Caramello Son was pretty good. There were eight performers on stage, not nine. From left to right: bass guitar, keyboards, vocals and guitar, vocals and guiro, congas, timbales, saxophone and trumpet. There was also a drum synthesiser on stage, maybe it was the girl who plays this who was missing. If so it was probably a musical improvement because, when the sax player gave it an occasional bash, it made a horrible noise.
They played a mixture of uptempo versions of traditional Cuban songs, like Chan Chan and Guantanamero, and more funky contemporary Cuban "timba" styles. The numbers went on a bit, they were mostly 20-25 minute descargas. I would have preferred more songs and shorter ones.
The place was far from full. People seem to have got out of the habit of going to the Toucan Club. It's not hard to see why, with its stupid smoke machine and its really stupid disco lights the Toucan Club seems to have completely lost the freakin' plot. At one point I saw one of the singers of Caramello Son waving her hand in irritation at the smoke. I can't imagine going there unless there was a band on I really wanted to see.
