No retirement for Julio

One of the most interesting events in Valencia this year will be a Julio Iglesias concert, scheduled to happen on September 1 in Plaza de Torros in Valencia. Julio comes back to Valencia after 7 years, to celebrate 50 years of his career, with a series of five concerts, mostly on the coast, in August and September. Tickets went on sale last Friday and were selling like hotcakes.

Being 76 years of age, Julio is one of the oldest Spanish performers. Born in 1943. In Madrid he started his career in 1968 by winning Benidorm International Song Festival, so 50 years have gone two years ago, but who cares. Fifty years ago, Julio represented Spain in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in fourth place. The rest is history.

Nowadays, being 76 is still considered young for performers. Even at this age, Julio is not the oldest performer around. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Rolling Stones still perform, deep in their seventies. Bob Dylan still goes around singing and American country star Willie Nelson continues to record at the age of 87. But nobody can come close to the legendary Charles Aznavour, who held his last concert at the gentle age of 94.

As Spain is at the moment the country with the one of the longest life expectancies in the world, we can only assume that Julio’s career will still go on, at least for another decade or two. So, if you didn’t get the tickets for his concert on time, don’t despair – he will be back.