(Sorry Steve Berlin.)
The gig's first few songs seemed to lean heavily on The Neighborhood. I recall "Emily", a vaguely wistful but thoroughly beautiful song that I've always thought of as being about young love. They also did the hopeful "The Giving Tree", a communal paean if there ever was one. Later they did a spirited "Georgia Slop" which got many a booty shakin'.
"Shakin' Shakin' Shakes" is always a great party tune while "Kiko and the Lavender Moon" was just gorgeous; sublime & mellow, it was a brief chance to relax in a set mostly consisting of uptempo tunes meant to get you movin'. A little bit of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" led right into "Oye Como Va". Curiously enough, the band played not one but two Grateful Dead covers: "West L.A. Fadeaway" mid-show and "Bertha" for an encore. Personally I could have done with just one. Or another of their originals. "Everybody Loves a Train", for instance.
Cesar Rosas was MC and he sounded like he was in good spirits. At one point he said that they were going to do a song by the late, great Flaco Jiménez which prompted David Hidalgo to strap on an accordion which he played for a couple two tree songs. At one point he also grabbed a güiro and played that while Rosas and Louie Pérez soloed.
The band's lone hit, their cover of Richie Valens' "La Bamba" closed out the show.
Los Lobos are, in my estimation, the premiere Americana band. They do Tejano, rock, rock'n'roll, R&B, blues, Latin jazz, ranchera, et al and they threw in a bit of everything on Sunday evening.
After the show I got a chance to chat with local bass player extraordinaire Kenny Stevenson. I hadn't seen him in ages so we caught up a bit and now I am planning to see him perform with Loving Cup at the Orton Park Festival next month where he'll do his best Bill Wyman imitation.
I took some video of the jam the closes "Chuco's Cumbia". It was fantastic. Just listen to that baritone sax! (Sorry about the shaky cam.)
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