In front of a packed house at Los Gobos Night Club, last Thursday night, guitar virtuoso, José Manuel Aguilera and the newest incarnation of La Barranca comprised of Adolfo Romero (guitars), Ernick Romero (bass) and Navi Naas (drums), put on a phenomenal performance that took the audience to the edge of delirium and left them asking for more.
It has been a while since we had one of these hot and sweaty shows at Los Globos, and it came from one of the least expected performers, as La Barranca has always been more of a listener’s band and not the type that will cause audiences to get overly excited, but it has been such a long time since La Barranca has played in Los Angeles, that the audience was more than ready to hear José Manuel Aguilera’s guitar wail over the band’s hits.
The whole evening was a recipe for exciting music, as Tijuana’s TreVolts got things started with a thunderous, albeit short performance, but it was enough to get the audience going and when the DJ cut them off to signal the end of their performance, the audience would not let it happen and kept chanting for more and TreVolts obliged. After their performance, many of those seeing TreVolts for the first time, were running up to the guys in the band and asking for pictures, while others were asking who these guys were as they wanted to find out more about them and fortunately for all those new fans of the band, TreVolts will be back Los Globos on April 16, as they will open for La Castañeda.
Famasloop, the Venezuelan band who had just had a successful appearance at the SXSW festival in Austin were more than ready to keep the momentum going. Famasloop’s “cucu-pop” at first glance, may have felt out of place at a show with bands like TreVolts and La Barranca who are more of a straight ahead rock sound, but the electronic beats and pop hooks of Famasloop got the audience on fire from the very first song and kept them jumping and dancing through their whole set.
Finally, La Barranca took the stage, and beginning with “Atroz” from the 2008 album Providencia, José Manuel Aguilera and company took the excited audience on a mystical voyage through the last 20 years of La Barranca’s rich musical history.
Songs like “Destello” from the album El Fluir (2005), “Sindrome” from the first album, El Fuego De La Noche (1995), “La Tempestad” from the album Tempestad (1997) and many others showcased José Manuel Aguilera mastery of his guitar and with such a capable band backing him up, the songs sounded fresh and powerful.
With the song “Reptil” from the El Fuego De La Noche (1995), José Manuel Aguilera alluded to the social and political problems going in Mexico, and unfortunately, this song is just as relevant now as it was back in 1995 when it first came out.
After finishing the original set with “Zafiro” and “Sombras Chinas” the band left the stage, but the fans would not allow it and kept shouting for the band to get back and as they put their instruments back on, the band unleashed a ferocious rendition of “Dia Negro” on which the audience joined in singing at the top of their lungs to close out the night on a high note.
