Los Amigos Invisibles Stress Tests Neumos' Floor

Based on nothing but past similar scenarios, we should be writing a pretty scathing review of Saturday's Los Amigos Invisibles show at Neumos. As we walked to the venue, we knew we weren't up for it, still not fully awake from a nap, the earliest tinges of hunger working at our belly. We got inside the packed house and found ourselves immediately annoyed: it was too hot, too crowded, and dammit, we didn't have anywhere to put our coat. We stood off to the side, the Grinch in everyone else's Hooville.

We listened to the house music being played and wondered why people weren't dancing more. Sure, we weren't dancing either, but we were in a mood, so we had an excuse. These were good tracks though, so there was no reason for as much stasis as we were witnessing. We wondered if this was going to be one of those shows, with an audience largely unresponsive to the band's output. Those worries were put to rest as soon as Los Amigos took the stage.

The audience exploded as soon as the band got going. We felt the floor start to move from the dancing, and the band's call for jumping made us wonder whether the floor could hold up. The first few songs didn't do anything for us, prompting us to liken them to the Telemundo version of The Love Boat theme song, but the music finally broke through our annoyed mood. Los Amigos played nonstop for over an hour, weaving from disco to salsa, funk to latin soul. Genres didn't matter as it was just "party music," no more, no less. The crowd was smile-filled, people sang to lyrics they didn't know, and new visible friends were made as Los Amigos Invisibles heated things up before sending everyone off into the cold night. We left with our sour mood uplifted and a new faith in Neumos' structural integrity.

Los Amigos Invisibles are touring in support of their latest release, Superpop Venezuela, which had production help from Dimitri of Paris.

Image from flickr user Andres...