Calexico is a band that I actually discovered through the use of an antiquated device called a radio, way back during the waning days of the last century (“Black Light” was their newest release at the time, so I’m thinking 1998). I was impressed enough by their haunting combination of styles that I soon started regularly buying their releases. Their music, with its mariachi trumpets, a guitar sound that mimics the wide open spaces of the Old West, upright bass, and liberal use of maracas, brings to mind for me tumbleweeds, plank sidewalks, and the weathered facades of abandoned towns. It is music for dry, sandy expanses, badlands, and border towns, and I can’t really think of another band that manages to capture this aesthetic quite so well.
The band was in town this weekend to play the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park, a festival that I avoided because free festivals in major cities are always so crowded that it makes attending a chore. At least one Facebook friend managed to get himself trampled by hipsters. Scary stuff. Fortunately, many of the bands were simulcast, so I got to watch a big chunk of Calexico’s festival set too. The internet really does take the mystery out of everything, doesn’t it? Gone are the days of wondering what the current line-up is, and thanks to Setlist.fm, gone are the days of wondering what songs will be played on the current tour. Still, it’s hard to not look. The festival set seemed like a good one, whetting my appetite for seeing them later at Slim’s.
We got to Slim’s with time to spare. The band, newly arrived from their earlier appearance, was still setting up. Eventually, Slim’s movie screen (which functions as a stage curtain and on this night was showing a film that neither Jeanine nor I could identify, probably because it was being shown as a quadruple image over-layered with psychedelic effects) eventually ascended toward the ceiling, revealing opener Robert Ellis.
I had checked out Ellis’ music online before the show, and had found it kind of bland. Most of his performance did little to change that first impression, although he definitely has a good voice and he knows his way around a guitar. He sang mild, radio-friendly country songs with lyrics that didn’t stray too far from the expected. He saved the best for last though, in the form of a ripping bluegrass number (he’s in town for the festival too, from Texas, if I remember right) about growing up in the Bible Belt. The lyrics were better than those of his other songs too, being about how wrong it is to scare children by telling them about Hell. If all of his songs were like that one, I’d buy his forthcoming album.
There was a bit of a wait while Calexico finished soundchecking. Even though I’ve liked the band for 15 years now, I’ve always managed to miss seeing them perform when they’ve played locally. Seeing a well-liked band for the first time is exciting, and this show was no exception.
They finally hit the stage and things got started. The core duo of Joey Burns (guitar/vocals) and John Convertino (drums) was joined by Jacob Valenzuela (trumpet, vibraphone, maracas, vocals, etc.), Martin Wenk (trumpet, vibraphone, vocals, accordion, etc.), Ryan Alfred (bass, double bass), Sergio Mendoza (keyboards, organ, etc.), and Jairo Zavala (guitar). There was a female singer who came out and sang on one song (Was it Slowness? I forget now). I didn’t catch her name, but she was good.
For once, we were pressed right up against the stage. Joey Burns loomed over me, and I had to constantly turn my head to keep track of what was going on elsewhere. Being this close helps one become completely immersed in a performance, especially when one considers people closer to the bar tend to talk through the music. I had heard a lot of rude chatter during Robert Ellis’ set, but didn’t notice any during Calexico. This may have been because they were much louder, but probably because this is the band people had paid to see.
As a live band, they definitely didn’t disappoint. Burns is a dynamic, if understated, frontman, and all of the other musicians were top notch. The dual trumpet attack by Valenzeula and Wenk was excellent, as were Burns’ laid-back melodies, Convertino’s solid drumming, and well, everything else… It’s hard to pick a favorite moment, but I really liked the melancholy, haunting Dead Moon and the great closer, Guero Canelo. Valenzeula’s moment in the figurative spotlight during No Te Vayas was great too – his voice has a different quality than Burns’ does, being less world-weary, perhaps more hopeful sounding, if that makes sense. I also loved that they tacked Love Will Tear Us Apart (a Joy Division cover, for the two of you who didn’t already know that) onto the end of Not Even Stevie Nicks. I guess that this is a relatively new song in their repertoire, since there was a piece of paper with hand-written lyrics at Burns’ feet.
It was definitely a good night out. I was expecting the crowd to be a bit sparse, since the band had just performed a free set a couple of hours previously, but this wasn’t the case. In fact, it might even have been sold out.
Afterward, we hit the market across the street and I picked up a really interesting ginger beer, Prince Neville’s Famous Authentic Jamaican ginger beer, to be precise. It came in a soft plastic Odwalla-styled juice container, and wasn’t carbonated. But damn, it was gingery.
Here’s the setlist, with the source of the song in parentheses, because I’m a nerd like that :
Pepita (“Feast of Wire”)
Epic (“Algiers”)
Across the Wire (“Feast of Wire”)
Splitter (“Algiers”)
Roka (“Garden Ruin”)
Dead Moon (“Algiers” box set bonus 7”, also on “Ancienne Belgique Vol. 2”)
Slowness (“Carried to Dust”)
Minas de Cobre (“The Black Light”)
No te Vayas (“Algiers”)
Maybe on Monday (“Algiers”)
Sinner in the Sea (“Algiers”)
Dub Latina (“Feast of Wire”)
Alone Again Or (“Alone Again Or” ep – Love cover)
Puerto (“Algiers”)
Encore:
Fortune Teller (“Algiers”)
Not even Stevie Nicks/Love Will Tear Us Apart (“Feast of Wire”/Joy Division cover)
Corona (Minutemen cover)
Guero Canelo (“Feast of Wire”)
I think there was one additional song played during the encore too.
Setlist.fm has Calexico’s setlist from their Hardly Strictly Bluegrass set. See it here.
Here’s an entire show from 2008, recorded at Ancienne Belgique. Beautiful stuff.
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