Well, I must begin by saying that the weather last night absolutely sucked. It was 45 degrees, pouring rain, with a constant 30mph wind gusting to about 50. Blech. For those of you may not know, the Bank of America Pavilion nie FleetBoston Pavilion nie Harborlights Pavilion is a PAVILION, which means it is more or less exposed to the elements. Yes, there is a tent, but even with side flaps down, it was unable to keep out the driving rain. And of course, if you had to go use the bathroom or get a beverage (I'll bet beer sales were SLOW last night!) you got drenched. So everyone was soaked and freezing throughout the show, including the Kings. About two-thirds of the way into the show, they started disappearing into the back one at a time to get jackets, and most of them were wearing some sort of scarf.

Anyway, on to the show...

Over the last few years, I have come to the sad realization that I have already seen the best GK concerts I will ever see. The very best might in fact have been the first show I ever saw, when they played "Pedir a tu Corazon" (why oh why don't they play that in concert??) and "Mi Gitana" (aka the ti-ki-ri-ki-ti-ki song). Given gems like that, last night gets a 6 out of 10 compared to all GK concerts (6.5 if the weather had been better). The sound quality was excellent, once they figured out some feedback issues during the first song (and it must have been a nightmare for the techs, considering all the sound equipment was covered with plastic tarps). Unfortunately, they played Boston so early this year that I got caught off guard, and I wound up sitting in row 23,459,297. But it might have been a blessing in disguise, because from a technical standpoint, the sound quality was excellent, and I suspect it was because I was farther back than I usually sit.

From left to right, we had Andre, Patchai, Mysterio (see below), Nicolas, Tonino, Diego, and Canut. Only Nicolas' mike was set up as a primary, so whoever was singing lead traded mikes with Nicolas. Nicolas actually only sang the encores, though.

The backup band (I miss Negrito) was pretty good (I miss Negrito) but nothing amazing (I miss Negrito). I miss Negrito. Pacheco was ON, of course!

In between Andre and Patchai was someone I did not recognize. I was too far back to make a positive ID, and the camera never was on him (he never sang lead) so I never figured out who he was. He had all black hair, so I don't think it was a Standard King, although it MIGHT have been Paco with a dye job (though he always stood with his brothers). I suspect, however, that it was a son of one of the Kings. There certainly are a few to choose from. It was definitely NOT Paul, who was absent. Maybe it was Chico! :-)

They started with an instrumental. It sounded vaguely familiar; it might have been a concertized version of something from Roots, but I think it was new. Nothing special, it was the "let's play some music so all the stragglers get to their seats" song.

Then they played Tristessa with Andre on lead. Now that he has started to go gray, Andre looks and sounds exactly like Nicolas did five or ten years ago. Anyway, that song was tight, and it's one of my favorites... one of the few they could play year after year without bothering me a bit.

Then Canut sang a song. Then Patchai sang a song. They were both from recent albums, but to be honest, I haven't listened to the last two or three albums very much. I could probably pick these songs out of a lineup, but I don't have my CDs here with me.

Remember that album called "Luna de Fuego", that they released in 1983? Because the next song was Amor D'un Dia!! No kidding! That has always been one of my favorite of Canut's songs, and he put all his duende into it. It was excellent!

Then they played Pharaon, with all the King standing in a little circle around Tonino, a la Live at the Royal Albert Hall, except Tonino was standing. Oh, also he was ON FIRE. This was an amazing version of Pharaon, although it was tough to tell what the song was because his musical journey took him far and wide and only rarely got back to the recognizable melodies. Whatever: it rocked.

Then they played Pena Penita with Patchai on lead. Also rocked. At this point I was thinking I was attending the "Allegria Revival Tour", which by the way would have been fine with me.

Canut sang Djobi Djoba (also from Allegria!), then Patchai closed out the first set with a bouncy tune that I think was new.

They opened the second set with a song I have head Canut sing a lot in concert. The name escapes me. It had the word "Caminando" in it, but it was not "Caminando por la Calle" (too bad!)

Then Tonino played an instrumental that I have never heard before, but it rocked.

They followed that with a song I believe was Rhythmic, but it was heavily concertized. Canut took the lead.

Then they played La Dona (my third least favorite GK tune!) with Andre on lead vocals. It as about this time that the other GK started ducking out to get jackets.

Patchai sang Poquito a Poco, Andre sang Canto a Brazil (my fourth least favorite GK tune), and Patchai sang Todos Ole (that may not be the real name of it, but you know the one I mean). Canut closed the second set with A Tu Vera. Great solo by Pacheco (of course).

They came back to play Volare, MY LEAST FAVORITE GK TUNE EVER! AYIEE!! (Yes, I know a lot of people LOVE this song. I hate it! Deal with it.) Nicolas sang lead; his voice sounded fine. I'm not sure why didn't sing more, but maybe it was the weather. Then, after looking like they were going off stage for the final time, to enormous cheering, they had a little conference up on stage and decided to come back for one more song. With Nicolas on the lead, they played Bamboleo... sort of. There was no intro, they jumped in at the first line of vocals, and after the keyboard solo, they just sang the chorus a bunch of times. No bass solo, no Tonino solo (no Tonino, actually), and that was that.

Viva la Nor'easter.

-Jeremy