Songs from the band’s solid new album, Tin Can Trust, were largely encouraging, but what distinguished this show was a few prime slices of jamband Lobos, from expansive takes on Angel Dance, Tin Can Trust’s title track and The Neighborhood — David Hidalgo ran the gamut in his guitar improvisations, from juicy phrases to serpentine twists — to the ending Mas y Mas, which, despite its ubiquity, got an acid-jazz injection at Bowery with the addition of a guest trumpet player.
And woe if you missed a loving tribute to Jerry Garcia, whose birthday two days earlier Hidalgo mentioned during an incendiary Burn It Down and then the band itself saluted with West L.A. Fadeaway, and then punctuated during the encore with a customarily tasty Bertha.
Maybe not a great Lobos show, but virtually any is an excuse to marvel at the band’s consistency: only the Radiators have given us so much fun and professionalism for so long with such comparative lack of bullshit. If anything, Los Lobos seems more relaxed than at any other time in recent years: shows are once again slipping into fun grooves, tasty pockets and rollicking tempos and staying there without the band needing two or three songs to locate and re-locate its mojo.
Worth noting: there’s a lot to love about Backyard Tire Fire, which has opened a few Lobos shows – including the Bowery’s – and one of those acts for which it’s hard to understand why there aren’t more converts, more frequently. They kicked off the night with a frothy, energetic set, joined by Lobos’ Steve Berlin – who produced their most reason album, Good to Be – on sax and keys.
SET: Emily, Chuco’s Cumbia, Georgia Slop, On Main Street, Yo Canto, Teresa, Angel Dance, Will the Wolf Survive? > Maricela, Tin Can Trust, The Neighborhood, Jupiter Or the Moon*, Let’s Say Goodnight**, Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio, Volver Volver, Happy Birthday to Jerry Garcia, Burn It Down, West L.A. Fadeaway, Don’t Worry Baby > Mas y Mas* > drum solo > Mas y Mas
Encore: I Got Loaded (w/Lovelight verse) > Bertha
* with unknown trumpet player
** with Karen Durkot on washboard
One Response
Thanks for the smart and thorough and colorfully powerful writing. Am in N. Italy, why I missed the show, which, of course, I would’ve been @, singing along w “Volver,Volver,” transitioning to precisely the state you described. Good work. Again, thanks.