Carnival of Soul

Mexican rock band Maná is making history by playing a seventh show at the Forum in a single year — the first time any music group has done so at the venue since it reopened in 2014.

Fans snatched up tickets for the band’s “Rayando el Sol” tour, which began in Laredo, TX on Aug. 31. The first seven dates for the tour, titled after the critically acclaimed 1990 single that helped make Maná the most successful Latin rock band in the world, were sold out by mid-September. In response to the demand, the artists booked more dates for the tour, including a seventh performance at the Forum.

“It’s a moment where people are really just celebrating our career,” said Alex González, drummer for the four-member group. “It’s overwhelming, you know. We’re still in shock, but a lot of this, also, is thanks to the fans.”

Maná gave the first three of their Forum performances this year on Sept. 20-22 and will return to Los Angeles for three shows in November. They will close out their 35-show tour with a historic Forum appearance on Dec. 7, beating the six-night records held by Kayne West and The Eagles.

The band’s other acheivements include receiving a Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award from Blllboard and being the first group to be honored as the Person of the Year in the Latin Grammys.

Los Angeles has been something of a second home to Maná, serving as the city where they launched their United States debut.

“We’ve realized that it’s a huge community here, a Latin community … Los Angeles [has] many cultures and we sometimes think that we are dreaming, because we started from a very low part of our career,” said Fher Olvera, lead singer.

The band’s tour will take them across the country, including to New York, Florida and El Paso, Texas, where a gunman killed 22 people in August. Prosecutors on the case have argued that he authored a document saying that the attack was in response to a “Hispanic invasion.”

“What’s happened in El Paso, Texas… was terrible,” Olvera said. “We don’t accept that violence. So, we’re trying to tell people, ‘Peace and love.’ We love each other — we have to love to each other. That’s what Maná talks [about] in all our songs.”

Maná also has not shied away from political activism. Their visit to Los Angeles gave them the opportunity to see the city’s homelessness crisis, which they say is different here compared to other cities they have performed in.

“I think we have to figure out a way to help these people and get them back into society and not forget about them,” González said. “Because at the end of the day, they could be your brother, sister, uncle, a friend, and they’re just not a piece of trash on the street.”

The band leaves California at the end of the month to continue its “Rayando el Sor” tour in the rest of the U.S. They will return to the Forum on Nov. 22-24.