That’s the basis of Los Mocochetes and Ozomatli, so it made sense they performed at Chautauqua, a culturally relevant ampitheatre. The audience varied from all ages, showing both maturity and and youth wonderment. But there was one thing, and it definitely doesn’t stem at all from the friendly college rivalry between CU Boulder and my alma mater: is Boulder really the best city for such sophisticated music?
Ozomatli and Los Mocochetes might make you dance with fun, bumping jams, but they aren’t fucking Skrillex making bee boo bop squee squee noises in a computer; both bands give cultural influences center stage in their music. Ozomatli, who use their world travels to influence their instrumentals, and Los Mocochetes, who use mainly Mexican influences to tell their stories. And if they weren’t using Mexican influences, well, don’t correct me.
How silly would that look if I’m trying to throw shade on Boulder yet I’m the one so dense I’m sinking through mud? It’d be sillier than peeing your pants in public, which, when I did have to go, I didn’t do, because I’m not from Boulder. I found a bathroom instead.
Chautauqua Ampitheatre has no restroom – you have to exit the venue, go to a building outside the gates, do your business, and come back in. So when I had to pee, I did something I learned at <insert my alma mater here>: I went to the bathroom instead of my pants. And while out at the bathroom, I realised how much better the concert was inside the walls where you could see the artists and feel the vibe.
Some bands aren’t like that. Some bands, you listen to their album, and it’s basically their live show because nothing fucking happens at their live show. But with Ozomatli, you have to actually see it.
Wait.
You must see it? That’s weird. I had no emotional epiphanies inside the venue. It was a fun time but I didn’t think to myself, “holy shit everyone needs to be here!” But sitting outside the venue, the thought of, “wow, this concert is so much better inside. You really need to see it,” makes this the first Must See concert that got the title because of an epiphany in the bathroom.
But look, good natured college rivalry aside, it takes a lot of skill to make a sitting room full of all ages standing room only, as Ozomatli did. It also takes skill to let a stage full of kids beat up your lead singer without anyone suffering actual injuries, as Los Mocochetes did. It takes a lot of skill to make someone literally say, “you have to see this,” while in the bathroom, as Ozomatli did to me.
And it takes a lot of balls, in the decade that is the 2020’s, to publicly say genocide is bad, for some reason. But Ozomatli bravely did. This is one of the rare shows where you can go for the music, you can go for the vibes, you can go for the education, you can go for the relevance, or you can go to prove me and my shade wrong. Most performers don’t give you so many options to choose from!
I added more merch to the merch store! Support youth arts and local music simultaneously with one really bad purchase!
