Diego Garcia’s first solo album Laura was my unofficial soundtrack when I was in Spain. I was a huge fan of his band, Elefant, and was really happy to get to see the new material performed at Anthology, which was a perfect venue for Diego and his supporting band. The show was the first night of their West Coast tour though you wouldn’t have guessed that because their performance was flawless. The set list:

Separate Lives
You Were Never There
Roses and Wine
Stay
Under This Spell
This Strange Effect - Kinks cover
Nothing to Hide
Inside My Heart
Laura

Encore:
All Eyes on You

(Disclaimer: not sure if I got the first two right because I got there late and didn’t start keeping notes until “Roses and Wine”. ) Diego Garcia was his usual charming self, introducing songs and interacting with the reverent yet enthusiastic crowd. He was backed by Danny (?), his cellist and Mod on acoustic guitar (again ? because I am a bad fan and didn’t pay attention to their names and now I can’t find any info on them to save my life). I was hoping they’d throw in an acoustic Elefant song or two, but no dice. After the show, as people were filtering out, Diego and his band came out to the lobby and talked to quite a few fans (myself being one of them.) We had a nice conversation about the new material and I reminisced with him about some of his amazing performances in SD during the Elefant years. (Remember when they opened for BRMC at HOB and he did the show with a cast on his broken leg? Or that last show at the Casbah? So much love that night…) So definitely a great night. And now I’m thinking I may have to catch them in the OC on Tuesday….