On Saturday, December 26th, 50+ artists and hundreds of thousands of viewers around the world came together for Georgia Comes Alive, a virtual music festival aimed at promoting voter participation in Georgia’s critical Senate runoff elections on January 5th, 2021.
One of the many legendary bands to participate in Georgia Comes Alive was cross-genre stalwarts Los Lobos, who delivered performances of the original “The Neighborhood” as well as the Spanish-language Christmas song, “Arbolito de Navidad”, or “Little Christmas tree” in English. Ahead of the band’s performance, multi-instrumentalist Steve Berlin gave an introduction about the importance of voting in the Georgia Senate runoff elections. After giving vital information about requesting ballots and early voting, Berlin got to the bottom line: “Any way you do it, go vote.”
With that, cameras cut to Los Lobos performing in Santa hats on a stage adorned with poinsettias. Though Georgia Comes Alive took place the day after Christmas, it appeared that the East Los Angeles-bred group had enough holiday spirit for another day. This take on “The Neighborhood”, the title track to the band’s 1990 album, showed their versatility as the song, which began as a bluesy waltz, was accented by baritone saxophone from Berlin and promptly shifted into a slow jazz shuffle. By the end, however, lead guitarist David Hidalgo turned the energy up to 11 with a blistering solo that closed out the tune.
On “Arbolito de Navidad”, the band took a much more traditional approach to the Spanish Christmas song, as Hidalgo ditched his guitar for an accordion. The band’s versatility was once again on display as they made a classic holiday tune into their own with unique instrumental flairs throughout.
Revisit the Los Lobos segment from Georgia Comes Alive below. If you enjoyed the show and have the means, consider donating to Georgia grassroots voter organizations via GeorgiaComesAlive.com.
Los Lobos – Full Set – Georgia Comes Alive
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