Chinatown Summer Nights: Francisca Valenzuela, The Americans and Zealyn

It was the last Chinatown Summer Nights of 2017. I've always done a hit and run at Chinatown Summer Nights. By that I mean I don't stick around for all the bands. I catch 3 or 4 bands and then leave. I suppose that isn't necessarily a hit and run as catching 3 or 4 bands is sticking around for around 4 hours. Anyways, forget the technicalities, the issue is that I always try to catch the bands that I believe I'll enjoy the most.

This time around, I knew I wanted to catch Zealyn so everything revolved around her. Taking a look at the line-up, I noticed that at 6 p.m. there was someone named Francisca Valenzuela. I took a look and I noticed that she had a large number of both Instagram and Facebook followers. I was like, why is she playing at Chinatown Summer Nights? I took a deeper look and saw that she is from Chile. Well, I used to love this music festival called Culture Collide, which brought musicians into Los Angeles from around the world. So I decided I just had to see her and see what a large number of Chileans loved about this artist. So yeah, I don't speak any Spanish what so ever and all her songs were in Spanish, but mercy me it was inspiring watching her on stage. For 30 minutes, I didn't realize that it was like 105 °F. And for 30 minutes, I did realize that I had a silly grin on my face that lasted well past the end of her set.

The Americans came up next for me. I first saw this band at Villains Tavern a few years back. I just remember that night heading out to this tavern that was on the outer edges of the Art District (or maybe it isn't even in the Art District) and thinking, "This out in the middle of no where tavern is showcasing this really awesome band." It was awesome to catch this band again with their Americana sound. And one of the best things in the music world is seeing a stand-up bass on stage, right?

Zealyn ended the night for me. I've said it before, but this woman has some power vocals. This was my fourth time seeing her. I love her vocals and I love her sound, but what I was keying on was catching a solid photo. I first saw her at Broke LA. I got some decent photos, but I had to take my ISO up to 8000, which isn't ideal. At other venues, I realized that shooting at shutter speed 320 was too slow for some of her moves. Well, at Chinatown Summer Nights I took the shutter speed up to 400 and guess what, still wasn't fast enough. Mercy. Anyways, not only does she have great vocals, but she also has a very friendly personality. She's going on a tour across the US. Folks should catch her tour.