House of Music

Carin Leon

Golden 1 Center

Sacramento, CA

February 26th, 2023

Photos by Alexander Andrade, Review by Selena Raudales

On Sunday evening, Carin Leon rolled into Sactown for his US Tour 2023 selling out Golden 1 Center. The lines prior from opening the doors were wrapped around the entire venue. A lot of fans were dressed as similar to the artist to embrace their culture. I loved that most of the men at the show were rocking the hat and boots. The doors opened up around 7pm but the show did not start until 9pm. In the meantime, the audience got to enjoy a pre concert from the DJ playing a bunch of reggaeton and bachata music from artists like Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, Rosalía, Karol G, and Romeo Santos.

As 9pm hit, the lights around the venue dimmed and artist instrument personnel came out to stage. While the backdrop counted down from 10, the crowd counted along as well screaming and chanting “Carin”. Once the timer went to 0, he finally came out with flames on stage welcoming Sac-town.

Sparklers came on as he dances from one side of the stage to the other, pointing to the crowd as he sings “Secuelas De Amor”. Throughout his setlist, Carin Leon thanks the crowd for last year, this year, and the year coming up for all the support. The entire audience giving thanks for his music and giving him love, he dedicated a song to the crowd and the scenery changes to match the mood.

Carin Leon dedicates another shot to his fans and thanks for an amazing year. That success, including “El Tóxico” with Grupo Firme, is one of the songs that displays León’s diversity, he can go from banda to norteña to ballads with equal ease by powerful vocals. Throughout the performance, he was backed by a 20-piece band that included four clarinets and four trumpets. The very sophisticated musical arrangements are courtesy of tuba player Gilberto Meneses for banda tracks and the versatile guitarist/keyboardist Orlando Aispuro. It’s like a big party, especially when León walks around with his drink in hand. Saludos! (as he would say). He plays the guitar, Sing Capella; Just watch him navigate banda and the tenderness of ballads.

To top it all, the man knows how to swivel his hips. León loves to talk, giving fresh meaning to each song, that he lost his virginity to “You’re the One I Love” (Segues Synod Tu in Spanish). Some of our favorite lines of the evening: “Having a toxic woman in the house is a blessing. It means she loves you even when you’re ugly”; and “We men are shameless. We always promise things we can’t deliver.”

Carin Leon came out to Sacramento and did not disappoint! Throughout the entire show the artist interacted with the audience from left to right, moved around dancing not knowing what the next moves were, and made the venue look like a dance club.