Live Review: Tijuana Cartel @ The Troubadour, Brisbane 17 July 2009

Tijuana Cartel – @ The Troubadour 17 July 2009
By José Eduardo Cruz

Tijuana Cartel
[Photo: José Eduardo Cruz]
  Let’s begin by saying that tonight was a sold out night, which is an incredible success for any band. No matter in which venue or which city this is achieved at, once you see the sold out sign outside the venue you know that the band about to perform have something special to offer.

Opening the night’s proceeding was A French Butler Called Smith. Two years worth of solid touring have propelled this pleasant five member band to a position where they will surely soon begin to headline their own shows. Their Gypsy Latin style rings through the room and sets the mood for the remainder of the night. They mix genres beautifully and produce an excellent warm up set. Please keep an eye out for these guys in the future for they are surely on the path to a successful career.


Tijuana Cartel could be from any part of the world. You could put their music on and think that they are from Spain, USA, or even Latin America. Such is their versatility that they exude world music. But why even label it world music, that’s just a silly name given to music not from an English speaking background. This is Flamenco, Salsa, Electro dance music, how hot does that sound? It’s incredible to know that the Gold Coast can produce such a band with massive international appeal. It is this international appeal that will see them head to Bali in early August this year.

Since when does a band offer their audience two sets? Not only that, but in between sets band members walk into the crowd and mingle with the audience while their DJ continues to play. In reality Tijuana Cartel play for close to three hours. Running through, what now is an extensive back catalogue, they don’t stop making the whole crowd dance. There are no slow points, everything is go go go. The result is a lot of dancing and jumping, so much so that the floor was actually producing waves, which with a little more effort could have been big enough to surf. One could feel the entire floor bouncing up and down in time with the music. What an amazing experience to feel the energy of an entire room physically move you.
Tijuana Cartel
[Photo: José Eduardo Cruz]
This music is heavily percussive and rightly driven by percussionist Daniel Gonzalez. This man is a timbalero and congero at the same time. This means that some how he manages to play several instruments at the same time without growing an extra limb. Every single member is just so in tune with their instrument and their fans. Lead singer/guitarist Paul George continually threw his guitar in the air as he played a buleria or sevillana, which could have been easily used by the great Camaron. If you ever got a little bored, one would find that hard to believe, but if it did occur, the sexiest trumpet player Shannon Van Horn Booyens would appear and slowly melt away some notes.

At the end of the second set no one moved, everyone just looked around with a stunned look. It was left to one over enthusiastic fan to jump on stage, grab a microphone and proceed to sing out the obligatory “we want more, we want more”. Obligingly they reappear to firstly rescue the fan from an approaching security guard and secondly to play some more songs to send their fans home with an even bigger smile.

Capacity crowd at the point of bedlam, maximum energy at point of explosion, outstanding performance to be remembered.

By José Eduardo Cruz


Tijuana Cartel @ Caloundra Music Festival 2008
Tijuana Cartel @ Caloundra Music Festival
[Photo: Stuart Blythe]