Los Lobos

Learned listeners often say that Los Lobos has all the attributes of a great bar band, so perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise to find the group booked into a local casino's watering hole. And although such rooms are usually perceived as the purview of oldies acts and others similarly removed from the commercial mainstream -- and not as places you'd see one of the most critically acclaimed American bands of the last quarter-century -- the idea of Los Lobos at Harrah's makes a weird kind of sense, because the band's career has been full of unexpected turns.

Los Lobos: Translated, it means "the Lobos."

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More About

• Los Lobos
• Ritchie Valens
• Cesar Rojas

From its beginnings crossing over from playing at Mexican weddings to LA punk clubs, to its fluke-hit cover of "La Bamba" from the Ritchie Valens biopic, to its most recent series of challenging-yet-satisfying albums combining roots sensibilities with high-tech instruments and recording methods, Los Lobos has never done the obvious thing.

The band's sound is hard to pigeonhole -- a blend of blues, rock, soul, folk and Latino influences that mutates freely from album to album and even from track to track. And in an age of video-friendly performers, these are defiantly ordinary-looking men, a bunch of middle-aged guys who dress more like blue-collar Joes out for an after-work beer than pop stars (though guitarist-vocalist Cesar Rojas can rock a pair of shades with the best of them).

However, given that the group still has a major-label contract, serious clout with critics and a considerable fan base, one would assume that Los Lobos' interest in performing in a small, intimate venue stems from a desire to get back to barroom basics rather than from economic necessity. Regardless of the reason, this is a rare chance to see a legendary band still at the height of its powers, up close and personal.

Show at 9 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance, $28 at the door; call Ticketmaster at 314-421-4400.