El Gran Silencio and company lit up the Conga Room

By | September 12, 2013

In what at first appeared to be a slow night at the Conga Room last Thursday night, El Gran Silencio and opening bands, La Sucursal de La Cumbia from Mexicali and local punk veterans, Las 15 letras, turned into a night of good old hot and sweaty rock and roll energy at its best.

La Sucursal De La Cumbia started off the festivities and gave a riveting performance that soon had everyone dancing to hard driving cumbias but with the energy of punk.  At the end of their set, the audience would not allow them to leave the stage without an encore and the band had to come back to perform one last song.

When L.A music scene veterans, Las 15 Letras took the stage it appeared as if we were all taken back in time to 20 years ago to the beginnings of the band and the local Spanish rock movement that they helped grow along with other bands like Maria Fatal, Los Olvidados and Pastilla. This show was a testament of what this band means to the local music scene as they continue to gain new fans as it was evident by how many younger members of the audience knew their music.

After 21 years of making music and touring, El Gran Silencio have not lost a step and last Thursday night, they lit up the stage in a memorable concert that reminded of me the reasons I fell in love with Spanish rock.

With their mixture of cumbias, hip-hop, and raggamufin, El Gran Silencio created the “Chuntaro Style” which became synonymous with the band and it was these sounds the permeated the Conga Room and it brought back memories of those early concerts at smaller venues where it would get so hot and sweaty that sometimes it was hard to breathe, but it was all part of that synergy between the band on the stage and the audience that helped the Spanish rock movement to grow and although it may still not have the respect it deserves from radio stations or television, Spanish rock continues to grow and evolve.

Original members Tony Hernandez, Cano Hernandez, Ezequiel Alvarado y Campa Valdez along with the rest of the band, Wiwa Flores, Palmaz Martinez, Fer Alvarado and Juanky Montoya, put on a high energy performance in which they not only played their hits, but also had fun covering Café Tacvba with “Pinche Juan” with a snippet of “Maria” at the beginning and also “Pachuco” from Maldita Vecindad.

The band played many of the hits that have become classics not only to El Gran Silencio fans but Spanish rock and songs like “Song Bomb”, “No Sabemos Amar”, “Dormir Soñando” and “Chuntaros Style” amongst others had the audience dancing all night, but the high point of the evening was the classic from the 70’s “Dejenme Si Estoy Llorando” in which the audience sang at the top of their lungs.