What do the Virgin Mary, Arnold Schwarzenegger and long hair have in common? Strange but true, they all factored into El Tri’s show Friday night at the Observatory, the first of two packed performances at the Santa Ana venue this past weekend.
The long-running group from Mexico City has been expert at mixing and combining opposing subjects for more than four generations, taking its no-nonsense, in-your-face rock music to greater levels with every performance. Friday night was no exception.
“¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! ¡Viva México!” screamed Alex Lora, the group’s frontman, as he stood behind a microphone stand draped with a giant Mexican flag. “El rock ’n’ roll es un deporte … practíquenlo,” he said, comparing his job to that of a sports star.
Activism, from protecting the environment to defending injustices, has long been intrinsic to the band’s artistry, and Lora has never been shy about mouthing off. His biggest victim this night: former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, ridiculed here along with an expletive directed at his mother.
Clearly there’s nothing kid-friendly about an El Tri show, though that didn’t stop people from bringing their littlest ones to help extend the group’s all-ages fan base.
El Tri has made a lasting impact on Latin music since 1968, initially as Three Souls in my Mind; they released various discs under that moniker until changing to their abbreviated handle in 1984.
The group reached its 45-year career mark last year, and Lora and his bandmates Friday night – Eduardo Chico, Oscar Zarate, Rafael Salgado, Ramón Pérez, Alex Álvarez, Carlos “Charly” Valerio and Lora’s wife, Chela, who he adoringly refers to as “domadora” (tamer) – show no signs of slowing down.
The 61-year-old Puebla native is Mexico’s Mick Jagger, reveling in dance moves, captivating with his screeching, intriguing fans with his half-masked look and energizing the room. Yet he retains a softer side, balancing the over-the-top and comical with inspiring pieces like “Virgen Morena,” the lyrics of which read like blessings. (Lora and the band’s devotees hold the Virgin Mary in such high regard that her image is often used on tour T-shirts.)
Despite having to wait through two openers, fans practiced patience. Occasional rounds of profane chanting might not have always proved that, but those hollers could easily be taken as a good thing. Lora himself jokingly asked fans to cuss him out as a means of showing love. That’s just how El Tri works.
Fans were happy to oblige and celebrated by moshing, throwing beer cans, jumping and bouncing. Two hours wasn’t enough to satisfy them; they stayed on even after roadies started disconnecting equipment, hoping for a second or third encore.
Unfortunately for them, El Tri didn’t pull a Prince. But such demand just reconfirms how enduringly popular this band remains.
