Grupo Fantasma Tickets

About Grupo Fantasma

Grupo Fantasma is often branded as the best band in Austin. The young and enthusiastic band jams with some great ensemble and has sold over 20,000 albums by itself. The band is considered to be the best independent artists in Latin music. Among the major performances the band has played in its seven year career include the Austin City Limits Music Festival and the Montreal Jazz Fest as well as the Calgary Folk Festival. They have recorded one of their episodes of Austin City Limits on PBS. The band is performing persistently with over 150 shows a year.

Grupo Fantasma is considered to be a funkiest Latino orchestra that has emerged from the United States in recent years. The year 2007 turned out to be a busy year for the band and 2008 promises to be equally hectic. In London the group performed with Prince to a record crowd of 20,000 people in August of 2007. The band has also featured on Latino USA, Maide Valle Studio for BBC Radio and, the Fantasma horn section with such performances at different clubs and festivals along with indie-rock group the Spoon. The have also licensed their albums to different European countries for distribution and also for release on different international releases.

The backing that Grupo Fantasma received after its performance with Prince was a big success for the group. The relationship with Prince started with the Thursday night performances at 3121, which is the Las Vegas nightclub of Prince. The club used to be filled with people coming after the Golden Globes ceremony. The performance of Grupo Fantasma was mind-blowing. The band also performed for Prince to over 8,000 fans in Miami in Florida. The group also performed with Prince at such high venues like CBS Super Bowl Bash held in South Beach and many exclusive private parties that were held in their native land of Austin in Texas.

The band members of Grupo Fantasma are Jose Galeano and Kino Rodriguez in vocals and percussion, Beto Martinez and Adrian Quesada in guitar, Johnny Lopez in drums, Greg Gonzalez in bass, Josh Levy in baritone saxophone, Matthew Holmes in congas, Leo Gauna in trombone and Gilbert Elorreaga in trumpet. Currently, Grupo Fantasma is recording for a new studio album that the group plan to bring out in the late of this year. They would then go for its promotion by touring North America and Europe. To Jim Caliguiri, the music critic of Austin Chronicle, the audience reaction as seen in performances by Grupo Fantasma could be seen in the band Ramones. He feels the band has matured and adventurous with its different mixing styles that are unpredictable but groovy.

Albums Featured Homenaje by Brownout (2007, Freestyle Records) El Nino y El Sol by Ocote Soul Sounds and Adrian Quesada (2005, ESL Music) Mascaras by Sergent Garcia (2004 EMI France/Virgin Records) Uno, Dos, Banderas by Control Machete (2004 Universal)