A lot of bands weave different influences into their distinctive sounds, but when it comes to genre mashing, few, if any, have done it quite like the legendary Café Tacvba. The pioneering quartet from Naucalpan de Juárez, hasn’t just blended Mexican musical influences with mainstream rock sounds in their 35-year career — instead, they’ve gone way beyond the expected!
Inspired by the likes of The Smiths, The Cure, and Violent Femmes, they’ve added alt rock and even psychedelic elements to their inimitable style. Later, the multi Grammy and Latin Grammy winners also invited hip-hop to their party. The result has been a beautiful multi-faceted musical mix that engages fans on many levels.
“They’re music is super eclectic, going from the simplest Mexican folk songs, to the blistering electric punk & rock sounds they are accustomed to belting out night after night,” observed Felix Peralta. “They are one of the most amazing live bands I have ever seen — and I feel fortunate to have seen a lot of live bands throughout my 30-plus years in the industry! Most importantly, they’re some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.”
Peralta knows whereof he speaks! He’s been lighting Café Tacvba for about eight years now. Late this November and early December, he got to use his formidable design chops to create a powerful lightshow for the band’s 35th anniversary celebration that was as bold and wide-ranging as his client’s music.
The magic Peralta worked at the three sold out Café Tacvba arena shows in Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Mexico City drew heavily on the color rendering magic and dynamic effects from 40 COLORado PXL 12 Curve motorized battens and 130 Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes. Adding extra punch to his remarkably diverse (and long!) three-hour show were 64 high output STRIKE Array 4 blinders.
“Among the many wonderful things about lighting Café Tacvba is that they give you the opportunity to take your design in all sorts of directions,” said Peralta. “Working with Lighting Directors Chris Fernandez and Diego Rabadan, Head Gaffer/LD Eduardo “Toto” Lopez, and Lead Technician Angel Alvarado, we had a blast moving through a wide range of looks with the band. Of course, to do this, we needed fixtures that could contribute to a lot of different ways. We leaned on the PXL Curve bars to help “bend light,” wash the stage, and create unique architectural shapes. The Color STRIKE Ms were great as strobes, shock and awe. and pixel effects.”
Of course, creating a steady stream of looks for a three-hour set without being repetitive is no easy task. Peralta and his team met this challenge in flying colors, in part by using an automation truss system, and vanish stealth screen that helped them come up with varied backgrounds throughout the 35-song set list.
“When we first started to discuss these special anniversary shows with band and management, we all understood that the main goal was to create a set list that would give the fans what they wanted — a set list showcasing some their greatest hits over a 35-year span!” said Peralta. “The band really wanted a hand-crafted show that would give the fans an evening they would never forget.
“We typically use very little video with our shows, relying more on the lighting side for the overall visuals,” continued Peralta. “But for these special anniversary shows we incorporated a vanish stealth screen with a lot of transparency that allowed us to have a lighting system behind the screen for the songs with no video. Over the past few years, we had done a tour with an orchestra that was very successful. For the 35th anniversary shows, we decided to do a section of the show with a ‘virtual orchestra, on the screen. This proved to be hugely successful — the fans really enjoyed it.”
On the back end of the show, Peralta chose the route of IMAG treated NotchFX blocks to focus attention on the principal four band members. These IMAG treatments were carved out in a “surgical way,” to compliment the different automated truss shapes that Peralta was creating at this point in the show.
“The tools in our rig were really critical in defining the last act of the show,” said Peralta. ” Our once-clean design canvas morphed into these unique shapes as the band continued their 35-year eclectic hit journey. None of this would have been possible without the commitment and dedication of our vendors, venue staff & local labor in the three cities. It truly took a ‘village’ to help bring these shows to life.”
