The Coachella music festival is known for hosting reunions of big-name musical acts, from Guns N’ Roses to Rage Against the Machine to Outkast, but one major reunion may have gone relatively unheralded among many music fans: Mexican rock band Caifanes returned from a 16-year hiatus at Coachella in 2011, and has been going strong ever since. For English-speaking festival-goers, Caifanes was probably an unfamiliar name, but for followers of the Rock en Español genre, the reunion was at least as big a deal as any other that Coachella has showcased in the past two decades.
Caifanes started in Mexico City in 1987, combining the sounds of traditional Mexican music with influences from moody English-language rock bands like The Cure and The Jesus and Mary Chain, delivering a darker sound than typical Latin pop. When guitarist Alejandro Marcovich joined in 1989, the band’s classic sound was cemented, and Caifanes went on to release three more seminal Rock en Español albums before disbanding in 1995. Since reforming, the band has toured the world, and the current lineup is back to the core quartet from 1987. Seven years after getting back together, they’re still regularly selling out shows, reaching the fans who matter.
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, 9 p.m. May 4, starting at $55 plus tax and fee, 18+. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
