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Ozomatli
and Kinky breathe Latin life into Amphitheatre
By
Brian Spiegel
Daily Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
I
never thought that taking French in high
school would come back to haunt me. Sure,
I can order just about anything at Mimi's
CafÈ, but sometimes I can't help
but imagine how much more I could have gotten
out of six solid semesters of Spanish. Most
of my regret comes from the fact that I
can't understand any'of the lyrics from
my favorite Spanish rock bands, my personal
music of choice at this moment. Hell, I
even spend more time watching MTV Latin
than I do the regular one (really, can you
blame me?). So it goes without saying that
I almost had a heart palpitation when I
learned that two of my favorite Spanish
rock bands, Kinky and Ozomatli were teaming
up on the Coors Light (hooray for consumerism!)
Rock Prendido Tour.
With
the addition of the unique sounding Plastilina
Mosh, the line-up had a power and stage
presence that no other summer tour could
touch.
After
catching the tour on their first area show
at the packed-to-the-rims Anaheim House
of Blues in early August, I decided to take
money out of my important "not starving
to death" budget and catch the tour
again last Friday night at the Universal
Amphitheatre. I've been seeing Ozomatli
regularly since the late nineties. Their
live shows are legendary for their power,
rhythms and unique crowd participation (can
you say post party chicken dance?). But
honestly, the real draw of this show, at
least for me, was Kinky. I've been a fan
of Kinky since accidentally catching them
on Spanish TV one rainy night in 2002. Their
Ranchero/Spanglish-dance/rock is simply
amazing and their live shows are some of
the best in music today.
Kinky
came on for the second set of the night
playing off the steadily building crowd.
The band started their set in style with
"Cornman" which melds together
traditional Mexican accordion and congas
with samples and bass. Lead singer Gil Cerezo
bounded around stage with his guitar finding
his way back to the microphone to repeatedly
tell the audience "welcome to my world."
Cerezo is an amazing front man as he uses
the stage as his domain whether he's playing
guitar or bouncing around with his mic ala
Cedric from "At the Drive In."
Kinky's
set was amazing. I know I sound like an
overly excited reviewer (just call me Hilburn),
but you had to be there. The band hit high
notes on such gems as "Do You Like
It" and the "complexly sublime"
"Mirando De Lado." The band even
pulled off a cover of Santana's "Oye
Como Va" for good measure. The band
closed with a sped up version of "Snapshot"
and the all-out festival sound of "Sol
(Batucada)." What can I say? I may
sound excited but it's not everyday that
your favorite band outdoes even your own
high standards.
All
this talk about Kinky is not to say that
Ozomatli didn't put on a great show. Actually,
on a night when I wasn't really feeling
up to them the Latin/dance/rap ten-piece
not only knocked me down but just about
pushed me down the stairs.
Ozomatli's
14-song set spanned through their three
albums. I was very impressed with how well
some of Ozomatli's older songs held up,
especially considering that several of the
original members left. The band came out
jumping with the Latin standard "Como
Ves." This got the crowd going. It
was interesting, and quite refreshing, to
see that with no radio play (besides maybe
a little "Morning Becomes Eclectic"
on KCRW) the band can pull in 6,000 people
at a headlining show.
A
highlight in the set came during the rap
number "Cut Chemist Suite," which
was sort of an oddity considering the fact
that the two main people in the original
song, DJ-extraordinaire Cut Chemist and
current Jurassic 5 rapper Charlie 2Na, are
no longer in the band. The song worked though,
with new lyrics rapped by the dread-locked
Jabu Smith who even stuck in some of 2Na's
old rhymes.
The
band finished up their set in pure fiesta
style, almost literally, with the party
song "La Misma Cancion," a song
that brings to life an Olvera Street festival.
This was the one point in the night where
virtually everyone in the amphitheatre was
dancing. Members of Kinky and Plastilina
Mosh came out to play various percussion
instruments and lumber around on stage during
the song. It was great fun that spilled
into outside concourse after the set as
Ozomatli did their signature conga line
"walk" with various percussion
and brass instruments finally settling on
an outside wall to play the "Hokie
Pokie" and""The Chicken Dance."
Plastilina
Mosh led the show with a dancey 35-minute
set. The band was half Kraftwerk and half
Meth and Red spinning raps over keyboard
and guitar driven dance. Even a little "Mr.
Roboto" cover was thrown in at the
beginning of the Kraft-werkesque "Human
Disco Ball."
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