Los Lobos
"Disconnected Tour" 2/28/25
City Winery NYC
The last Friday night of February brought the East L.A. legends Los Lobos to NYC for the first of three sold out nights at the gorgeous City Winery on the Hudson River. This show was a stop on their "Disconnected Tour" which finds the band laying down electric guitars and picking up acoustics. While that is true, this was far from and 'unplugged' concert, more of a slightly tuned down, normal, Los Lobos show.
The band, David Hidalgo – vocals, guitar, accordion, Louie Pérez – drums, guitar, jarana huasteca, vocals, Cesar Rosas – vocals, guitar, Conrad Lozano – bass, guitarron, vocals, Steve Berlin – keyboards, woodwinds, and Alfredo Ortiz – drums, percussion, delivered an hour and half of their classic tracks that run the gamut of genres and sound, but comfortably fit in the label of roots rock. While Hidalgo, Pérez, and Rosas played acoustics for the evening, Lozano, Berlin and Ortiz kept their normal role, providing low end and support around the guitarists, as the energy stayed high throughout the set.
The group opened with "Tin Can Trust" as Berlin's baritone sax added some brass blasts before a smooth rendition of one of Los Lobos best tunes, "Will The Wolf Survive?". The upbeat shaking blues of "Wicked Rain" cooked while there was more baritone sax and snaking guitar work from Hidalgo on "La Venganza De Los Pelados".
The setup of City Winery makes it hard to get get up and boogie, but "Chuco's Cumbia" was dedicated for all of the dancers out there and delivered a great groove for those up and moving. The song was a highlight as Hidalgo used warbling pedal effects on his acoustic guitar, Berlin dropped a sax solo as the effort was stretched out for maximum effort.
Ortiz drums took centerstage propelling "Dream In Blue" delivering an easy groove as the tune faded into a drum solo before moving into "Maricela". "La Pistola y El Corazón" followed as Ortiz took a break and let the acoustic players take over, while "Saint Behind The Glass" was blissful and dedicated to the victims of the Los Angeles wildfires. The gorgeous instrumental "Arizona Skies" used hand drums, delicate lead guitar from Hidalgo and percussive shakers before melting into "Borinquen Patria Mia".
A late set highlight was "Teresa" which allowed the band to go long and deliver a few solos as each member shined individually and as a unit. A bluesy intro signaled the arrival of "Don't Worry Baby" as Rosas led the revved up charge, before set closer "Mas y Mas" gave Ortiz one more drum solo before closing the main set.
The encore delivered a pumping rendition of the bands signature cover song "La Bamba" and segued mid song into another cover, "Good Lovin'", before rocking out and returning to "La Bamba" to end the night of successful acoustic based roots music from one of the best American bands to ever do it, Los Lobos.
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