|
This is a saved page of Los Lobos cajoles crowd into dancing (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) This is a copy we made of the page on 28-Aug-2006. The original page may or may not still be availible and pictures and text may have changed since then. Click Here to view the original page at the original website. |
|
|
|
| ||
 |
|
|
|
Friday, August 11, 2006 Los Lobos cajoles crowd into dancing It took a while for East L.A. rockers Los Lobos to get the Woodland Park Zoo crowd off their lawn chairs, but midway through Wednesday night's show, the place was undulating like a hippie love-in.
The band opened its 90-minute set with the title track from 1990's "The Neighborhood," a benediction for lowlifes in need of street salvation. Continuing with "Don't Worry Baby," the speeded-up John Hooker riff that broke them in 1984, the band delivered a 17-song set packed with gems from their back catalog, as well as three new ones from "The Town and the City," which is due next month. Fronted by guitarists Cesar Rosas and David Hidalgo, who alternated on lead vocals, Los Lobos boasted a rock 'n' roll vocabulary that stretched from the Peppermint Lounge twist sounds of "I Got Loaded" to a one-chord, tremolo-soaked blues dirge off the upcoming release. Peppered throughout the set were a handful of more traditional songs, with Spanish and bilingual lyrics. Hildago voiced his disappointment when "Luz de Mi Vida" failed to generate party sparks, but reconciled himself to the sedentary crowd with the comment, "It's all right; whatever you want to do." It was the irresistible bass breaks of the Who's "My Generation" that finally got the crowd on its feet. Once standing, the audience stayed up and, when special guests Lee Oskar (harmonica) and Harold Brown (drums) from War came onstage to jam on "All Day Music" and "Baby Brother," the party fever animated even the most sedate. The show ended in the street tough "Mas y Mas," which translates as "more and more," but what they were really saying was, "Bring It On." And they did. It was an all-out barrio brawl that put a rowdy cap on the evening. They encored, as has been their tradition for some years, with a version of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" that made maximum use of three very different sounding guitars. The Minus Five, fronted by Scott McCaughey and featuring Peter Buck on bass and Bill Reiflin on drums, opened with a 45-minute set of derivative '60s Britpop. When McCaughey jokingly referred to the "Ballad of John and Yoko" as his original composition, one almost believed him, so dearly did he emulate the Beatles in his writing.
Bill White is a Seattle-based arts and entertainment writer. He can be reached at Bwhi61@hotmail.com |
|
 |
|
 |
||||||||||
also available by e-mail
also available by RSS
