Corpus Christi - Ill Nino took to the stage at House of Rock for what was a special show on their tour celebrating the 20 year anniversary of their album "Confession."
This show had a special feel to it as vocalist Marcos Leal is native to Corpus Christi and as anyone can imagine. it is indeed special when a hometown hero comes through town. Fans of all ages, friends, and family gathered in the downtown venue to see what was to be a set filled with energy, and camaraderie.
Fans from surrounding areas such as Alice, Kingsville, Bishop and Robstown made the journey to attend the show. Staying to the end and evening hanging around to meet the band members there didn't seem to be a dissatisfied fan in the house.
While on stage Leal told the crowd how he recalled playing his first show on the small stage of this very venue, and is now on the main stage. That journey seems well earned as the crowd showed their support for the band in every song.
Ill Nino was formed by drummer Dave Chavarri in Union City, New Jersey in 1998 and currently Chavarri is the sole original member of the group. After 20 years of playing and touring, Chavarri still has his chops as mid show the percussionist treated the audience to a clinic of what a seasoned drummer can do.
Confessions was released in 2003 and at the time was Ill Ninos most successful album
debuting at 37 on Billboards Top 200 list. Recently the band released an official video for the albums track "Numb" on YouTube with Leal on lead vocals.
Prior to Ill Nino Leal was a member of Shattered Sun and served as the bands vocalist on their album "Hope Within Hatred." That fact in and of itself made the nights performance a bit special for this reporter.
Back in 2015 while reporting for the Record Star and Alice Echo Newspapers, we were given a press release about Shattered Suns upcoming album as well as their signing with Victory Records. With that we interviewed the band about the event, now eight years later we found ourselves covering Leal again with Ill Nino.
We did confirm an interview with Leal, unforeseen time constraints prevented this from happening. This however, did not mar the bands performance or take anything away from the enjoyment of the fans.
One Bishop resident. Homer Ramirez, told us "Ill Nino sure knows how to get the crowd involved and create pure chaos." It was pretty clear from our observance of the audience that many if not all would agree with Ramirez.
In addition, Ramirez brought along his father who had never seen the band perform. "My dad really enjoyed the show" Ramirez told us.
Though the band only has a few shows left on this tour, we highly recommend getting a ticket if you enjoy Heavy Metal as Ill Nino will give you your moneys worth.
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