Helado Negro Makes It Look Easy at Webster Hall
Helado Negro – Webster Hall – April 24, 2024
At some point in nearly every song he played on Wednesday night before a packed Webster Hall, Roberto Carlos Lange — best known as Helado Negro — would dance. Sometimes it was a little shimmy in front of the microphone stand while still singing, other times, a full move to the front of the stage, and in all cases fully capturing the sultry groove of the music while still looking relaxed and cool. Easier said than done, but that was the energy in the club from the get-go, Helado Negro keeping the crowd both chill and moving and making it look easy all the while.
The set opened with “Colores Del Mar,” the first of many selections off his brand-new release, Phasor, the backing band of Jason Nazary on drums and Andy Stack on bass and guitar creating a lush soundscape with complex rhythms, setting the tone for an understated, joyful midweek dance party. After the syncopated groove of “I Just Want to Wake Up with You,” Lange mixed in some of his older material, much to the crowd’s delight. “Gemini and Leo,” was a fantasy of electro-groove under hot pink and purple lights, lush hypnotic vocals that urged the audience to sing along. It’s tough to get a crowded room to sing along and keep it hushed and soft, but, once more, he made it look easy.
Sonically, Nazary and Stack were as much of a focus as Lange’s soft-step melodies, dreamlike twinkles of guitar on “Hometown Dream,” intricate cowbell-driven drum patterns on “Echo Tricks Me,” wide undulating bass on “Out There.” It’s not easy to build momentum in a set while making the music softer and quieter, but again, they made it look easy, the set expertly drawing to a whisper from the flaky-layered musical pastry of “Best for You and Me” to the Bowie-esque croon of “Wish You Could Be Here,” and finally finishing with the on-tippy-toes dreamlike “Esa Una Fantasia.” And even as it ended at its quietest, the audience was at their energy peak, chanting wildly for an encore, Lange obliging with four more songs, going singer-songwriter with his own guitar on “Sabane de Luz” and “Pais Nublado,” the crowd singing along, light and lovely, in Spanish, before drawing things to a close with “We Don’t Have Time for That.” Easy does it. —A. Stein | @Neddyo
(Helado Negro plays The Sinclair in Cambridge, Mass., tomorrow.)
(Helado Negro plays Underground Arts in Philly on Sunday.)
Photos courtesy of Savannah Lauren | @savannahlaurenphoto