Matrix, Bochum, Germany
21st May 2006
Tito & Tarantula and Special Guest
Who doesn’t know the song ‘After Dark’ from the movie ‘From Dusk till Dawn’? Tito was in town and we took the chance to visit his show. As I entered the venue about 30 minutes before the show was supposed to start a quite large amount of people welcomed me in the foyer area. As the doors were opened some minutes later a constant flow was running to the stage and all were waiting for the band to come. But first there was ‘Special guest’ announced too… and in fact the band is really called that way.
Special Guest
‘Special Guest’ ware existing since 1997 in different formations. They started as a trio with vocals/bass, guitar and drums, expanded to a quartet (plus second guitar) and are now playing as a quintet (plus extra lead vocals) for circa two years now. The only left founding member is drummer Andreas Brüseke who also is responsible for the management and booking of the band. So if you like you can get CDs and shirts through him (email: 
Music
The music can be described as explosive power-rock. The own songs are brought to stage with great intensity and expression and are living from the interaction and the fun of the five musicians. The band from Dortmund/Germany uses only English lyrics. Tight and straight groves are combined with sometimes cracking and sometimes filigree twin-guitar sounds. Trademark of the band is the unmistakable rocking voice of the singer which reached from clear chant to metal-like growls. Guitars playing a big role during the show and so you could also listen to some guitar solos. The sound at the Matrix was surprisingly good at that evening – usually they have some problems to mix the sound right for the tube. 
From the very beginning the venue is filled up very well. That was the premise for a very good mood from the start. ‘Special Guest’ were fun watching. You could see the passion the artists were playing their instruments. And they had fun on stage joking with each other. From time to time there was too little room for them and so it happened that the guys crashed against each other a little. Very charming. The singer was constantly trying to make contact with the audience demanding “I want to fucking hear you!”. The song ‘Dark side of the Road’ was dedicated to the people living on the road. The song was received with quite some applause and so the singer thanked “Dortmund”. But stop... some laughter made him realise that the concert took place in Bochum ;). The last song ‘Running’ was the fastest song of the set and got the most response. So the band left the stage with the statement that it was great to play for that audience.
01. No war
02. Coming Home
03. Winners and Losers
Rating
Music 7
Performance 7
Sound 7
Light 6
Total 7 (6.9)
Head of the Latin rockers is singer and guitarist Tito Larriva. He was born in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico but later on his family moved to El Paso in Texas where he studied violin and flute. In the mid-1970s he changed over to L.A. and later on formed the band ‘Plugz’ which released their debut ‘Electrify me’ in 1979. The band later on changed its name and disbanded in 1990. Tito continued writing film music and touring. With guitarist Peter Atanasoff and a host of other L.A. session vets he eventually formed ‘Tito and Tarantula’. Their biggest supporter was filmmaker Robert Rodriguez who not only used material of the band in his movies (i.e. “From Dusk till Dawn”) but also offered small roles for Larriva in them. He also helped the band to produce ‘Tarantism’ which was released 1997 on the band’s own label “Cockroach”. More releases followed. Line-Up: singer/guitarist Tito Larriva - guitarist Peter Atanasoff - bassist Dominique Davalos - drums Johnny Vatos.
http://www.titoandtarantula.com / http://www.myspace.com/titoandtarantula
After the rebuilding break only the drum podium and some amplifier were left on stage and offered a lot of space for the band. But it took quite a while until Tito and his mates entered the stage after the audience demanded them with loud cheers. Tito was wearing his hair tied to a pigtail and dark sun glasses while Peter came on stage with a black leather cap. Somehow the styling was very fitting to the kind of music the band would present – and this was typical South-state blues rock. Tito’s voice was sometimes whispering, sometimes clear and then again very rough... what might have come due to the sip of Tequila he was taking every now and then. After Jennifer Condos left the band she was replaced by Dominique Davalos who is adding the special pinch of salt to the sound when singing the second voice. The band presented a good mixture from older and newer songs, not leaving out the always demanded ‘After dark’. Also ‘Crack in the World’ and ‘Goodbye Sadie’ out off ‘Little Bitch’ were not left out. Every song, no matter if old or new, was celebrated with passion.
The first thing to mention is the enormous fun the band was showing when performing. Tito was spreading pure energy and fun in performing and he also took his band with him. Especially the lady on the bass was smiling a lot. Mr. Larriva was singing his soul out of his body and also the others performed with passion. The audience was honouring this effort with loud applause and cheers which made Tito to thank in German. Even though the breaks in-between some songs were a bit longer because of the guitar change this did not any harm to the show. Some-when during the set Tito was putting away the sun glasses and opened his hair what gave him kind of a wild look. Light-wise you could see that he was the front man and head of the band because he was enlightened a lot while the others were left a bit more in the dark. Last song before the encores was finally the long awaited ‘After Dark’. Missing out nice looking female dancers Tito was throwing several women (and to be honest one man too) onto stage and they all were moving like expected and got a lot of applause too. After some more songs for encore a great concert found its end.
Setlist
01. Strange Face
02. Torn 2 Pieces
03. This house
04. Hey Hey Hey
05. Clumsy
06. Pistolero
07. Crack in the World
08. Flor de Mal
09. Motorcycle Girl
10. Goodbye Sadie
11. Crime & Shame
12. Forever forgotten
13. Effortless
14. After Dark
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15. Angry Cockroaches
16. Dead
17. Anarchy
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18. Hombre Secreto
19. Smiling Karen
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