The Paramount Theater presents Los Lobos performing live on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Los Lobos began in 1973, 50 years ago next year, when David Hidalgo (vocals, guitar, and pretty much anything with strings), Louie Perez (drums, vocals, guitar), Cesar Rosas (vocals, guitar) and Conrad Lozano (bass, vocals, guitarrón) earned their stripes playing revved-up versions of Mexican folk music in restaurants and at parties.
The band evolved in the 1980s as it tapped into L.A.’s burgeoning punk and college rock scenes. They were soon sharing bills with bands like the Circle Jerks, Public Image Ltd., and the Blasters, whose saxophonist, Steve Berlin, would eventually leave the group to join Los Lobos in 1984.
Los Lobos enjoyed critical success, winning the Grammy for Best Mexican-American Performance for “Anselma” from its 1983 EP. A year later, the group released its full-length, major-label debut, “How Will the Wolf Survive?” Co-produced by Berlin and T Bone Burnett, the album was a college rock sensation that helped Los Lobos tie with Bruce Springsteen as Rolling Stone’s Artist of the Year.
A major turning point came in 1987 with the release of the Ritchie Valens biopic, “La Bamba.” The quintet’s cover of Valens’ signature song topped the charts in the U.S. and the U.K.
Tickets range in price from $39.75 to $69.75.
Tickets are on sale now at www.theparamount.net