“Babasónicos show a retrospective”
By Benjamin Ortiz, Special to the Tribune
Section: Tempo
Date: June 30, 2008
With three opening acts from Mexico and Chicago, Friday’s Latin-rock show at the Congress featuring Babasónicos felt like a new wave dance-party demo of the elder Argentine headliner’s influences and progression over a 17-year career. Drawing mostly young fans, the set mixed styles from indie to emo to syntho dance, sketching the band’s pop trajectory from experimental to streamlined rock.
Despite a middling crowd that never came close to filling the cavernous Congress, the opening acts kept the energy going to hearty applause. Local rockers Re. De la Parka started it off with safely straightforward melodic progressions, while kids in skinny ties, canvas sneakers, supertight jeans, overthick specs and faux hawks gathered.
Likewise, local band Antenna echoed various Spanish pop influences, such as Soda Stereo, in wide-ranging homage to Babasónicos’ musical ingredients.
But Monterrey’s 60 Tigres were the opening highlight, with a vigorous dance-punk-disco-funk feel from wrangling bass, percussive flourishes and edgy performance energy that felt like a Gang of Four remix, pulling fans onstage for an impromptu thrash-vogue session.
With Babasónicos properly introduced, the crowd swarmed stageward to dig on lead singer and longtime member Adrián “Dárgelos” RodrÃguez, who preened and strutted like a glam God through mostly recent cuts from this year’s “Mucho” (Universal). In a clean and tight set hitting such video favorites as “Putita” and “Pijamas,” the Argentine band’s execution was marred only by whistling feedback from a house system that never quite got the pitch.
In counterpoint, the audience let loose with a raunchy catcall common at Latino rock shows to demand an encore. It came off like a warm fan tribute to Babasónicos’ more raucous roots, an affectionate way of calling the band back for a few more and recalling the wide range of influences on display at the Congress.
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