Live Review: Los Lobos in West Hollywood, CA

One of the key challenges that Los Lobos faces in staging "Kiko," their beloved 1992 album, is that unlike masterworks such as The Who's "Quadrophenia," or Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run," which both take identifiable characters through a broad cinematic arc, "Kiko" is more a grouping of short films, bursting with strangeness or pathos.

And while that plays very well as a recording, it doesn't pace as a concert setlist nearly as well, as evidenced by the group's Tuesday (12/27) performance at West Hollywood's House of Blues.

After a tentative-feeling "Dream In Blue," the band settled into the first section of the album, unremarkable by Los Lobos standards. Things changed quickly when the band hit "That Train Don't Stop Here," Cesar Rosas' boogie shuffle that became one of the legendary Rosas/Dave Hidalgo guitar jams that Lobos fans drive from far and wide to see.

"Whiskey Train," with guest drummer Pete Thomas borrowed from Elvis Costello's Attractions/Imposters, was another high-energy point in the show, where the guitars and tempo locked in to get things moving.

The live instrumental rarity "Arizona Skies" belied a sense of magic in its gentle simplicity, while the raucous "Rio de Tenampa," with brass band and parade drums, closed the main set with an energy somewhere between a New Orleans funeral and an East Los Angeles street party.

All in all, a worthwhile experiment, though if the band feels the need to take the fans on a nostalgia ride in the future, hopefully it would be with a work that give the band's guitar wizards and one of the best rock rhythm sections on the road today more room to stretch out.