Los Lobos Paradise Wednesday, July 24
The hub represented itself well by selling out the Paradise and treating the crafty East L.A. veterans like they were from Lower Allston as opposed to Los Angeles. These guys make many good decisions while delivering a thick but uncluttered mélange of guitars, bass, sax, flute, drums and all kinds of mad percussion. Songs like Riverbed, I Walk Alone , and Hearts of Stone were dark and weathered. Peace reverberated with the relentless but exhausting search the word implies and featured a blistering lead from guitarist David Hidalgo during an extended coda. Material from their latest outstanding album “Good Morning Aztlan” proved their vitality and local hero Barrance Whitfield got in on the act during the first few encores. A contender for best club show of the year. -Eric Holland