Dime, Jaguar

In order to catch los Jaguares on their 45 tour—the album so named for the 45 million people living in poverty in Mexico—I found myself once again at the Nokia Theater in Times Square (doesn’t anybody in New York ever book anywhere else???). The first bit of news, which those of you who have been watching TV know, is that Saúl has cut his hair. It makes him look, um, old, and as some audience members suggested, fresa. But he is still the same Saúl with that same entrancing voice which deftly sneaks in poetic quotes and political observations between songs in order to encourage audience members to get off their asses and do something to improve the world (that is, after they recover from their hangovers). As usual, there was a mix of responses from the audience. One guy next to me shouted out, “¡Que no se olviden de los compadritos del ’68!” and others just made their annoying “culero” calls while demanding particular songs.

* The Set *

Mostly Caifanes and early Jaguares songs and just a few from the new album, which nobody sang along to, although according to a People en Español interview with Saúl, the day after its release 45 made the “no 1 spot on I-tunes,” whatever that means. The encore consisted of a wonderful Caifanes set of 4 songs that ended with “No Dejes Que,” which may have been meant to slow things down, although if that was the intent the locos in the mosh pit didn’t seem to notice.


“Me salvé del mundo y de su furia pero no de ti…”

* The Mosh Pit *

Let’s begin by saying that the venue was so crowded that it took a good half a dozen songs for the moshing to even get started. There was simply no room. But when it did get going, it was, well, crazy. I was one of maybe, maybe, four women in there. I can’t remember the last time I was in a mosh pit that was so overwhelmingly male. The gender imbalance made for some interesting near-death experiences. After a certain point, it seemed like the slower the song tempo, the harder the moshers worked to keep things riled up. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I spent most of my time on the sidelines, but considering the overrepresentation of shirtless moshing dudes, I feel justified in my self-preservation tactics.

* The Verdict *

The show was awesome. The popularity of the 80’s and 90’s compositions, it seems, will never die. They just get better with time, and the band still performs them with all the love and electrified energy they deserve. And while the merits of the new songs is a subject of debate among fans, nearly all the songs on the new album are composed by Saúl, which is to say, they can never really be bad.

* P.S. *

The chisme mill here in Brooklyn has it that the new 4th member of the band is a paisa who used to work at a restaurant in Manhattan. The band used to invite him to play live with them whenever they came to town until they finally picked him up and gave him a new (and presumably better paying) job.