Gig Review: Chuck Prophet and His Cumbia Shoes - The International, Leicester. Tuesday 25th February 2025

Prowling, peering, posing. Stand a few feet from Chuck Prophet in full charismatic flow and you feel his kinetic aura. Silver boots and band matching Nudie suit add to an effect driven by blistering rock ‘n’ roll and insightful songwriting. We are in the midst of a new identity. Likely borrowed but fitting for an artist where style nestles alongside substance. From Green on Red to Mission Express, the flavour is now an immersion into Cumbia influences. We bring you Chuck Prophet and His Cumbia Shoes. First a 2024 album and now a 2025 UK tour. 

Chuck commented on the demise of The Musician in Leicester while acknowledging that it’s been a few years since visiting the city. To amend that omission, The International stepped up to play host and form a Midlands triangle with Nottingham and Birmingham. Whatever the overall impact in terms of attendance, a beguiled assembly of devotees and curious onlookers were locked into an hour and three quarter riveting set. 

Cumbia music is stacked with Latino rhythms and popular from Columbia to Mexico. This extends to communities across Pacific USA, and from one such hotbed, Salinas California, come ¿Qiensave?. Together with Chuck Prophet, the album WAKE THE DEAD was born. Rock ‘n’ roll in a new light. 

For touring purposes, his Cumbia Shoes are an hybrid outfit. Long standing Mission Express members James DePrato (electric guitar/lap steel) and Vicente Rodriguez (drums) are joined by core ¿Qiensave? players Mario Cortez (multiple rhythm instruments) and Alejandro Gomez (guitar/keys). Toss in bassist Joaquin Zamudio Garcia from Mexico City and you have an exciting combo ready to enact a pulsating performance. 

With a new band in tow, it was unsurprising for the near-entirety of the collaborative album to feature. Following the familiar chimes of ‘C'mon Everybody / Avientense Todos’ opening the set, the cut and thrust of WAKE THE DEAD took hold to intermingle with a handful of old fan favourites. A redeeming trait of the current incarnation is an irresistible urge to swing the hips and tap the feet. In other words, the maximum movement from your average Chuck Prophet fan. In an ideal world, you sense our favourite San Franciscan would love to view from the stage a multi-cultural throng buying into his music. Sometimes you just have to look after what you’ve got. 

The faithful were looked after very well. ‘Jesus Was a Social Drinker’, ‘Ford Econoline’ and ‘You Did (Bomp Shooby Dooby Bomp)’ represented the past with panache; ‘Wake the Dead’, ‘Sugar in the Water’ and ‘First Came the Thunder’ showed the present in fine fettle. The encore was a blast with the alt-country charm of ‘Time Ain’t Nothing’ thrilling real oldies,  and others, while the lot newer ‘Glad to be Alive’ said all that was needed in a few words; poignant on many fronts. Mid-set when the frenzied pace relented, the missing Stephanie Finch was serenaded 8,000 miles away with the glorious ‘One Lie for Me, One for You’. 

Chuck Prophet was in imperious form. Bursting with brashness though politically restrained bar a one off Musk-orange one rant, the guitar playing always electrifying. Most of all life was good, both onstage and off. It will always be rock ’n’ roll but nothing is off limits, least of all tapping into a roots sound perfectly embedded within an established identity. His Cumbia Shoes wooed Leicester. Chuck Prophet was just the arch performer many love.