Carin León
NRG Stadium
March 9, 2025
Carin León is one of the primary stars of the Regional Mexican genre who in the past decade have helped increase the status and popularity of the music from regional to global. He shines bright on stage with his signature tilted cowboy hat and mischievous smile. He made his debut at RodeoHouston on Sunday evening and called it “a dream come true”.
León is a masterful singer, but not due to performing with an operatic voice, but rather the soulful emotion he injects into every song. If he sings about love, the listener falls in love. And when he sings about heartbreak, we lift up our beer and tequila, wipe our tears, and sing our hearts out along with him.
He was joined on stage with a large band that includes a tuba, a horn and woodwind banda section, an accordion and a slide guitar. At any moment, his band is ready to back León up as he sings multiple genres of music, making his show not only a Regional Mexican show, but a country concert mixed with Banda music, corridos, Tejano, and more.
“Los sueños si se cumplen! Aqui estamos en en Rodeo de Houston!” he said while looking into the large crowd at NRG Stadium. (Dreams do come true, we are here at RodeoHouston).
“¡Viva Mexico cabrones!” he yelled before singing “Me La Avente,” one of his earliest hits. León was born to sing about heartbreak. If love is romantic, his songs about heartbreak are downright inspirational. You can feel the tears in his eyes and fire in his heart with every note he hits.
Although León is technically a solo act, he has many hits with collaborators such as Grupo Frontera, Maluma, Leon Bridges, and Kane Brown. Grupo Frontera will make their debut next week at RodeoHouston, another concert that I am super excited to attend. “Que Vuelvas” and “Alchi Si” by León and Frontera are two of my favorites.
As the show came to a close, León let loose with his dance moves. The shoulder shimmy and the boot scootin’ leg kicks are two of his signature moves, especially when paired with “El Baile Del Huitlacoche”. I would have never imagined 70,000 people singing and dancing and yelling “HUIT-LA-CO-CHEEEEE” at RodeoHouston, but man did it make me smile when it did happen!
My favorite part of the night was the medley of classic banda music he offered. “La Noche Que Murio Chicago” was followed by “Ramito De Violetas,” “Provocame” and “La Niña Fresa,” which were all songs made famous by Banda Toro and others in the nineties. The lyric about wanting a Whataburger instead of a banana split was particularly humorous.
The night ended with another hit called “Primera Cita.” He also changed a lyric in the song from referencing “un concierto en Tijuana” to “un concierto para Houston!” He proceeded to hit every leg of the star stage, taking bows and throwing kisses and his cowboy hat to the crowd before hopping on the Ford truck and riding off the arena floor.
The official attendance numbers for this night is 70,603 which is a record for a Latino/Hispanic act at RodeoHouston outside of Go Tejano Day.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
