Staff Editor on August 14th, 2022

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East Los Angeles band Tropa Magica and Bogota, Colombia-based band Meridian Brothers played in front of an enthusiastic and packed crowd at Levitt Pavilion on Friday night, another installment in Levitt LA’s Free Summer Concerts series.

Tropa Magica, known for their “psychedelic cumbia punk” and authors of the new album “III” (released in May), started things off. As he walked up to the stage, lead singer David Pacheco asked the crowd, “Are you ready for the fastest 40 minutes of your life?” With that, he took a sip from his can of Liquid Death and deadpanned, “Liquid Death is our sober sponsor.” The band’s music had the crowd at one point doing a conga line that snaked along the front of the stage and at another moment going for a fun-loving mosh pit. To end their set, the band pointed out all the Tropa Magica T-shirts in the audience before taking it up a notch in terms of stage entertainment with the finale “Demolicion.” A guitar was repeatedly tossed high into the air, the keyboard was played like a heavy metal guitar and the bassist showed his limber abilities. The band’s setlist sampled from across their catalog of EP, album and single releases. (Tropa Magica has upcoming shows Aug. 27 at O.C.’s Garden Amp, and they are playing the Happy Sundays fest at Long Beach’s Bamboo Club stage on the following day.)

Meridian Brothers, who have earned wide acclaim for their spin on salsa and other forms of Latin music, is spending the month of August touring the U.S. from New York to California to Texas and more. The band is celebrating their collaborative album release, “Meridian Brothers & El Grupo Renacimiento.” El Grupo Renacimiento is a band from the 1970s … well, not exactly. Meridian Brothers mastermind Eblis Álvarez creates fictional bands with interesting backstories, and so it is with El Grupo Renacimiento. Their salsa sounds had the crowd showing off their dance skills. Proper praise has to be given to the multi-instrumentalist María Valencia who jumped between clarinet, keyboard, percussion and saxophone throughout the hour-long set. The band also put their own spin on Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.”

It was a lovely night of music for the crowd that was split between those hugging the front of the stage and others who had brought their blankets, outdoor chairs and coolers.

Tropa Magica setlist: Koopa Cabra, Mascarita, Ojitos, Meme City, Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover), Dulce y Amarga, La Flor, Feels Like Tijuana, Juaneco Y La Negra, Morena, Demolicion

Photos and recap by Notes From Vivace