Back a few months ago I was kinda busy with a sudden rash of Spring and Summer concerts popping out of the ice like (really) early crocuses. One of them was Los Lobos at The Cabot in Beverly on April 21 (Record Store Day 2018) and I thought hmmm, that sounds like it really would be fun. So I got tickets and they were fourth row center in that lovely theater. We almost had to give up the tickets later but didn't, and so they became a little more valuable perhaps and by the time the day rolled around we were very psyched.
And after a busy Saturday and a quick nap and a fast ride over there we strolled in and took our comfortable seats and realized, Holy Fuck, we were about to see this incredible band from 20-30 feet away!
There were no techs on stage and then they got frantic at the last minute, trying to get things ready, like they were going through a Holy Fuck moment themselves. The crowd filled in (the seat to my left stayed empty all evening, so I had plenty of room, and a cup-holder!) and then the band came out a little late with their current drummer, Bugs González, and they lit into Will the Wolf Survive ... Holy Fuck!! One of the best bands in the world was filling our eardrums with incredible sound and moving our limbs with incredible rhythm. And that was David Hidalgo singing this amazing song right in front of me.
The theater seemed pretty full to me but I couldn't see the balcony of course and you can imagine that I didn't spend a lot of time *not* watching what was going on on the stage. As seems to happen sometimes, it was an "older" crowd (well, not any older than us) and there were some well-dressed people and lots of perfume!?! And this at a rock and roll concert?? Luckily, though the audience slanted toward privileged whites, we were all there for a kick-ass night of Los Lobos music and there was lots of dancing, lots of enthusiasm, and lots of singing along.
The first set was plagued by things going wrong, some of which the techs should really have prepared for. First a string broke on Louie Pérez's acoustic, soon after that Conrad Lozano's strap broke on his bass and Bugs had to wave frantically to the stage manager to come fix it ... which was harder than it at first seemed. This drama kind of detracted from the songs. And then they realized that the real problem with Louie's setup was that it wasn't routed right through the PA. He was kind of annoyed by this, and Cesar Rosas tried to cover for the delays by riling up the crowd. But David Hidalgo was his usual hippie-in-the-bunch and just laughed at everyone trying to get things just exactly perfect. Of course, his switchbox soon shorted out and that was pretty much it for his first set.
So the first set was cut short but during the break they replaced Hidalgo's box, hooked up and mixed Pérez's guitars (and electric mandolin) correctly, and everything was just exactly perfect eventually. David gave the stage manager the thumbs up, but then laughingly tried to alarm him with other stuff later in the show.
And they opened the second set with another of their best songs, One Time One Night! The audience was not too disturbed by the fuckups in the first set since the playing had been so incredible. But then the second set came along and any sins were far in the past. They played a number of their Spanish-language rockers, including one fantastic, crooning song by Rosas. And to my satisfaction, they got way out there and jammed like crazy. Not to minimize the contributions of Pérez, Rosas, and Lozano, but David Hidalgo is one of the best guitarists in the world and he was milking some mind-bending sounds out of his custom guitar. He also picked up the accordion and bent some minds with that.
I think the attention they paid to Pérez's sound played out well; I've always assumed he was integral to their vibe but I'd never seen him that up-close and with that degree of sound clarity, and he was just incredible. With song after song they'd cycle between each of the guitar players taking a lead and not just taking a lead, but taking the song in a different direction with their wildly varied filters and technique. And then Conrad would start booming and grinning and he'd take a solo!
And I can't believe it's taken me this long to mention Steve Berlin, who was at his coolest and at the same time his most intense. He was playing the biggest baritone sax I've ever seen (when he wasn't playing great keyboards) and some of his leads on that were as consciousness-raising as Hidalgo's. And he was cool ... when he wasn't playing he just strolled around and mumbled to himself like a true hippie.
OK, Latin songs were over, they were returning from deep space and the night was getting on, and they calmed us all down with a slow beat. And soon we all caught the riff ... they were playing The Neighborhood, which they did as a folky sing-along. Hidalgo was nice enough to coax us suburbanites into taking a chorus or two, which we all responded to very well I think.
And then it was time for the Buddy Holly/Grateful Dead rocker: Not Fade Away. Bugs went nuts on this of course, he was a solid performer all night. And then they ended that, counted a beat, and launched into the Dead's Bertha. Hidalgo didn't really nail this vocal, but we were all mellowed out, dancing, and enjoying every bit of this.
OK, time to take a "encore" break, and when they came out to the stage David spoke sotto voce into the mike (but with a smile, we all heard him), "Will Barrence Whitfield and Willie Alexander please come to the bandstand?" Ack, Barrence is the greatest and Willie Alexander has the great Boston pedigree! If you haven't seen Barrence it's hard to describe him ... he can scream and sing and shout and smile and many other things all at the same time. And he clowns around while he's doing it.
For their second encore Barrence tried to talk about Hidalgo gearing up for a Pete Townsend rave-up we weren't going to forget. But then he knocked us over with his Roger Daltrey: "People try to put us d-down!" All of our generation sang along with the chorus. We were old ok, but we were rocking in Beverly on a Saturday night.
Wow, that was great! Soon out the side-door and then an uneventful ride back home. Experiences like that cannot be duplicated.
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