Pop Music : El Tri Turns the Hollywood Palladium Into a Funky Place
For 90 minutes on Friday, the Hollywood Palladium was transformed into a veritable hoyo fonqui (funky hole)--the term used for Mexico City underground clubs that were often raided by police in the 1980s.
When headliners El Tri--a Mexico City band with a large, mostly working-class following--took the stage, the over-capacity crowd danced with abandon to the heavy R&B; pulse and politicized lyrics of raspy-voiced lead singer Alex Lora.
It was rock at its best--the crowd sang and danced to anthems that championed working-class dreams and tragedies. Lora struck the perfect balance between the populist tendencies of a Springsteen (marred, unfortunately, by occasional homophobic, macho rants) and the anarchy of punk.
After one of Lora’s political tirades, dozens of fans went past the standard raised-lighter salute and torched copies of a local rock magazine. Flames and smoke filled the hall. The act was as dramatic as it was risky.
Still, the crowd mostly behaved in an orderly fashion, but at the end of the set a free-for-all between security guards and fans began. The brawl lasted about 45 minutes as fans and guards threw bottles and chairs at each other. The speakers on the stage were toppled, and several glass doors were smashed.
Police said that two concert-goers were injured and that two fans and a security guard were arrested.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
