Los Lobos a Hit Without Its Hit

Los Lobos and “La Bamba.”

“La Bamba” and Los Lobos.

The East Los Angles-spawned rock band and the irresistibly upbeat song are so closely linked, by both musical culture and three weeks at the top of the pop charts in 1987, that it’s hard to imagine the group going on stage without playing the hit. Or without fans demanding it.

So what happened Thursday night at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano when Los Lobos d-i-d n-o-t perform “La Bamba” during its nearly two-hour concert?

Scattered boos?

A cadre of impatient fans lingering in front of the stage, calling for the song?

Don’t forget the uproar a few years ago when John Fogerty didn’t play “Proud Mary” on his solo tour, or earlier when George Harrison didn’t sufficiently acknowledge the Beatles’ legacy on his tour.

The fact that not one voice could be heard Thursday shouting for “La Bamba” at any point during the concert--much less afterward--served quite nicely to underscore just how richly satisfying a band Los Lobos is.

Like a boxer who can drop you with a punch from either hand, Los Lobos is a quintet that can stir you with either the power of its barroom-tinged rock ‘n’ roll or with the poignancy of its soulful commentaries.

Still, you’d think we’d know all the group’s musical moves by now. The quintet has been a fixture on the Southern California pop scene for nearly a decade--even longer for those lucky enough to see the group play weddings and cantinas in East Los Angeles before it moved to the Hollywood clubs.

This familiarity makes it easy to take Los Lobos for granted--until you do hear it again live.

The remarkable thing about the band is that you don’t know just which side of its music will stir you most in a given concert.

On most nights, for me, the band’s most compelling songs have been the softer, often socially conscious ones usually sung by David Hidalgo, who has about the sweetest, most endearing voice of any male singer this side of Aaron Neville.

Co-written by Hidalgo and drummer Louis Perez, songs such as “Be Still”--from the group’s current “The Neighborhood” album--are moving tales of idealism and struggle, doubly evocative because of their convincing ring of barrio perspective.

Los Lobos included “Be Still” and some of its other songs of this nature in its Coach House set, but the emphasis was on the band’s tougher, bluesy side--songs spotlighting the band’s other singer.

The goateed Cesar Rojas growls his way through songs such as “Shakin’ Shakin’ Shakes” and “I Walk Alone” with the authority and grit of someone who has not lost his bite in the move from barrooms to amphitheaters and arenas.

And it was, indeed, one of these songs--the fireball “Jenny’s Got a Pony”--that proved the surprise knockout punch Thursday: a moment of sheer rock ‘n’ roll celebration that would have had everyone dancing if there had been any room in the packed club.

If “Jenny” was the highlight, the continuing strength of Los Lobos is in its mixture of musical and cultural elements.

Over the course of an evening, the band members--who also include bassist Conrad Lozano and saxophonist-keyboardist Steve Berlin--infuse their music with a warm sense of shared community.

There’s no trace of obligation or strategy in the band when it moves on stage from English to Spanish lyrics or from blues to Mexican folk music or from guitar to accordion. There’s only the sense of genuine emotion and honest musical vision.

In a pop music world where both qualities are discouragingly rare, it’s easy to see why the least important thing in the band’s current Southern California swing--including a scheduled stop Friday at the Greek and tonight at the Starlight Bowl in San Diego--is whether it ever gets around to playing “La Bamba.”