I hit the road for Bridgeport with three hours for traveling, and still ended up walking in late. The setlist below reflects only what I saw after walking in at approximately 8:10pm; there may have been one song before "Angel Dance"; there may have been two.

I have a feeling there was someone else in the room keeping a list, but after palling around the venue for a bit and asking some folks, I couldn't find anyone who knew what the first one / two songs of the night were, which I guess isn't much of a surprise since most of the audience seemed to be there for Buddy Guy.

It was my desperate, desperate hope that Buddy would be first to take the stage. I was excited for my girlfriend, as it was her first time seeing the blues legend, but I was a real debbie-downer, explaining how once you've seen one show of his you've seen them all, and he could get rutted down into a few schtick routines. Sure enough, he laid down the whole "Then I played like one of the British boys..." "When I first heard the blues, I heard it like this..." "Then, the late great John Lee Hooker..." "Now I'm going to walk through the audience playing some wankery that will go nowhere..."

As for the boys, Los Lobos played first with a short set that ended at 9:10 - all said, I drove six hours for one hour of great music.

They were supposed to be onstage until 9:20, but you could tell there were serious issues going down onstage and off. During the songs with Louie on drums, the monitors kept feeding back something intense. This trouble started when Hidalgo switched to the accordion, and the P.A. twice gave out an intense shriek during "Kiko"; they never fully rebounded from this, as something failed to click in the sound.

During "Volver," the feedback returned, but this time you could tell it was coming primarily through the stage monitors. I was as far back in the room as could be - I love getting up close, but I had cheap seats and welcomes the band's intensity and insistence on playing to the back of the room - and the sound had gone from bad to really shrill. Like, painfully shrill. It was at this point that Louie seemed to muffle his left ear and double over just slightly, shooting a glare to the FOH guy offstage. When this didn't get the soundman's attention, Louis actually hummed a stick towards the offstage area, just behind Steve.

This was pretty indicative of the whole scene, really. It was a frustrating show with frustrating acoustics and a positively boring audience. I'm very much looking forward to the hometown show next month, and can't see myself ever returning to the Klein for a show again.


(incomplete setlist follows)

Los Lobos
Klein Memorial Auditorium
Bridgeport, CT
2014-06-05

..
Angel Dance
Chuco's Cumbia
Little Things
Papa Was a Rolling Stone >
I Can't Understand >
300 Pounds of Joy >
All Night Long
Kiko
Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio *
Let's Say Goodnight *
Volver, Volver *
Bertha
blues jam >
Don't Worry Baby

* Louie on drums

Los Lobos
Klein Memorial Auditorium
Bridgeport, CT
2014-06-05

Burn It Down
Shakin', Shakin' Shakes
Angel Dance
Chuco's Cumbia
Little Things
Papa Was a Rolling Stone >
I Can't Understand >
300 Pounds of Joy >
All Night Long
Kiko
Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio *
Let's Say Goodnight *
Volver, Volver *
Bertha
blues jam >
Don't Worry Baby

* Louie on drums

Los Lobos
Klein Memorial Auditorium
Bridgeport, CT
2014-06-05

Burn It Down
Shakin', Shakin' Shakes
Angel Dance
Chuco's Cumbia
Little Things
Papa Was a Rolling Stone (Whitfield / Strong) >
I Can't Understand >
300 Pounds of Joy (Willie Dixon) >
All Night Long Walking With Frankie (Frankie Lee Sims)
Kiko
Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio (Santiago Jiménez) *
Let's Say Goodnight *
Volver, Volver (Fernando Z. Maldonado) *
Bertha (Garcia / Hunter)
blues jam >
Don't Worry Baby

Sounds frustrating,but you see them again soon,right? Best live band around!

Next month, and I'm very much looking forward to it. I agree, they're so damn good.

Buddy guy and junior wells were so fuckin good back in the day.his brother Phillip guy was also in the band.a damm shame what he's become live.

Buddy guy and junior wells were so fuckin good back in the day.his brother Phillip guy was also in the band.a damm shame what he's become live.