Los Lonely Boys at Blue's On The Green

You haven’t lived in Austin, Texas until you have caught a Blues On The Green show at Zilker Park. Sponsored by Amplify and put on by KSGR, Blues on the Green is a summer tradition here in Austin. I look forward to it every year as it is the thing to do on a hot summer Wednesday night. Best of all, it is free to the public. You can even take your dog. What more do you need?

On July 9th, Blues On The Green featured none other than San Angelo’s own Los Lonely Boys. It is rare you get to see a major label band of their magnitude for free. Judging by the size of the crowd, it seemed that all of Austin felt the same way. Even with the heat and ungodly humidity, I felt like I was at ACL Fest out there.

Now before Wednesday night, the Lonely Boys had been seen around Austin promoting their new album “Forgiven”. They did an in store performance and signing at Waterloo Records a few days before this show. They also made a cameo appearance at Antone’s during an encore with Del Castillo. I was at that show covering Pacha Massive and just happened to be in the right place at the right time. They did an awesome War cover set that included “Sisco Kid”, one of my all time favorites. I thought for sure I would hear some more War covers Wednesday night, but they left those off the set list.

Los Lonely Boys did play a good hour plus set with tracks from their new album Wednesday, including their new single “Staying With Me”. It is a good first single, but lacks the catchiness that “Heaven” had their first time around. Other surprises they threw the crowd’s way were a Stevie Wonder cover of “Superstition”, a guest guitarist named A.B. Hernandez and some random gringo singer nobody heard of. That was actually the funniest part of the set as the song he sang with them was called “Guero’s in the Barrio”. It is not on my copy of the new CD “Forgiven”. Apparently it is only on version you get at Wal Mart. Don’t get me started on how I feel about that. I’m not happy about it to say the least.

The brothers Garza always put on a good show, showing off their personality and musicianship. Wednesday night was no different. I know this may sound cheesy or corny, but I really dig how they smile a lot while on stage. They should smile. They have every reason in the world to be happy and optimistic about their upcoming tour to support “Forgiven”.

The material from their first album was the highlight for me because it was a blend of Mexcian, blues, and rock. There is less bilingualism in “Forgiven” than their self titled album I have. None the less, they are totally worth seeing live. Check out this video I took from my digital camera during “Heaven”.