Los Lobos at Rams Head on Stage, 2/28/2014 (6:30 show)

On their 40^th anniversary tour, Los Lobos once again showed that they are one of the best live rock bands around, far surpassing their humble origins as “Just Another Band from East L.A.” They did a 90-minute set in front of a sold-out crowd for the first of two shows that night, with highlights including “Set Me Free (Rosa Lee)”, “Tears of God”, a nice cover of Traffic’s “40,000 Headmen”, and “The Neighborhood” (with a bit of “Moondance” tossed in for good measure). They ended with a fantastic version of “Don’t Worry Baby” (the lead track from their breakthrough album How Will the Wolf Survive?).

This was my first trip to Rams Head in Annapolis, which frequently gets acts either right before or right after they play the Birchmere in Alexandria. I decided to give Rams Head a try since they offer reserved seating (which the Birchmere does not), and with the Inter-County Connector now available I could minimize the amount of time I’d have to spend on the Washington Beltway. It still took me about 75 minutes to drive from Rockville to Annapolis, but I left home later than I would have for a Birchmere show, knowing that I had my seat waiting for me. It’s a good venue to catch a show. The menu choices at the Rams Head on Stage itself were somewhat more limited than at the Birchmere (although you also can eat at the Rams Head Tavern next door), but the food was good and reasonably priced; I had the Tilapia BLT Sandwich (without the B).

Parking was more of a hassle, though. Annoyingly, the Rams Head folks validate parking (giving you 2 hours free) if you eat at the tavern, but not if you eat at the performance venue. Having a large number of people exit the parking garage at the end of the show also was not a great experience – it’s considerably easier to get out of the (free) surface lot at the Birchmere.