The last stop for Las Rubias del Norte’s Ziguala mini-tour was at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis last night. If you follow what I’ve been saying about the Cedar, this venue generally freaks “rock” bands (who expects audience dancing or noise-making), but in the case of Las Rubias, this sit-down venue feels quite comfortable to the band.

The first thing I noticed is that this was a very, very large band, seven members with a variety of Latin-instruments. They seem to be in a really good mood, usually smiling during their performance – which may be odd as some of their songs are quite bitter and sad. Musically, they sound like something you’d find at a Brazilian Cafe, a bit loungey, and with incredible harmonies between Allyssa Lamb and Emily Hurst.

There was no opening band, instead, Las Rubias del Norte had enough material (over the course of three albums) to play two 45-minute sets. As you can see from their setlist, from all the cross-offs, that they had a hard time figuring out what songs to go where. They stuck pretty close to the set, except at the very end, where Allyssa Lamb suggested they go with “Sola” prior to “Soledad”. “Sola” is a slower, sadder song and something about being cold (“muy frio“), so if they had ended their set with that as an encore, it would’ve been a bit somber-feeling. Instead, their encore, a song unknown to me, was more upbeat with a long drum solo.

From what I’ve gathered, it seems that Lamb grew up in Minneapolis. So the entire audience suddenly feels like it’s a family and friends social gathering. Lamb did a lot of song introductions and sometime tells little stories about themselves, which is great for me as someone unfamiliar with their music.

So, going in, I had assume that based on their Spanish name, that the “latino-style” music will be mostly Spanish and Portuguese. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they actually sing in a variety of languages, including Greek, French, and Hindi. The later language appeared on “Mana Janab Ne Pukaara Nahin”, which was definitely a highlight of the show for me.

My only complaint is whenever a song requires the piano, Lamb ends up on the other side of the stage with her back facing the audience. Not exactly compelling stage presence, but thankfully only three songs required the Cedar’s piano.

I suspect the band doesn’t do too many national tours, so I’m quite glad to have caught them on this tiny tour.

PS, during the 30 minute break between the sets, an elderly woman asked me what that xylophone instrument on stage was. I told her it was a glockenspiel (which, I recently learned from Sally & Kristen). She didn’t believe me, so I told her it was “a mini xylophone”.