Los Tranquilos and Trish Toledo brought their collective Latin heat to The State Room last Friday (6/26/2026), traveling all the way from California to do so.
While it probably helped if you could speak Spanish, it was hardly a prerequisite when Los Tranquilos opened the show. A keen sense of style translates. Emotions are easy to pick up on, too. Whether you knew the band before they appeared or not (and these ears only vaguely did), you wanted to know more by the end of their set, one that felt too short. The performance included their own romantic cumbia and Latin soul covers, songs like “Te Quiero y Te Extraño,” “Mi Sol,” and “Siento Que,” and lead singer Manny Martinez was immensely likeable from start to finish. It didn’t feel quite like stepping back in time, but it was an invitation to a place we all wanted to be for a lot longer, both dancing and singing along in unison.
Los Tranquilos did double duty, sitting in as Toledo’s backing band, where she sang songs like “Do The Wrong Thing,” “Sin Control,” and “Somebody Please.” Her voice did allow for a welcome leap back in time, as did the way she took command of the room, often making the audience part of her show, passing around the microphone and having casual conversation with all the lovebirds willing to sing or chat back. An easy highlight was hearing her take on the oft-covered classic originally by The Persuaders, “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate.” Even though she easily switched back and forth between singing Spanish and English, she did so with a lot of playfulness, once shouting out, “We’re not in Utah tonight. We’re in Peru!” And that kind of an invitation never felt more welcome.
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