A band of brothers from Texas, Los Lonely Boys, brought a slew of Chicano rock, blues, and talent that comes with 15 years together as band to a historic theatre in Jacksonville.

In the venue located in the heart of Jacksonville, Los Lonely Boys brought a set of 16 songs blending multiple genres together and creating smooth transitions between tracks to the Florida Theatre. Brothers Henry, JoJo, and Ringo Garza played the guitar, bass, and drums respectively and added in percussionist Carmelo Torres to complete the mix of rock and blues. JoJo played a six-string bass, Henry threw in a harmonica while playing guitar and singing, and Ringo Jr., played on a drum kit with the addition of bongos to compliment Torres, who also had cymbals and maracas.

Songs like, “She’s So Sensual” accented Henry, who had multiple solos throughout the piece, including one with the help of the other members taking a decrescendo, while Henry climbed further into the spotlight. “Are You Feeling Good?” another tune the crowd was involved and screaming in response to Henry asking, “Are you feeling good?,” while the band soloed on each of their instruments. This song was a massive jam session featuring wood blocks, tambourines, bass plucking and slapping, and wah effects to get the crowd hyped up for the beginning of the show, as Los Lonely Boys was the only band on the bill.

Influences were very apparent in this performance. The song “Man To Beat,” incorporated snippets of popular classics like “Billy Jean” and “Smoke On The Water” while Henry played harmonica. It was reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix in demeanor and stage presence. “I’m Leaving You (Commit A Crime)” by legendary Stevie Ray Vaughn also showed the classic blues influences for the band, the resemblance to the blues pioneer was uncanny.

The rest of the set included songs like “Heart Won’t Tell A Lie,” “16 Monkeys,” and “I’m A Man,” and much to the crowd’s delight, the song Los Lonely Boys is most known for, “Heaven” as the closer. The band was enjoying the reactions from the crowd they ran with the song and jammed by feeding off the energy. As a result, they took the four-minute track and extended it out to twelve minutes. Henry took time out in the song to throw guitar picks on his microphone stand into the crowd, then beckoned his guitar tech over and took the pile out of his hand and started chucking picks to fans.

In the middle of “Heaven,” JoJo danced over Henry and stood behind him playing the guitar with his brother. The sight of both musicians playing from the same instrument so in sync was inspiring. The brothers were so in tune with each other and the instrument that they even had their eyes closed and their chins pointed up, as if being controlled as one.

Overall, Los Lonely Boys put on a phenomenal show. They played for two hours and had the crowd engaged the whole time. Though they could have played more songs instead of all the long jam sessions, the format fit their style and the fans didn’t seem to mind.

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This article was originally published in Backstage VIPs.