Julieta Venegas has had a wonderful career spanning more than twenty years. She has made some of the most beautiful music in Latin pop. On a cool early June evening, the multi-instrumentalist singer brought twenty years’ worth of an incredible career to the historic Riviera Theatre in Chicago. Touring her latest album Tu Historia, Julieta Venegas’ eclectic setlist showcased that even now she is still making great music. The singer-songwriter’s charm made for a fantastic evening, bringing the same emotion to her music as it is on the record.
Julieta Venegas is still worth packing in theaters, and Chicago proved that to her.
Opening for Julieta Venegas was singer-songwriter Selines, performing a half-hour acoustic set. Most of her songs were about love and heartbreak, and the emotion was evident in her singing. The singer’s delicate voice echoed through the venue as she solely occupied the stage. She was evidently nervous to be on stage, but it did not inhibit her performance. Though a significant amount of the crowd was talking nonstop during her performance, she powered through with ease. The excited Selines could not stop expressing her gratitude to Julieta Venegas, an artist she said inspired her greatly.
At 8:30 p.m., Julieta Venegas and her band take the stage. Waving and smiling to the crowd, Venegas’ elegance immediately graced the venue as she sat at her keyboard. The show began with “Dime la Verdad” off of Tu Historia. She played the keys for the first song and simply sang for the next two, all off the new album. Leading into the fourth song, she brought out her accordion, a signature sound in her music, much to the excitement of the crowd. As excited as the crowd was, there was no denying what they came to see. The first song to make the crowd erupt was her 2003 hit “Algo Está Cambiando.” This would be the pattern for the rest of the show.
After twenty years, Julieta Venegas still finds ways to surprise her audience. Her most popular hits are still awe-inspiring to hear live.
Obviously, the crowd was going to hear “Andar Conmigo” live, but the new rendition they did without drums gave the song an almost orchestral feel. With Venegas’ lovely vocals still sounding as great as the song first did twenty years ago, witnessing the song live was an ethereal experience, elevated by the crowd’s massive voices. Venegas is amazing, but her band was also on top of their game that night.
With tons of successful artists, newer music is not always the biggest sell. The old hits are usually what sells. People wanted to hear songs from Si and Limon Y Sal. I can’t blame them. Those albums have timeless classics. Not to say that people weren’t enjoying themselves for the rest of the show, but nobody was nearly as excited to hear songs off her latest album as they were for her early-2000s tracks. With crowd participation or not, Venegas powered through the wide-ranging setlist with style. She was a joy to see on stage, whether she was dancing to one of her pop hits or playing the accordion to her rock songs.
Venegas could even own the stage solo, as she did while performing a solo accordion version of her 2003 song “Oleada” for the encore.
Chicago is a very important city for Latin American artists, especially to rockeras. They will always find an audience here, and Julieta Venegas is no exception. While she’s not getting the massive festival audiences she would in Mexico, there is clearly lots of love for Venegas and her music in Chicago. As she moves forward with her career, it’s great to see that she still cares about making new music and keeping her old hits interesting. The very-talented singer-songwriter made sure the emotions were raw that night and that the music was still fresh and amazing.
All photography by Oscar De Leon.
