Paquita la del Barrio

Some artists tire with age, and their shows grow cracks around the edges, but this can’t be said for Paquita la del Barrio. The Mexican singer who specialises in rancheras has been going strong since 1970, and is showing no signs of slowing down! Of course she’s famous for her controversial lyrics and her feminist approaches to the sexist culture in Mexico, and hearing her perform live made the lyrics even more relatable. She’s got a special talent for storytelling, and her body language and facial expressions revealed an even deeper narrative than I was previously aware of listening to her recordings.

She opened the show with Invitame A Pecar from back in 1993, and had everyone singing along right away. She was great at making us feel like we could join in with everything in the audience, and was calling out for us to stand up and join in with her throughout the show.

Of course her back catalogue of tracks is pretty vast, so I wasn’t sure how she was going to chose a set list, but she did so admirably, and played a wonderful selection of tracks from over the years. She closed the show with a preview of La Leyenda Del Barrio which isn’t to be released until next year! It was incredible to hear it live before it’s release.