Sunday, June 03, 2007

Gig Review: Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Woah! I mean, seriously, WOAH! Rodrigo Y Gabriela rawk.

That was one fucking heck of a gig (the swearing is a deliberate invocation of the luscious Gabriela's casual swearing: nothing less than adorable).

It was pretty much a spur of the moment gig attendance, having been suggested by our friend Pete when we attended the excellent John Shuttleworth gig at Lakeside on Bank Holiday Monday (I'll review that separately too!).

Anyway, lovely Pete organised the tickets and the evening was off to a fab start when we ran into another ex-Marconi pal of both Pete and Cloud. Fortuitous or what? I already knew that lovely Sarah was coming to the gig, as would be Mike, so it was looking to be a real get-together. As it turned out, I also got chance to meet the elusive Swiss Toni, whose brilliant review of the gig is a much better read than this one can hope to be (and has some fab YouTube links).

(Mike, a seasoned attendee of R&G gigs and fond interviewer of Rodrigo, was not unreasonably distraught at having to share them with far too many oikey dorks who seem to think that a gig is the place to pay money to come to in order to talk during the quieter performance sections. I thinking of enforcing gags for these gig-ruining prats as Mike's distress was heart-rending).

Anyway. Like Swiss Toni, this was our first visit to a R&G gig and boy did it have an impact! For two non-singing acoustic guitarists to wow a standing audience in such a way scarcely seemed plausible as an abstract thought. It drew one of the more diverse gig audiences I have seen in some time in terms of age. That R&G could invoke such breadth of musical styles and never stray from displaying their metal rock hearts on their sleeves was a beautiful thing to behold. (I can't recall the last time I saw so many RAWK hand gestures: it was a thrilling reminder of past musical indulgences). Even if Cloud was one of the few people there to NOT recognise the inimitable Floyd track "Wish You Were Here" - one of the few Floyd songs I like - despite pretty much the entire venue providing impromptu vocals for the track, he still recognised this was an unusual and glorious moment.

And Gabriela: sheesh! They're damn hot pair anyway, but that gal takes guitar work to another level. With cameras and screens displaying their handiwork up close, you could truly appreciate the sheer speed and enthrallinfg fingers across the strings.

A soul-pumping experience, despite the chatty twerps. An album to treasure, but definitely a live show to be swooned over.

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