If you care about music, you’ve surely encountered the particular frustration of finding a band you know you should like. You listen to their albums, and you can tell they’re good, but the sparks don’t fly. That was my relationship to Chicago five-piece Dos Santos—until I finally saw them live at last year’s Midsommarfest.
Dos Santos play a hybrid strain of rock ’n’ roll that incorporates chicha, cumbia, psychedelia, and more. Their 2021 album, City of Mirrors, is an expertly crafted recording: the many layers of its kaleidoscopic arrangements have been carefully placed in sonic space to create a lush, wide-screen panorama. But as vibrant as it is, it never even tries to sound like a group of people making music in real time right in front of you.
I’m an old punk rocker, so I prefer bands whose shows top their records—if you can’t move somebody more powerfully in person, are you even trying? At Midsommarfest, Dos Santos proved they can. They played to a big, relaxed audience during a balmy indigo sunset, and they moved as a single creature—like a big cat that shows its strength even in its most serene and sensual movements. People danced in groups and couples, kids rode around on their parents’ shoulders or chased each other through the crowd—and everyone swam in the same rhythm.
Phone video by Philip Montoro of Dos Santos at Midsommarfest 2022
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