A Win for Mexico at Carin León
Article by Christen Fuentes
Sonoran artist Carin León brought the energy to Rosemont’s Allstate Arena on June 18th. It was an exciting day for his largely Mexican fanbase, as Mexico was playing South Korea throughout the concert. León’s energetic 2.5-hour-long performance set the stage perfectly for a Mexico win.
With no opener, León filled the arena with his wide range of music- everything from traditional banda to ska to music influenced by American country and blues. A 27-piece band accompanied León, with especially notable performances from the tuba and steel guitar players. Both the band members and León himself gave a nod to their Sonoran roots through their attire, wearing traditional Sonoran cowboy hats that matched many audience members.
Touring his newest album, MUDA, in which he more than ever experiments with mixing the sounds of traditional Mexican music with traditional American country music, his musical range was clearly on display at his show. This wide variety of music also helped to draw in a crowd spanning several generations. Looking around the filled arena, families could be seen dancing to every song. Green Mexico jerseys lit up the arena, along with phones flashing snippets of the Mexico game, as many could not make the difficult choice between Carin León and the World Cup game.
Along with having a wide catalog of music himself, he also paid respect to Mexican music legends by covering songs from iconic 80s bands Mana and Los Tucanes de Tijuana. León's deep appreciation for all types of music could clearly be seen throughout the performance, but he made it even clearer by giving a brief speech mid-show about the importance of music and its ability to bring people together. More of his thoughts on the importance of music and his reasoning for mixing genres can be found in this article from Remezcla.
About halfway through the show, León moved to a smaller stage amidst the crowd, giving fans a chance to get autographs and see him up close. This move raised the energy even higher than it already was; it was further heightened when León got word over his headset that Mexico had won the World Cup game against South Korea, 1-0. The crowd erupted in cheers as he announced this. Strangers could be seen hugging each other out of pure joy. Carin León built a community in that arena that night, continuously voicing his appreciation for everyone there and his love for Latinos from every country.
León will continue touring in the coming months. Notable upcoming performances include a Tokyo show at Summer Sonic Tokyo in August with support from Latin Mafia and Paloma Murphy, along with a brief stint of concerts at the Sphere in Las Vegas in September.
