Calexico

On January 23, 2009, for just a few hours, the Estragon on via Stalingrado 83 bordered on Tucson, Arizona. The chill gripping the large crowd outside the venue was swept away in no time by a gust of warm notes and fun. Everyone was here to see Calexico, the band led by Joey Burns and John Convertino: every fan knows that attending one of their shows is the equivalent of a (sadly brief) ocean cruise, or a car ride (strictly in a Thunderbird with the top down) through the sun-baked, half-deserted roads of Mexico.

The opening act falls to the band's current lead guitarist, young Jairo Zavala (aka Depedro), who knows what he's doing, sitting somewhere between the eclecticism of Calexico and the rock tradition of Los Lobos and Ry Cooder. But this little set effectively becomes a genuine prologue to the main show, since Burns, Convertino, Paul Niehaus (pedal steel) and the rest of the band's members take turns on stage song after song. A break of just a few minutes doesn't dampen the momentum: Calexico are back on stage, delivering a passionate, memorable performance that also serves — much like their latest work, the underrated "Carried To Dust" — as a compendium of over ten years of activity.

Over the course of nearly two hours of non-stop music, the band retraces the steps of a more than honorable career, one in which Convertino, Burns and company have never stopped trying new paths and surprising their fans. With "Minas de Cobre (For Better Metal)" and "El Gatillo (Trigger Revisited)" we're catapulted into a spaghetti western scored by Morricone, but Calexico are not Ween: there's no irony in their music, only sincere passion for their guiding lights, and undeniable professionalism.

There's room for more delicate, romantic moments, like the dreamy "Sunken Waltz", as well as for protest songs, like the fiery "Deep Down", written during a demonstration against the Bush presidency. There's also a heavy presence, naturally, of tracks from their most recent albums (including "Garden Ruin", hard to swallow for many of their fans), unfortunately at the expense of masterpieces like "The Black Light".

Among the standout moments is the hushed folk of "House of Valparaiso", in which the absence of colleague/friend Sam Beam (aka Iron & Wine) is barely noticeable, "Inspiración", written and performed by the talented trumpeter Amparo Sanchez, which returns to mariachi tradition, while the gorgeous pop of "Two Silver Trees" — which on record so elegantly blended Latin and Asian sounds — loses a bit of its power in the live version (the same goes for "Not Even Stevie Nicks...", sketchy and unresolved in its ending, a shame).

The closing goes to the sunny, stadium-sized chorus of "Victor Jara's Hands" (the crowd goes wild, chanting "olé olé") and to the festive Latin rhythms of the well-known "Guero Canelo", which turns into a long jam that draws the participation of the entire audience.

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