Fast forward to 9pm as the lights go out and Los Fabulosos take the floor. Their opening song? I wouldn't know as I was fighting my way up to the stage to deliver a bag of extra camera lenses (thanks to everyone who made way). The set list probably looked something like this though (encores included):
1. manuel santillan el leon
2. mi novia se cayo en un pozo ciego
3. carmela
4. cstoy harto de verte con otros
5. el genio del dub
6. wake up and make love with me
7. muy muy temprano
8. el aguijón
9. paquito
10. padre nuestro
11. saco azul
12. siguiendo la luna
13. los condenaditos
14. demasiada presión
15. v centenario
16. la luz del ritmo
17. calaveras y diablitos
18. gitana
19. carnaval toda la vida
20. malbicho
21. el satanico dr cadillac
22. basta de llamarme asi
23. vasos vacíos
24. vos sabés
25. el matador
26. guns of brixton
27. let's lynch the land lord
28. yo no me sentaria en tu mesa
Regardless of what tempo the show started with, the crowds energy never let up. Mosh pits formed at random as shirts quickly soaked and faces beaded with sweat. Where was I? Off on the side protected by a railing and snapping pictures. Being my first Fabulosos concert, I finally decided I needed to soak everything up, so over the railing I went. Several songs and countless elbows to the face later, I'm embraced with strangers singing songs I don't even know the lyrics to. A man to my right takes off his shirt, kisses it and throws it on stage. Vicentico acknowledges the shirt and croons on. Well into their first encore, someone else in front of me drops to his knees in tears and throws his hands in the air as if reaching for a lifeline in the songs lyrics. You couldn't deny the power of this band.
Although I'm admittedly not a true follower of the Cadillacs (I couldn't name five of their songs before this show), I did have a link. Like most people back in the mid 90's I had El Matador blasting on my Walkman. Who were these guys? No idea, the cassette wasn't even mine. It wasn't until years later when my parents were playing the song that I asked who it was. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. My family actually made some money with the band, selling their albums at our record store, Sonido Latino in Herndon, VA (shameless plug). Yes, my family's business is music and I didn't really know who the Cadillacs were. I'll make it up to anyone and let you buy me a shot. Really! Now looking back I would've never imagined myself in 2009 in NYC singing my lungs out to this song live.
Alas, two encore performances later and just like that a memorable moment is over, but the movement far from. Along with the reunion tour, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs have released a new album, "La Luz Del Ritmo," a collection of new songs, refreshed older hits, and covers of songs from the Clash and Ian Dury. Regarding the unique assortment of tracks for a comeback album, Vicentico explains, "We were rehearsing for the upcoming tour, playing the old songs. The album reflects just that...our desire to play together after such a long time. We recorded the songs and let the album be. I guess we didn't have the time to get all serious about it and ruin the whole thing." Apparently the band had so much fun playing together again that they recorded enough for a 2nd new album. 20 tracks worth to be exact. Release date TBD.
As I'm sitting here downloading some Cadillacs, I can't help but smirk at the fact that even in music one is sometimes forced to flip through the past to catch up with the present and relate in the future. On a side note, one interesting thing that surprised me over the weekend was how many people were from this area. Being that the total population of DC, MD, and VA (~13mil) doesn't amount to NY (~19mil) and they have a higher percentage of Latinos at 16.2%, one would think out-of-towners would be few and far between. Not so! Represent!
-will
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