Grupo Frontera @ MGM Music Hall 8/31

Photography and review by Brianna Benítez

With only a quick stroll past Boston’s Fenway Park, on the evening of Aug. 31, you could quickly sense that the night was still young for many people. Groups of middle-aged women walk past the bars in Western attire, vendors hustle to sell sombreros and $1 T-shirts around the stadium, and, as you approach MGM Music Hall, you come across the huge sign that reads “Triste Pero Bien C*brón Tour,” announcing the arrival of the American regional Mexican band, Grupo Frontera.

Formed in Edinburg, Texas, seven years ago, Grupo Frontera has gone from small performances at weddings to filling 5,000-capacity venues in Boston and many others during their current North American tour. The band has proved the effectiveness of social media as a tool for reaching large audiences with music, or, more specifically, with a cover in Grupo Frontera’s case. Their cover of Morat’s “No Se Va” blew up around 2022, and what was to follow has been history.

People continued swarming into the building an hour after the doors had opened. Shortly after the band concluded their fan meet-and-greet at exactly 8:30 p.m., the venue’s golden lights dimmed and flashed brighter than before, now flooding onto the main floor. Because the light hitting the crowd was at extreme brightness and the stage fog was as thick as it could get, you could barely make out the band slowly coming onto the stage. Regardless, the room naturally grew rowdy as the band got into place with their respective instruments.

Grupo Frontera set the tone of the start of the show with “La Del Proceso” from their “Y Lo Que Viene” EP released in 2025. The band has introduced an addictive fusion of the cumbia and norteña genres to the mainstream, two types of music originating from Latin America that you just can’t resist to dance and menear to, which in Spanish means to shake your hips. Their collaboration with other artists such as Bad Bunny and Manuel Turizo has enabled them to expand the versatility of their sound. However, they’ve also stuck with their norteño roots and collaborated with Fuerza Regida and Tito Double P, some of the pioneers of the current corrido scene.

In between songs, the band’s humor and bond became the spotlight. Before being Grupo Frontera’s conga player, Julián Peña was the designated hype man for both bands. Jokingly, Peña questions if his band should continue performing after only a few songs: “Pero la gente de Boston teine que bailar.” Adelaido “Payo” Solis III, their lead vocalist, defends the crowd: “¡Pero te digo que si van a bailar!” The crowd cheers affirmatively, and the band gets right into their following performance. They played hit songs such as “un x100to,” “ME JALO,” and “Hecha Pa’ Mi,” the latter certainly having been a fan favorite during the show. Apart from the striking romantic visuals played across the large screen behind the band, the two side screens that interchanged between different members of the live band onstage brought their instruments to my attention. Juan Javier Cantú, their accordionist, played on a beautiful emerald Dino Baffetti with “FRONTERA” in capitalized lettering across the front. The congas Peña used shimmered in silver, also making it impossible for me to take my eyes off them as he played them throughout the night. Having been born and raised in a community made up of mostly Hispanic people, Grupo Frontera’s concert in Boston reminded me of my pride in my Mexican heritage. The sombreros, the Mexican flags raised in the crowd, and simply having the ability to dance with everyone in the venue attested to my luck in being able to call this my culture, as I’m sure many people felt similarly. There’s no doubt that Grupo Frontera knows how to make people menear and have an unforgettable night no matter where they perform.