This was the second time these Colombians have visited Chicago since November, and the second time they played well after midnight. And I don’t mean that there were a bunch of opening bands and lots of delays which caused Aterciopelados to start their set very late. It’s more like “doors @ midnight, show starts @ 1am”.

At first I thought this was a pretty crazy and annoying way to schedule concerts, but now after doing it twice, I almost wish more bands would do it like this. I can go to bed at 8pm, get four hours of sleep, wake up at midnight, get downtown in no time because there’s no traffic, park for free, see a show with no opening bands that starts right on time, and be back in bed before 4am to finish off the rest of my full night of sleep.

This was my sixth time seeing Aterciopelados, so I was a bit worried that I could start getting bored with their concerts, especially since it had only been four months since I’d last seen them. Also, their new album ‘Oye’, while very good, is probably a step down from their previous four (one of the best four-album streaks in music history), and I knew the setlist would once again draw heavily from it.

It turns out my worry was unfounded, because it was still a great show. They did play all but two of the songs from ‘Oye’, but this time around everyone in the audience knew the songs much better, so that made it a lot more fun. But what really makes them a band I can see over and over again is the way that they change up their songs. Tempos change, different rhythms convert songs into alternate styles, and new intros/outros keep you guessing.

Their song ‘Florecita Rockera’ is a great case study. As originally recorded on their 1995 Latin-rock-punk album ‘El Dorado’, it’s an energetic little number that alternates beteween clean, melodic verses, and an almost heavy-metal chorus. By the time I first saw them in concert in 2001, they had morphed into an electronic/chill-out band, so at that show, ‘Florecita Rockera’ was played as full-on dance-club party song with a thumping beat and a running time at least three times the original. Now, their new album ‘Oye’ returns them back towards the Latin-rock style of their earlier albums, but without the punk edge, so this time we got a rocking, but anger-free ‘Florecita Rockera’ that even inspired something I haven’t experienced seen since those earlier Aterciopelados shows: the Mexican Mosh Pit. Like its Norte-Americano cousin, the South American version involves people bouncing around and bumping into each other, but it’s actually done to the beat of the music, and with a joy and community spirit that you don’t get in the metal version.

Beyond the ‘Oye’ stuff (‘Panel’ and ‘Al Parque’ were the missing ones), we got two from ‘Gozo Poderoso (‘Luz Azul’ and ‘El Album’), ‘El Estuche’ from ‘Caribe Atomico’, the title track from ‘La Pipa De La Paz’ (introed perfectly with ‘Majestad’ from ‘Oye’), ‘Florecita Rockera’ and encore-closer ‘Candela’ from ‘El Dorado’, as well as one each from Andrea Echeverri and Hector Buitrago’s “solo” albums (‘A Eme O’ and ‘Altisimo’, respectively).

I think this was the first time I’d seem them where Andrea didn’t speak at least a little bit of English, but she’s so good at emoting and connecting with the audience that I had a pretty good idea what she was saying anyway. They have a tradition of throwing gifts out into the audience at the end of the show, which is an idea I’m surprised more bands haven’t picked up (used drumsticks and guitar picks don’t count!) Previously they’ve thrown out flowers and frisbees, but the last coupled times it’s been tiny wrapped bags of something. I haven’t been lucky enough to get one, so I can’t tell you what’s inside!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 24th, 2007 at 12:26 pm and is filed under concert. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.