Rodrigo y Gabriela FINALLY perform in Florida! The former thrash metal guitarists, who now exclusively play acoustic guitars, were scheduled to perform at the 2007 Langerado Music Festival, but they were forced to cancel due to a Homeland Security issue that was no fault of their own. Another show in Miami at Studio A in late 2007 was also canceled.This time, they made it, just days after the news that their self-titled CD had reached sales of 500,000 copies world-wide. They’ve come a long way since breaking up their metal band in Mexico just before signing a recording deal. The duo moved to Ireland, then Denmark, then Spain, and is now becoming worldwide stars. In August of 2006, they performed at Joe’s Pub in New York and hardly anyone in the U.S. had ever heard of Rodrigo y Gabriela. By that time, though, they had already performed in Australia and all over Europe. They’ve spent the summer of 2008 by performing at festivals in the U.S., Canada, and even Japan. The plan is now to start recording a new album in September. Luckily, they decided to finally make their way down to the SunshineState with a gig at the Fillmore at Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach, FL.
The music of Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero is influenced by classic rock, metal, classical, flamenco, jazz, and many other styles. Rodrigo switches from soulful melodic guitar lines to a shredding run that would make Kirk Hammett proud. Gabriela, meanwhile, provides what sounds like a full rhythm section all by herself. She’s a gifted guitarist in her own right, but it is the percussive onslaught that she unleashes on the body of her acoustic guitar that blows the minds of any audience. If you’re not looking, you’re enjoying what sounds like maybe a drummer and a conga or bongo player (or both). If you are looking, however, you’re in amazement as you watch this unassuming young lady’s right hand flailing away in a manner that may look erratic at first glance. As you focus your eyes, however, you’ll begin to appreciate the precision in her attack and then before you knew what hit you, the song ends in a power chord and her right hand goes straight up into the air displaying the “metal horn” hand gesture. If that’s not sexy, then what is?
Rodrigo y Gabriela’s set at Miami Beach’s Fillmore Wednesday night included tracks from their self-titled release, along with covers of songs by Metallica, Led Zeppelin and a rare treat – Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here," which was played after a member of the audience (OK, me) requested it out loud. I heard them perform it at Bonnaroo 2007 and the crowd sang along to their instrumental version and it was one of the greatest musical moments I’ve witnessed in four of the Bonnaroo festivals that I’ve attended. The crowd also sang along in Miami, but a Wednesday night Miami crowd of a couple thousand isn’t quite the same as 10,000 festival-goers at two in the morning on the opening night of Bonnaroo. It was still better than whatever you were doing Wednesday night though. I guarantee you that. You can only imagine what it sounded like. Below you can see what it looked like.
