Return of the Wanderer

Rock troubadour Manu Chao has become a citizen of the world by taking his music on the road and keeping it there. Yet his prolonged absence has only caused hearts in his native France to grow fonder. Nearly a decade after his last French concert, Chao returned to his ecstatic fans in Paris last month for a pair of wild shows, then promptly hit the road again for a four-month European tour backing his new CD, Proxima Estacion: Esperanza (Next Station: Hope).

Those electrified Parisian crowds aren't likely to begrudge the nomadic bent that drives 39-year-old Chao...