Lila Downs to Play Sold-Out Show in Watsonville

Just days before Lila Downs is slated to play at Watsonville's Mello Center, the show sold out. It is the singer's first time playing in Watsonville, and she stops off in our humble city on her way through to San Francisco and Los Angeles, followed by several other large cities in the United States, Canada and Spain. In November, the artist performed at the Carnegie Hall in New York City.

"This is the smallest town that she's playing on this tour and we're just really delighted, and we feel like this is hopefully going to be an example of other types of productions that we'll be presenting locally, especially with artists that really relfect the diversity of our commmunity," said Jose Reyes-Olivas of Sage Productions, who is presenting the show.

A diverse community is one reason for renowned artists to stop off in Watsonville, the other is a state-of-the-art show, and Reyes promises it will be a high quality show, not just in sound but visually stimulating, too.

"We also want to show that we can produce these shows at the caliber that they deserve to be presented in," said Reyes-Olivas. 

Downs' tour, which celebrates her latest album Pecados y Milagros, has been put together with an artistic eye. It's to be expected of an album whose title and concept was inspired by traditional votive paintings of Mexico.

According to Reyes-Olivas, they are bringing in a high quality projector to display original Mexican artwork behind the stage, which the show will be choreographed to, and the singer will also be superimposed on the wall. 

The 800 lucky ticket holders hail from as far as King City, Delano, Pescadero and Gilroy, as well as plenty of local Watsonville and Santa Cruz fans. 

"She really represents a new chapter in the arts. I mean, typically as a latino presenter its really challenging only because it's hard to put any type of music into a category, but I think she really redefines that concept and her music really could be put in five different categories," said Reyes-Olivas. 

"I think that it really shows that her music really is so big and thats why the interest is so strong. Shes an amazing performer," said Reyes-Olivas.