Buena Vista Orchestra • September 9, 2024 • Red Butte Garden Amphitheater
Reviewed and Photographed by Amelia Weyerstall
Under an orange crescent moon in the sky, Buena Vista Orchestra enchanted the crowd provoking them to move their hips, clap along, and dance to the music. In the beautiful Red Butte Garden Amphitheater, flowers line the stage and sidewalls of the greenspace for the audience. It creates a floral down-to-earth feel that no other venue can match.
While walking in, people rushed past all sides of me, trying to get as close as possible to the band they had eagerly waited to see. The stage setup was just instruments, it made the band feel closer to the audience and I believe that it also helped the band to connect with the crowd in a more intimate way. While doors were opening, soundcheck for Buena Vista Orchestra had just begun as the band encountered some traffic along the way, this may have made the show start late, but it also gave the audience a little taste of what to expect later in the night.
Cody Jasper
The opener was Cody Jasper, a rock and roll artist from Texas. He warmed up the crowd wonderfully with incredible guitar riffs. Jasper also shared that this was his second night opening for the band, and after getting to know the band and jamming with them, they asked him to open every night after that for them. He noted how beautiful SLC is and how grateful and happy he was to be there. He also said “I also happen to be the crew van driver, and being late wasn’t my fault.” which made the audience chuckle and applaud.
Buena Vista Orchestra
It may have taken a song or two to get the crowd going but once they started up the crowd they didn’t stop dancing all night long. The crowd went wild for leading lady, Aldo Isidro Miranda Alvarez, with her incredible vocals, and stage presence, she commanded the crowd to sing along and repeat back lyrics, dance along, and clap to the beat. At one point there was a black sparkly hat with a pink bow and colorful feathers thrown onto the stage that became a prop for her to dance with.
During the show, lights from the stage kept shining into the audience, giving the band an excellent view of their adoring fans dancing in front of them. The audience loved it when they did a cover of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. It started as an instrumental version until the crowd started singing along.
It wasn’t just the audience that was dancing throughout the show, the band was dancing along in between singing or playing their instruments. The band’s enthusiastic choreography further encouraged more and more of the audience to join along. Aside from a few thanks to the crowd for being there, the band spoke exclusively in Spanish, and every word kept the audience engaged in the conversation and music. Every single musician in the band had their own distinctive sound, but when they all came together it was magical.
Jesús “Aguaje” Ramos
The leading man of the night, Jesús “Aguaje” Ramos, was a large part of the original Buena Vista Social Club, where he was the composer, arranger, and trombonist. Being so prominent in the original band, he was also featured in the 1999 documentary “Buena Vista Social Club” and the later film “Buena Vista Social Club: Adios” Which came out in 2017.
This was the 8th stop on the 42-show long tour across the U.S. for the 9-member ensemble. Ramos has been touring since 1997 with various Afro-Cuban bands and musicians. On this tour, Ramos is playing with not only a few original members of the Buena Vista Social Club including Luis “Betun” Mariano Valiente Marin who plays congas along with bongo, Emilio Senon Morales Ruiz who plays piano, and Fabian Garcia who plays bass. On this tour however, he is also joined by Lorena Lazara Ramos Diaz, who is his daughter and a talented vocalist and trombonist in her own right. During the show, he actively helped conduct some of the other instruments, and his band members called him “maestro” showing his knowledge and talent of the art.
Throughout the night the crowd went from repeating back lyrics to dancing along, to clapping with the beat, to slow dancing together with their friends and family. At the end of the night, as things were starting to wind down because it was getting later and the wind started to get chilly, the crowd was chanting “Uno mas! Uno mas!” until the band came back on stage to play their encore. They then offered the crowd “Dos mas!” and the crowd cheered wildly. This brought the party atmosphere right back, and people all around the crowd were up and dancing again. The party that this show conjured was incredible. Everyone in the audience was up and dancing a few times during the show. Overall, the show was filled with applause, love, and dancing, a true party atmosphere.
