Grupo Frontera Bring the Tejano Revival to Houston’s Toyota Center

Regional Mexican band Grupo Frontera bring the “Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada” Tour to Houston’s Toyota Center for a night full of music and good vibes.

Grupo Frontera is one of the groups that gives Texas a positive name. The group formed in early 2022 in the small town of Edinburg, Texas, near the southern border of Mexico. They skyrocketed to success after going viral on TikTok by doing a cover of Morat’s single “No Se Va.” In 2023, the group released their debut album titled El Comienzo, which featured other viral hit – “Un x100to” with Bad Bunny. After amassing so much success through their streams and tours, Grupo Frontera recently released their sophomore album Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada, which includes features with popular latin artists such as Nicki Nicole, Peso Pluma, Carin León and more.

Regional Mexican music is extremely popular at the moment with artists like Peso Pluma, Junior H, Fuerza Regida and others dominating the charts. Grupo Frontera is a bit different – on top of hitting the marks for their Regional Mexican genre, they take pride in their Tejano roots and use unique blends to include classic Tejano and nu-country elements.

Almost a year later since their last show in Houston, fans gathered for an almost sold-out show at the Toyota Center. Everyone was wearing western fits, cowboy boots and felt cowboy hats – all fitting with the Tejano vibe. Grupo Frontera took the stage promptly at 8:45pm, immediately enduring technical difficulties during the first song “F*CKIN AMOR.” It took almost 7 minutes for the difficulties to be fixed, in which percussionist Julian Peña Jr. attempted to warm up the crowd with amusing commentary. They all regrouped and continued with their set by playing “Di Que Si” and their sophomore album title track.

The stage design was beautiful and intricate – the group had two truck beds holding the drums and percussion, along with a second floor and beautiful images that resembled the South Texas environment. Each member was equally energetic and interactive with the crowds – they picked up friendship bracelets, threw heart-shaped lights with roses to fans in the front rows, and often waved to everyone in the crowd. It was an absolute packed house and everyone was dancing all over the arena at the encouragement of lead singer Payo as he exclaimed “Si no estas bailando, no quieres a tu mama!” (which translates to “If you are not dancing, you don’t love your mom”). Each member was getting loose on stage, drinking shots of Buchanan and dancing randomly to hype up the crowd.

On top of performing their hits like “ALV,” “ECHÁNDOTE DE MENOS,” “LOS DOS” and “POR QUE SERÁ,” Grupo Frontera also performed enticing covers of classic Tejano tracks like “Tragos Amargos” by Ramon Ayala to “Desvelado” by Bobby Pulido. They continued to play their well-known collaboration hits such as the latest single “ANGEL” with Romeo Santos, “TULUM” with Peso Pluma, and “Por Qué Será” with Maluma.

Before performing their viral cover “No Se Va,” Payo noted that their first ever sold-out show was in Houston at a venue called Rodeo Disco. The group deemed Houston their second home as they have close ties to the Space City. They performed the hit song and closed out the night before an encore skit played featuring latin comedian Eugenio Derbez. Grupo Frontera returned to the stage, more excited than ever – they returned to perform “QUE VUELVAS” (featuring Carin León), “Amor De Su Vida” (featuring Grupo Frime) and ended the night with “Un X100to” (featuring Bad Bunny).

Back in April, Grupo Frontera showed up with Bad Bunny at his Houston show, and later with Grupo Firme in May. It was cool to see how they performed their own headline show at the beloved venue, seeing how they’ve grown in a short amount of time. According to Payo, they used to play weddings and quinceñeras in their hometown and are now selling out arenas across the nation. Their growth is continuing to blossom and are the key players to bringing Tejano music back to the Regional music space, and we’re glad to say that we’re all here for it.