(06/30/09) Cafe Tacuba: Concert Review

Our society's need for immediate gratification crosses all boundaries. In the case of music, an evening's performance of a group of musicians celebrating twenty years together is a necessary 'tweet' to loyal fans everywhere. So it's with no surprise that in Chicago Cafe Tacuba fans giggled excitedly in anticipation of what they were privy to through cell phone photos and social networking uploads from fellow fans in Los Angeles, who were at the same concert the night before.

With a sold-out concert at Congress Theater, fans proved that an overflow of information (in relation to their favorite artist) with a quick click of the "send" button, has now become almost a prerequisite to an evening's final choice of entertainment. On Friday, June 26th, almost five thousand Tacubos joined for the anniversary of Cafe Tacuba's twenty highly successful years together. The band, as a token of appreciation to the exuberant crowd, celebrated with Chicago in an almost three hour dramatic display of talent effectively alleviating, at least temporarily, fan's insatiable thirst for their music.

(click on the photo below to see more photos of the concert)

The concert began in hot darkness. A single light slowly illuminated the drum sound heard from the stage. It was vocalist Ruben, followed shortly with another single light by the rest of the members, Meme, Joselo and Quique. Each one dressed in black but bathed in the single white light, drumming. It was the perfect intro for the celebration about to take place.

No Controles allowed the crowd to start the night with a fury of energy they'd been bottling up since the last concert with their Mexican heroes. With continuously running bright images in the background, they jumped straight into Alarmala De Tos, showcasing Quique on the beautiful electric upright bass. Fans were on fire, jumping non-stop through the first three songs which ended in Labios Jaguar. At this point, Ruben finally speaks..."Muchas gracias, buenas noches, eso fue Cafe Tacuba." Thanking the crowd he jokingly said they were done, then laughed and said: "¿Que paso, muchachos? Ya cumplimos 20 años. A la fiesta!" and after a brief mention of Michael Jackson's parting, plunged into Rarotonga, followed by a sultry cabaret red background that accompanied the sweetness of Que Pasara. This simply added more intensity to the already sweltering environment.

It didn't matter to anyone, they followed Cafe Tacuba through Puntos Cardinales, a keyboard instrumental by Meme, E-O and a heavenly Metamorfosis, with the larger than life spiral of lights we knew about from the previous LA concert, looming bright pink in the background. And, as is now a ritual at their concerts, violinist Alejandro Flores came out to join them during their cover of Juan Luis Guerra's Ojala Que Lleva Cafe.

Also present were the chicken hat, the Tacuba'd Macarena dance version, as well as that ginormous clear rectangular bubble we had seen in other 20:20 Concert photos. Cafe Tacuba, in dazzling synchronization with the audience, bounced, shimmied and blazed their way through three straight hours of non-stop jubilation. They covered just about every song any Cafe Tacuba fan would want to hear live.

Hot, exhausted but satisfied, and with few incidents among the thousands of culturally diverse folks gathered, you saw only smiles and heard only laughter as the crowd finally dispersed after such a rousing event. Thank you, Cafe Tacuba, for once again not disappointing those of us who have admired and supported you for so long. And for those new fans who were there for the first time... it'll only get better.

What did you think of the concert? Where do you think Cafe Tacuba will go from here? We'd love to hear from you so let us know: info@enchufate.com

-ST