It’s not everyday you get the chance to sing at a music festival like Feria Nacional de Fresnillo in Zacatecas, a fair that brought together huge acts this year like Banda El Recodo and Guaynaa.

Elderly singer Don Rogelio Veina was as excited as ever to perform at the fair, but unfortunately, barely anyone showed up to hear him play.

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As reported by Milenio, only five people attended Veina’s concert at the Zacatecas fair, but he still gave it his all. Singing all of his songs, the artist also called “El Mostrenco” showed that his number-one passion is his music — and doesn’t let a bit of adversity stop him from doing what he does best.

Still, photos of the performance soon went viral on social media, showing photos of the older singer looking out at an empty concert hall. Several posts began to circle online, with captions like, “It’s so sad to see these kinds of things… This man deserves all the applause in the world, even if only two or three people are listening to what he does with honor.”

Users on Facebook caught wind of the situation and became both angry and saddened by the situation. One person commented, “If he was a reggaetonero everyone would go, right? Lots of applause for el abuelito” while another chimed in, “Hopefully this doesn’t happen again… After this… Believe me you will have lots of applause and a lot of people will recognize you.”

Other people saw the sad event as proof of disrespect toward the elderly: “Hopefully they get to our age and know how it feels.” Meanwhile, another user chose to see the positive in the situation, describing how now “a lot of people are watching Don Rogelio’s video and enjoying his performance.” 

Still, not all is bad in Veina’s world: after giving a stellar performance and going completely viral for letting the show go on even without an audience, many celebrities found out about his music and decided to help him.  

According to La Mejor, the band Los Elegantes de Jerez commented on a Facebook post that they were trying to locate Veina, and wanted to propose something (all we can hope for is a collab!).

While Banda Rancho Grande RG was planning on opening up for Gerardo Ortiz’s concert at the same Zacatecas fair, the band decided to give Veina the opportunity to be the opening act instead. 

The older singer was given the chance to perform his set in front of thousands of people, and finally got the roaring applause he always deserved.