For the hardcore Cafe Tacuba fans out there, here is the uncut material from the 15-minute interview that I did with two of the band members – Emmanuel “Meme” del Real Díaz and Enrique ‘Quique’ Rangel Arroyo – last Saturday night, just before they played a sold-out gig to more than 55,000 fans.

Both of them were pretty nervous because it was a big gig in their home town, but they said some really interesting things about Mexico City and their international appeal. Ultimately, they still see themselves as chilangos singing about chilangolandia.

This and more footage went into the final cut I made for the Los Angeles Times, which also includes footage from the concert, and that you can see here on La Plaza or pasted below.

– Deborah Bonello, MexicoReporter.com

This is probably the least exciting location from which I have filed a dispatch. My sofa, in my third-floor apartment, my snowball-like foot propped up on a couple of cushions as I look out onto the cloudy Mexico City panorama this morning.

What happened? Well, it’s all Cafe Tacuba’s fault really.

I interviewed two of the members – “Meme” and “Quique” – of one of Mexico’s most successful rock bands early Saturday evening at the Foro Sol, one of the city’s biggest venues with a capacity of 55,000.

Emmanuel “Meme” del Real Díaz and Enrique ‘Quique’ Rangel Arroyo were both really nervous, as they were about to step out in front of their massive home town audience for a marathon four hour set.

Anyway, it’s always a buzz interviewing creative and passionate people, so I was set for the gig which started at 8 pm. The atmosphere was intoxicating, and not just because of the beers and the mixers being sold by waiters passing continuously through the crowds.

Cafe Tacuba are from Mexico City and – as is evident from the sold-out show – loved by Mexico City. They still live here and that in part contributes to the “chilango-ness” of their sound. But more to come of that later in a interview with the band, which I’m still editing.

The band came on at around 8:30 pm to chants of “pa pa pa pa weyeweyooooo”, which is from the song “el baile y el salon” (hear it here). The energy that they put into the show was incredible, with vocalist Rubén Isaac Albarrán Ortega, who currently goes by the name of “Ixaya Mazatzin Tleyotl” (he changes his name for every album) wheeling around like a spinning top, his long curly hair spinning out around him like a skirt. And when he wasn’t spinning he was jumping, or running, or dancing.

Standing in a crowd of 55,000 bouncing Chilangos (what they call “Londoners” or “Angelinos” here in Mexico City – the city natives) is no small thing, and the song “Chilangabanda” (“banda” means gang) had special meaning.

Which explains why I was hopping and skipping my way to the toilets. I was elated. Too elated. My ankle gave way, and I fell to my knees. Even after a few beers, the pain was excruciating.

Which brings me back to why I am filing this dispatch from my sofa.

Pinche Cafe Tacuba.