Rubén Blades at the Roundhouse

A heatwave on the streets of Camden, tipping over 30 degrees. Inside the Roundhouse, the relief of air-conditioning. Until Rubén Blades took the stage, at which point the temperature soared even higher as a packed crowd welcomed the great singer, actor and sometime politician.

They cheered the opening strains of “Plasticó”, from Siembre, his 1978 collaboration with Willie Colón which became the biggest selling salsa album in history, a preface to a career which has brought Blades a dozen Grammys and countless other awards, and they never let up through a 20-song set in which every member of the audience appeared to be word-perfect.

As Blades observed during one of his between-songs monologues, no one is a success without the help of others, and the 20-piece band was sensational. Based in Panama City, where Blades himself was born 77 years ago to a Cuban mother and a Colombian father, and led by Roberto Delgado, the bass guitarist and arranger, they offered a widescreen version of every Latin orquesta you’ve ever dreamed of hearing. Piano and keyboards to the left, bass guitar and kit drummer to the right, three percussionists — bongos, timbales and congas — lined up in front of a stretched-out wall of horns: five saxophones (two altos, two tenors, baritone), four trombones, four trumpets. A majestic, magnificent noise, full of blare and clatter, overflowing with virtuosity, a giant expression of the clave rhythm come to life, with all the trimmings.

In his black suit, shirt and hat, Blades presented himself as one of the black-clad band, frequently retreating to add maracas to the percussion section during trumpet or piano solos, stepping forward again to swap vocal phrases in the long montuno sections with his coro, formed of the reed section and others. He was in wonderful voice, too. I found it impossible not to be reminded of the enduring vigour of Bruce Springsteen, and of a similarity in the way the two singers conduct their relationships with their musicians and their audiences.

Blades paid tribute to figures from his early career, including Colón (who played a farewell gig on the same stage almost 20 years ago), the flautist and bandleader Johnny Pacheco, the singer and percussionist Pete “El Conde” Rdoriguez, with whom he made his first recording in 1969, and Hector Lavoe, who made his song “El Cantante” a huge Latin hit in 1978. The only false note came with a very off-the-peg big band arrangement of Michel Legrand’s “Watch What Happens”, from the 2021 album Salswing!. Since he was in London, Blades observed, he felt he had to sing a song in English; honestly, there was no need.

But it was mostly a blazing set, two and a quarter hours long, its highlights including the song — “Emigrantes”, I think — in which he gave a shout-out to Central and South American nations, to be rewarded with loud cheers and waving of the appropriate flags. And around the fringes, on the floor and even in the balcony, couples danced together with that special Latin fluency and grace, lost in their own bliss.