Grupo Frontera Returns to DFW All Grown Up

Ten months after performing at a jammed-packed Dickies Arena in Fort Worth for the El Comienzo tour, música Mexicana band Grupo Frontera returned to North Texas on Friday night.

American Airlines Center was overflowing with 956 pride as the Rio Grande Valley sextet made the fourth stop in their Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada tour. This time, the band is all grown up.

Grupo Frontera shot to stardom at lightning speed. Formed in 2022, the six-member group spent the heels of the pandemic performing covers of Latin pop superstar Juanes and Colombian pop and folk band Morat at South Texas valley quinceañeras and tire shop openings.

In those early days, percussionist, animator and hype man Julian Peña Jr.; vocalist and accordionist Juan Javier Cantu; bassist Carlos Zamora; bajo quinto player Alberto Acosta; drummer Carlos Guerrero; and frontman Adelaido Solís couldn't have imagined that was in store.

A TikTok cover of “No Se Va” by Morat catapulted the group to fame. Soon, Grupo Frontera was selling out shows, including a Sept. 23, 2022, stop at El Corral West Nightclub in Fort Worth.

“That was where we started and it was our first exciting show,” Peña Jr. said in Spanish to the crowd Friday. “It was the first time Grupo Frontera came and did our first sold-out.”

The accolades came quickly. The highly sought-after band has collaborated with a roster of Regional Mexican stars including Peso Pluma, Carin León, Fuerza Regida and Luis R. Conriquez.

“Un x100to,” the band's collaboration with Bad Bunny, broke records and won a 2023 Latin Grammy for best Regional Mexican song.

Grupo Frontera kicked off the 38-stop Jugando A No Pasa Nada tour on Aug. 2 in Las Vegas. Titled for their self-released sophomore album, the tour showcases the band’s growth into fame. Everything from set design to setlist served as proof the men have grown from starry-eyed virality to global phenomena.

Hailing from the valley, close to the U.S.-Mexico border, Grupo Frontera exemplify the first- and second-generation U.S. Latino experience. Their music is genre-fluid, blending Tejano, cumbia and norteño. Their sophomore album, Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada, introduces influences of R&B, country and bachata. The band’s sonic hybrid is loved by fans of all ages, as evidenced by Friday night's passionate crowd.

Two truck beds, tributes to the group’s debut album cover, sat on stairs in front of digital backdrops that displayed varying desert-themed images throughout the show. El Comienzo tour was a smaller-scale production sans the truck beds.
The show kicked off with a video skit introducing the band. Soon after, the band wasted no time going straight into their latest album with “F*ckin Amor,” a gritty ballad about a tumultuous relationship, followed by a genre switch into Tejano with “Di Que Sí,” the band’s chart-topping collab with Grupo Marca Registrada.

Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada, the album, is a full circle moment for the American Regional Mexican band. The album's “Los Dos” is a Latin pop song featuring Morat. Solís, known by the nickname “Payo,” sang his heart out wearing a stylish denim vest, black cowboy hat and edgy pants chain.

The vocalist didn’t spare an opportunity to throw up hand hearts at ecstatic fans. Last year at Dickies Arena, the naturally shy Solís was ever so flirtatious, but an underlying timidness peeked through the frontman’s performance. Peña Jr.’s charisma would inject the vocalist with bursts of confidence. This year, Solís was a showman dancing and singing with the stage presence of a veteran superstar. And Peña Jr. knew exactly what to say to get the crowd on their feet.

“Today we’re playing because nothing will happen,” Peña Jr. said in Spanish. “If you came to sing, sing. If you came to dance, dance. If you came to drink, drink.”

Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada tour shows off the hard work the group put into their discography. The onset of fresh songs reminded the crowd that the sextet is no one-hit wonder, but is here to stay.

“Nunca La Olvidé,” “ALV,” “Quédate Bebé” and “De Lunes a Lunes” had the audience belting out heartbreaking lyrics.

“Here, much closer to home, the love is felt much stronger,” Solís said in Spanish to the crowd.

El Comienzo tour’s setlist was filled with their chart-topping songs that made the band a household name. There were Selena covers and a Ramón Ayala tribute.

After a long chug of Buchanan’s by Peña Jr., plastic cups filled with neon green margaritas, beer and spirits shot straight into the air as the sounds of the accordion began to blast. The band paid homage to the king of the accordion by singing Ayala’s “Tragos Amargo.”

Rumors of a Grupo Frontera Transformers collaboration have circulated on social media. Although nothing has been confirmed, the ample videos featuring the franchise’s protagonist Bumblebee, tour merch and the tour’s intermission video (a Transformers-inspired cartoon) continue to fuel speculation.

After the video, Guerrero had his moment to shine on the drums. Lights dimmed, leaving one spotlight on the drummer.

“Desquite,” Grupo Frontera’s collaboration with Argentine rapper Nicki Nicole, got people dancing. American Airlines Center’s floor transformed into a club as concertgoers danced to the clubby track inspired by Mexican pop DJ group 3BallMTY.

Whoever said Tejano was dead has not been to a Grupo Frontera concert. No one sat for the band’s cover of Bobby Pulido’s “Desvelado.” Nor did they sit for the band’s globally recognized hits including “No Se Va,” “Bebé Dame,” “Frágil,” or their latest release “Ángel,” a bachata song with Romeo Santos.

Grupo Frontera’s maturity is apparent. The band’s fame is well-fitting as they began to transform música Mexicana into a genre that is representative of both younger and older Latinos. Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada is a fresh take rooted in tradition. If the band’s astronomical growth from last year to this is any indication, we haven’t seen anything yet. Groupo Frontera is merely breaking ground.