Latin Band Caifanes Remind Houston What It’s Like to Be Alive

HOUSTON – The great unifier across cultures is music. On Friday night, Caifanes proved that statement true yet again. 

“Playeras,playeras” yelled a street vendor on every corner. “A cuanto son, Pirata,” a passerby would enquire. 

People went on like this from their point of parking up until the gates, taking time to linger and chit chat with fellow fans they met along the way. Usually, you can tell exactly what kind of concert you’re going to be, what everyone is wearing, the attitudes, the conversation. For Caifanes, it was a toss. You did see your occasional metalero or punk in full regalia, but you also saw families, ladies dressed for the club and your regular t-shirt and jeans combo. The one thing they all seemed to have in common was the perpetual, trademark Latino smile plastered across every face, forever as a mark of positivity. 

Coming up in the 80s, Caifanes wasted no time with grand intros, bells or whistles. They came up on stage at their scheduled time and picked up their instruments. Vocalist and guitarist Sauúl Hernàndez gave his guitar (which looked like it had been to hell and back then back to hell again) a few quick plucks, making sure it was in tune, before diving straight into “La Negra Tomasa.” 

The crowd responded with cheers at the sound of their greatest hit. It’s a great choice for an opener, getting the anticipation of a sign of that cultural magnitude out of the way so that everyone can be present and really enjoy what the band has to offer, The band added an extra touch of rhythm and flavor to the end of the song, promising to keep the set just as interesting as they dove into “Viento.”

“Muchas gracias! El aplauso es para mi raza, no Caifanes” Hernaàndez said, waiting for the noise to die down.“Y el otro aplauso si es para Cafe Tacuba.” Cheers erupted again at the mention of the killer of an opener the band had brought on tour. 

The next song was “Nubes,” accompanied by graphics of spiraling white clouds over a bright blue sky. The start-of-show energy wasn’t dying down with either the band or the crowd, with people from the pit to the lawn already jumping in their seats long before Diego Herrera whipped out the keytar during “Para que no digas que no pienso en ti.”

Hernandez asked the audience to be fearless in general, but to be perpetually unafraid in the face of love before hopping into “Miedo.”

By now, fans really had a taste of what kind of show they could expect for the rest of the night. Herrera accompanied bassist Sabo Romo on keeping up the spine of the song while Alejandro Marcovich really picked up any empty space with his guitar, rounding out the live sound in a way the studio recording simply could not. Alfonso André was also interesting to watch, being near impossible to lose sight of with the ends of his drumsticks taped red. 

Energy did take a bit of a rest as Herrera played the intro to a song fans soon recognized as “La celula que explota. The band was sometimes drowned out by the sound of the audience’s singing until it picked up in tempo in the end, followed by a cover of Jaguares song “Detrás de los cerros.” Following the Caifanes split in 1995, Hernaàndez and André got together with two other friends and formed Jaguares the same year. The band went on a hiatus that turned permanent following the Caifanes reunion in 2010, but it’s still nice to see them play homage to the project in one way or another. 

“Mátenme porque me muero” was another opportunity for everyone to shine, with Romo, Marcovitch and Hernandez having a moment lined up at the front of the stage before Herrera closed out the song with a key solo. André had his moment to shine in the quick and steady “Aviéntame,” a fast, soaring song that injected life right back into anyone that had thought it was safe to take a rest. 

“Afuera” followed, featuring more avant garde beginning to a triple guitar solo before a breakdown on drums. This song was accompanied by immigration imagery interladded with live shots of the band under a red filter. The bassist hid behind the drunk kit during André’s solo, Herrera doing a fun little dance off to the side before everyone came back to play as one for the song’ close. 

The band was allowed a short respite white Herrera entertained the crowd with a saxophone solo. joining his bandmates backstage after its conclusion. 

Following an extended pause, Caifanes had their audience in the palm of their hands, especially those of Mexican descent they so catered to. They took it a step further with a tribute to late Mexican icon Juan Gabriel with a heartfelt rendition of “Te lo pido por favor.” 

The midpoint of the three-song encore was “Aquí no es así.” However, it got even better when Hernàndez raised a blue solo cup in the air to welcome the band Cafe Tacuva in their entirety. 

People screamed in celebration as everyone spread out across the stage,for a Maldita Vecindad cover of “Pachuco.” Cafe Tacuba lead singer Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega had changed into a blue, black and purple Caifanes shirt with he sleeves ripped off for the song. The energy was unmatched. Wind instruments paired up, musicians danced, and Ortega raced from one end of the stage to another with energy rivaling a retriever. The whole company got low to the floor during the final musical break, exploding back up for the chorus to the sound of screams and applause from the crowd. There was no doubt that the band was having just as much of a blast as those in attendance. 

Everyone took a bow, all smiles, at the end of the show, Mexican flag from the audience in hand and walked out to the sound of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

Caifnes puts on an excellent show, let there be no doubt in your mind about that. The legacy rock act shows up with energy and flare. Best of all, they clearly still like each other, their songs and what they do for a living. It’s hard to not have fun at their show while their smiles are so contagious.