years. I thought maybe two years, whatever. It amazed me when the promoter said it. I couldn't believe it. That's a long time!" But he insists he wasn't intimidated by performing in the Middle East: "I've traveled around the world, and I'm so used to being places where there's conflict. I was in Bali right after the 2002 terrorist attack. There was a lot of tension and it killed the tourism there, but the place was still beautiful.People tend to move on, and people tend to keep on living their lives. Same thing happened in Damascus. Obviously, there's tension, but there are still millions of people that live a normal life. It's not like you're going to go there and there's going to be gunshots or bombs going off in every corner. When people watch the news, that's the vision they get from these countries, and it's not like that."And Iglesias is glad he can open the door for other artists to travel there: "I truly do think it opens up. The first thing we ask when we go to a place is, 'Who else has played there?' And whenever they say somebody that you know, it immediately makes you feel a lot better. That's what the promoter said to me: 'Enrique, look. Nobody wants to be the first, because nobody wants to risk it, and the management and the agents, they're afraid. We need someone that we can say, 'Well, he was here.' And that will open up the doors.'''
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