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Last year’s two-day Los Lobos run at the Minnesota Zoo Amphitheater were, far and away, the top shows of Sue McLean’s Music in the Zoo series for 2010. Tin Can Trust had just come out and the band was itching to be on the road, knowing it was a solid release and having a growing, collective hunch that it was going to be a hit. My hopes for this year’s single show were lowered considerably when I learned it was a co-bill with Los Lonely Boys (just like in 2008). But, after all, half a Los Lobos show is better than no Los Lobos show at all.

Expectations were lowered a couple notches more when I learned that the band had been sick for most of the past month. That was evident in David Hildalgo’s road-weary and cold-ridden voice on the “Tin Can Trust” opener. Oh noes, this is going to be painful, I realized. They sounded like they had been ridden hard and put away wet. And they had—Los Lobos is one of the hardest working bands on the circuit.

Last night’s show was, unfortunately, a mirror image of last year’s second show. Where last year’s cover of the Grateful Dead’s “West LA Fadeaway” was a stumbled low-point in an otherwise spot-on performance, it was the highlight of this year’s uninspired show, as were the two cumbia tunes and a touching “Jupiter or the Moon.” And then there was Louie Prez’s “Saint Behind the Glass.” While a little rough around the edges—okay, more than a little—it alone was worth the drive to Apple Valley proving, once again, that even a lackluster Los Lobos show is going to be worth your time.

Los Lobos is known for unusual covers—especially Motown covers—and last night was no exception as David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, Cesar Rosas, Steve Berlin, and Conrad Lozano joined Los Lonely Boys on Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” and Steve Winwood’s “I’m a Man.”

Los Lonely Boys followed Los Lobos with a solid set of crowd-pleasers. While technically proficient, brothers Henry, JoJo, and Ringo Garza are a generation younger than Los Lobos and it shows in so many ways. Nonetheless, they’re incredibly talented, although I prefer to see them on their own. Where Los Lobos explores a variety of musical genres, Los Lonely Boys, it’s straight-ahead, guitar- and bass-driven rock. When paired with Los Lobos, it just leaves me wanting more Los Lobos.

Update: Thursday, 11 August 2011 1:37PM CDT: Here’s the setlist:

Tin Can Trust
Why Do You Do?
Yo Canto
Ooh! My Head
Jupiter Or The Moon
La Pistola y El Corazón
Saint Behind The Glass
Teresa
West LA Fadeaway
Chuco’s Cumbia
I Got Loaded (with Lovelight verse; with Henry Garza on guitar and Ringo Garza on drums)
Don’t Worry Baby (with Henry Garza on guitar and Ringo Garza on drums)
La Bamba (with Henry Garza on guitar and Ringo Garza on drums)
Good Lovin’ (with Henry Garza on guitar and Ringo Garza on drums)
La Bamba (with Henry Garza on guitar and Ringo Garza on drums)

Here’s looking forward to the acoustic show by David Hidalgo and Louie Perez at the Varsity on 18 November 2011.