Moments of Charm Amid the Chaos of ‘Super Estrella’ Show

It didn’t take long Saturday at the Universal Amphitheatre to tell that you were going to be in for some disappointment during radio station KSSE’s five-hour “Reventon Super Estrella” concert.

On the way into the venue, you came across signs announcing that Alejandra Guzman’s appearance had been canceled.

The absence of the goddess of Mexican hard-rock, who at the last minute was denied a visa to enter the country, was a major blow to a show whose lineup was otherwise squalid.

So, instead of the rebellious, seasoned Guzman, you got young heartthrob Cristian as the evening’s headliner.

It wasn’t that the seven acts, who performed brief sets interspersed with horribly lame comedy skits by KSSE disc jockeys, were really that bad. The overall quotient of charm was quite high. For instance, you couldn’t help but succumb to the humble, likable manner of Jordi, the long-haired, wide-eyed son of pop superstar Django, who at 18 shows enough vocal talent to follow in his father’s footsteps.

*

However, some of these acts weren’t even performing live, but with the aid of backing tapes--which led to the evening’s most embarrassing gaffe.

Just when Carlos Ponce’s musicians walked on stage, the tape started rolling and the singer’s voice filled the amphitheater. But he wasn’t there yet and the tape was stopped.

When Ponce, an actor turned singer, finally arrived, he made up for the mistake by doing some real singing--and Ponce actually sounded pretty good.

Like most of the evening’s acts, the duet of Sentidos Opuestos is 20 years behind musically. But at least its performance was live, and the show was marked by an exuberant display of energy and disco-infused sexuality.

After Moenia, a sweetly anachronistic trio that plays ‘80s-tinged electro-pop, finished its set, chaos ensued.

Because Cristian’s mariachi ensemble was stuck in traffic, the show was delayed for half an hour. When the 10-piece mariachi finally arrived, the music of an authentic-sounding orchestra among such a parade of prefabricated popsters was not only a welcome relief, but ended the marathon evening on a positive note.