The song was magic twenty years ago when it was first released, and it hasn't lost its appeal:
Earlier this week Los Lobos announced the KIKO 20th Anniversary Tour (including some dates with Neil Young & Crazy Horse - you can see all tour dates here). You might imagine the band would be playing places like, say, Los Angeles, New York, maybe Vancouver.
And they are indeed doing a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as showing up at other major locations including NYC and Vancouver.
But the tour, which starts in Ontario in October, also includes some stops at rather less obvious bergs.
For instance:
October 3 Windsor, ON WFCU Centre
October 5 Kingston, ON K-Rock Centre
October 6 London, ON The John Labatt Centre
The band is nothing if not venturesome. In August, on their pre-Kiko 20th anniversary tour tour, they played Albuquerque, New Mexico one night, Kitchener, Ontario a few nights later, and then it was on to Beaverton, Orgeon. Los Lobos is the hardest working band in Tex-Mex rock music, for sure.
And the twenty year anniversary is a good reason to stop and celebrate Kiko, a great, great album. (Among other accolades, the Wall Street Journal decreed Kiko one of the albums of the year, Rolling Stone called it an essential recording of the 1990s, and the video for “Kiko and the Lavender Moon” won an MTV Music Video award in the “breakthrough” category.)
That twenty-year mark is only approaching the midpoint of Los Lobos’s career though. In November, 2012, the band begins a celebration leading up to their fortieth anniversary of their formation in 2013.
And Los Lobos lovers note, a DVD/documentary is coming out August 21, 2012, via Shout! Factory.
Related:
Quique Escamilla’s top 10 Mexican tunes
Q&A with Lila Downs: magical realism, maiz and motherhood
Listen to Laura Fernandez and Quique Escamilla live at Lula Lounge