YouTube Theater – December 20, 2025
Yes, I realize War was the headliner, but the whole show sounded like it would be great. How can you go wrong with Pancho Sanchez or Tower of Power? Plus it was at YouTube Theater which is a great venue and the tickets were under $40. I decided to purchase parking, and with fees it turned out to be slightly more expensive than the ticket. We parked in the Hyundai Blue lot, which from my house was an easy drive down Arbor Vitae. I had read somewhere that we should enter from Hardy, but the Maps sent me straight through Prairie for a right turn on District Drive. As it turned out, they had the lot coned off so I had to make a u-turn to enter, but there wasn’t much traffic, so that was still pretty easy. Entry was also very easy, but once we were inside and looking for our seats, an usher told us we had been “upgraded” and needed to visit customer service. Sound familiar? I guess they didn’t sell enough tickets for this concert either. We ended up about halfway down section 105. Not the best seats, but at least this time, they were better than what I’d purchased. Plus, Poncho Sanchez had already started by the time we got there and the extra time it took to get our “upgraded” tickets and then walk from one end of the theater to the other (twice) to get to our seats caused us to miss half of his set. Sigh. I was very annoyed. Julie reminded me that it wasn’t the customer service person’s fault.
Poncho Sanchez was fantastic. The whole band was super tight. If you get a chance to see them – do it! They play like a band that’s been playing together for a long, long time (which I’m sure they have). They were just super entertaining. Poncho mentioned that he doesn’t like traveling any more and a quick perusal of his website confirms this. He has dates in Santa Barbara, San Diego and Seal Beach. Hmm. I wonder if I can convince someone to go to the Seal Beach gig with me. It was interesting to note how many people left after Poncho finished.
During load out/load in, DJ Muggs kept us entertained. He was playing dance music after Poncho Sanchez left the stage and had quite a groove going. Once they had everything set up, they wheeled off his set-up and Tower of Power took the stage. There are some original members still with the band along with some replacements who have clearly been playing with the band for a loooong time but the standout was the singer, Jordan John. Oh my stars that man could sing! He really knew how to work the crowd too. He had people on their feet. They played all the songs I was hoping for – Soul With A Capital S, You’re Still A Young Man, Soul Vaccination…it was just a great show. Once they’d left the stage, Julie turned to me and said, “That guy learned to sing in church!”
During the next load out/load in DJ Muggs changed the tone. I didn’t realize War was a stoner band until DJ Muggs started encouraging everyone to spark up just before launching into Cypress Hill. Once he’d gotten everyone good and toasty, he left the stage and War came out. I know like 3 War songs and they played them all (Lowrider was of course the encore). Turns out I know a 4th song too – Spill The Wine. The crowd knew all of the songs though. They were singing along and dancing along and everyone had a great time. I would not have wanted to follow Tower of Power if I were them, but they totally held their own. We walked out of YouTube theater at the end of the night happy. All the way home we just kept talking abut what a great show it was – all three bands were wonderful.
It was super easy to get out of the parking lot too. If you are trying to head west from YouTube Theater, it’s super easy to do from that lot. And let’s face it, if you’re going to pay that much for parking it better be easy to get in and out.