Review: Julio Iglesias, Jr. Makes His Café Carlyle Debut with TIMELESS

The room quieted on Tuesday October 1, 2024 as the crowd waited in anticipation for Julio Iglesias, Jr. to take the stage. Musicians Camilo Velandia (electric and acoustic guitar), Adrian Gines (percussion), and Esteban Alberti (piano and saxophone) played the opening instrumentals for “Easy Like Sunday Morning,” until Iglesias entered the room singing, winding his way up to the small stage. Iglesias hit it out of the park from the get-go with his strong vocals and uplifting spirit. He introduced the show, saying how glad he was to be at the Café Carlyle, which is full of personal history for him – his own father performed there. Iglesias will be there all week, with shows continuing nightly through Saturday October 5, all at 8:45 pm. (Tickets are available on the Carlyle’s website.)

If you enjoy classic pop of the 70s and 80s with a Latin twist, this show is for you. The evening features some of his favorite songs that he heard growing up, plus some of his father’s own songs, including the classic “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” Iglesias has a natural warmth, charisma and flair for showmanship, making good use of the small Café Carlyle stage and intimacy of the space – crouching down until he was eye-level with a table in the front; at one point, he left the stage entirely and plopped down next to a woman at a table in the front row, singing directly to her.

The entire concert was completely smooth, organic, mesmerizing. Iglesias has the type of infectious smile that can light up a room, and light up the room he did. Heads in the crowd were bopping along to his energetic performances. On some of the more popular songs, he flashed his signature smile and urged the crowd to sing along: “Come on. I know you know the lyrics to this one.”

The internationally famed singer is multilingual and switched into Spanish several times throughout the night (although the show was mostly in English). However, his face and body language are expressive enough that no matter what language he’s singing in, you can still understand the meaning behind the words. I don’t want to spoil the specifics of the concert – if you didn’t already snag tickets to it, you really should go see it – but the evening left the kind of warm glow that lets you park your troubles at the door and meld into the happy air of nostalgia, aided by the Café Carlyle’s grandeur. You can really feel the history of the room come alive during the show, watching Iglesias perform where his father once stood. During the concert, or before, you can enjoy the Carlyle’s sumptuous full dinner and dessert menu, the perfect complement to elevate the concert into an extra-special night.

Towards the end of the concert, Iglesias explained that his band had made some incredible accommodations to fit into the small, intimate Carlyle space. His music director Camilo Velandia doubling on acoustic and electric guitar; his normal saxophone player, Esteban Alberti, did double duty on the piano; and Adrian Gines whittled his drum set down to just “a box” – a bongo-like drum that he perched on all night – “and the ringy-ringy” (a set of chimes and cymbals). The entire band was in sync with each other, and with Iglesias. They’ve been traveling the world together for a long time performing, and it shows.

Iglesias closed out the night with a soulful cover of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” putting his all into the performance and making his essence felt throughout the entire room; a wonderful end to a wonderful evening.

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Tickets to see Julio Iglesias, Jr. on the remaining shows from tonight through Saturday October 5 are available on the Carlyle’s website.

Learn more about Julio Iglesias, Jr. on his website.

Photo credit for all images, including header: David Andrako

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