Los Van Van – A Giant of a live band with an enduring legacy!

The other great one-of-a-kind band that I caught live was the legendary Los Van Van who made their annual SF visit to the Herbst Theatre (which isn’t the ideal place to catch this fabulous dance band – what we have to put up with to see our favorites!) Once I got to the Herbst, I forgot about my seat and stood with the dancing masses near the front of the stage. What an incredible show! The front line of vocalists/show people: Mandy Cantero, Roberto “Roberton” Hernandez, Yenny Valdes and Lele Rosales just had the crowd in the palm of their hand with great singing, charisma, knockout dance moves and irresistible call and response. Leader/drummer/timbalero Samuel Formell was all smiles as he was having a great time leading this dynamic intergenerational band with a sound that’s a force of nature made up of 3 trombones, 2 violins, 2 keyboards, bass, conguero, guiro and background vocalist. Performing new material and crowd favorites, Los Van Van conquered the Herbst crowd. By the time that they performed “Te Pone La Cabeza Mala” as their final song of the set, the crowd was standing up, dancing and ready to party the whole night! Unfortunately, this is the United States and prestigious gigs end early. The fortunate thing for all of us is that we can look forward to Los Van Van to visit us again in the future!!