American-Colombian psychedelic pop band Divino Niño performed outdoors at Urbana’s Rose Bowl Tavern Friday night for the second day of the 2023 Pygmalion festival.
The Chicago-based band, originally formed in 2013, brought their dreamy vibe to the Champaign-Urbana music community at 10 p.m. for an hour-long set.
The nice weather and Divino Niño’s groovy sound most likely helped to bring a diverse and sizable crowd to the venue.
The band consists of childhood friends Camilo Medina and Javier Forero — who play guitar and bass respectively — and both contribute to the group’s vocals. Guillermo Rodriguez-Torres serves as a guitarist and vocalist as well, and Pierce Codina plays drums. Justin Vittori, who joined the group later in 2020, is an instrumentalist.
The first half of Divino Niño’s set consisted of songs from their 2019 album “Foam.” The crowd jammed out to “Quiero,” “Coca Cola” and “Melty Caramelo.”
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The group sang in Spanish and English, with some songs sticking to one language and others seamlessly blending the two.
The band kept up a nearly constant flow of music, barely breaking between songs and keeping a steady rhythm of genre-defying tunes. Elements of pop, rock, funk and rap were present in Divino Niño’s smooth performance.
Medina used the few times the band took brief pauses between songs to thank the crowd.
“You guys are such a vibey audience,” Medina said. “Thank you for being so cool.”
Medina took the lead vocals for most of the band’s songs, with Forero coming in to take over on some tunes, such as the group’s 2019 hit “Cosmic Flower.”
The colorfully lit stage added to the psychedelic vibe of the set, which was helped along by audio effects placed on the band’s sound by Vittori.
For the second half of the performance, the band played songs — “Drive,” “Especial” and “Ecstasy” — from their newest album “Last Spa on Earth,” released in 2022.
Divino Niño got the crowd especially energized during their performance of “Miami,” when Medina climbed onto the barrier at the front of the stage while singing.
The set wrapped up with “Mona,” another song from “Last Spa on Earth,” with a huge change in energy in the middle of the track. Medina rapped the bridge of the song energetically to cheers and clapping from the crowd.
Divino Niño exited the stage to a hugely positive response from their audience, who cheered in Spanish for one more song. However, the group left the rest of the night.
Groups Kangaroo Court and Thelma and the Sleaze to take over Rose Bowl Tavern’s indoor stage.
Divino Niño’s Pygmalion performance was one stop on their current tour of the United States, which will continue through October. Information on their upcoming performances and links to tickets can be found here.
