In a departure from the band’s usual protocol of road-testing new tunes before recording them, the album was written almost entirely in the studio. The unique album won widespread critical acclaim upon its release, but the band has never attempted to perform all 16 songs live – until now.

Los Lobos will debut the live version of Kiko when the band makes its annual appearance at The Fillmore in San Francisco December 16-17. Shows in Los Angeles, Anaheim and Las Vegas are also planned, all at House of Blues.

“When we finished Kiko, we rehearsed some of the new songs for the road, but we never thought about doing the whole album until we started planning our yearly holiday shows at The Fillmore,” the band’s Louie Perez said.

“We knew it would be hard work, but the fans have always said Kiko was special, so we’re doing it in part as a present to them.

“Playing live is different than recording,” Perez added. “We usually don’t play any song twice the same way, but this is going to be close to the original, with a few surprises thrown in.”

Prior to the Kiko performances, Los Lobos will appear at Mountain View, Calif.’s Bridge School Benefit October 29-30 as well as the Tequila Festival in Los Angeles in November.