Supergroup Astropical dazzled a sold-out, standing-room-only crowd at SummerStage’s Rumsey Playfield on Sunday, June 1st. The band brought a new wave of Venezuelan-Colombian fusion that kept the audience dancing all night long.
The Supergroup, made up of Bomba Estéreo’s Li Saumet (Vocals) and José Castillo (Keyboard, Guitar), in addition to Rawayana’s Beto Montenegro (Vocals) and Andrés ‘Fofo’ Story (Drums, multi-instrumentalist), was formed in 2024 when Saumet tracked down Montenegro’s number and sent him a demo.
Astropical builds off each band’s massive success, creating a new mix of Venezuelan-Colombian, or Colombian-Venezuelan, music and plays off the real and sometimes violent rivalry between the two nations.
Astropical hit SummerStage as part of the tour for its self-titled debut album. Released in March, the album Astropical tries to address the world’s increasing division and the loss of interpersonal relationships in favor of digital ones. The band’s mixing of smooth lyrics with hard-hitting rap, cumbia, psychedelic rock, and Afro-Latin beats hopes to show how much Venezuela and Colombia have in common and use music to “heal from a place of love.”
On Saturday, June 1st, the sold-out crowd at SummerStage was ready for Astropical, bursting into applause as soon as Saumet and Castillo appeared on stage. From the jump, the concert celebrated the band’s new album and the mixing of Venezuelan and Colombian cultures. At one point in the night, both singers wore the other’s flag, and their song “Me Pasa (Piscis)” – which they performed – nods at the fight between Venezuela and Colombia over who invented the arepa.
Astropical brought the album’s focus on interpersonal relationships to their live show. Encouraging the audience to forgo social media for in-person dancing, and at one point, asking in Spanish, “For one song, put your phones away, and we’ll live in the present… for just one song.”
While the supergroup is new, front people Li Saumet and José Castillo know how to put on a show. The stage blazed in dozens of colors, and the haze of smoke machines on full blast created a surround sound audio and visual experience for the crowd. The artists talked directly with the audience, even switching into English (Spanish is both artists’ native language), saying, “We’re international artists, we’ll speak a little in English.” The band even started the show with a fully produced video, and had giant inflatable alien-esque coral on stage to ensure the vibe was just right. The crowd didn’t ignore this attention to detail, responding by dancing through the night – despite the lack of space – and screaming lyrics to their favorite (okay every) song.
Astropical’s tour continues in the U.S. in August and September. If you can still get tickets for this amazing stage show, you should.
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