Calexico’s new album, “Carried to Dust,” provided a wealth of perfectly-pitched songs at the band’s Nov. 24 Gothic Theatre set. Photos by .
Watching play the last Monday (Nov. 24), I couldn’t help but wish for the first time I’d felt that blast of trumpets played by Jacob Valenzuela and Martin Wenk, the sheer joy of “Guero Canelo,” the jolt of discovery of Joey Burns and John Convertino’s band.
Anyone lucky enough to get into the Gothic show was rewarded by the venue’s intimate setting, where the band was practically in everyone’s lap and certainly had everyone wrapped around their fingers.
Supporting a new album (“Carried to Dust”), the band was at the tail end of the U.S. leg of their tour when they stopped here. (They are currently on break before heading to Europe after the holidays.) They played 19 songs, nine of which were from the new album and which seemed to fit seamlessly into the show, including the closer, “Victor Jara’s Hands” which held up fantastically as a last song where “Crystal Frontier” usually holds down a spot.
“Victor Jara” starts out a little quietly and then moves into a full Calexico-style romp, with singalong phrasing, swinging trumpets, a little Spanish and a catchy guitar line thrown in, all for a song about a Chilean poet and activist taken as a political prisoner in the 1970s and murdered by his country’s military.
“Crystal Frontier” didn’t make the Denver setlist, but any song that has been played as a recent wake-up call on the space shuttle is probably due some sort of respectful retirement, if even briefly. “Guero Canelo” was also missing, but there was a rollicking, horn-heavy version of the Minutemen classic “Corona,” which was well-received with Guero-like whoops and hollers.
The band also performed “Frank’s Tavern,” their tribute to Chris Gaffney of the , a musician with Tucson roots who died of cancer in April.
Coming about halfway through the concert, “Black Heart” was given a sparer treatment than the strings-infused version on the album “Feast of Wire,” — a quiet, plaintive accordion intro was soon joined by Burns’ equally plaintive voice.
That captivating moment was followed strongly by “Dub Latina,” with Wenk putting down his accordion for the melodica, and the band was in the zone. Calexico is probably tighter than I’ve ever seen them, and their new songs carry strong echoes of old favorites, with a fuller, more complex newness.
Angela Clemmons is the sports department copy chief at The Denver Post and an occasional contributor to Reverb.
is a Denver freelance photographer and regular contributor to Reverb.
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