Live Review

Rodrigo Y Gabriela – O2 Academy, Liverpool

• 5th Jul 2010

With such a rich and diverse set of influences as they have, the support for Rodrigo y Gabriela at tonight’s academy show is rife for speculation. A solo Spanish guitar maestro? -possibly. A thrash metal band? Unlikely-but still beautifully considered.

It’s a masterstroke therefore when the words ‘Wallis Bird’ are spotted on the two guitar cases open on stage, written on a piece of paper on the lid. The Irish singer/songwriter is the epitome of a warmly received act, instantly ingratiating herself with the audience with self-deprecating humour “You all must think I’m an idiot”, and a staggering ability to literally thrash the emotion out of the guitar, a moment highlighted when a string is broken and another handed to her, as though this is a usual occurrence for every show.

It’s a soulful acoustic roll in the hay with ‘Measuring cities’ breaking through and reducing the audience to silence, as they wait for every line Wallis sings-much to her surprise “You are all listening then”. We are, and you should too.

The Academy is heaving when Rodrigo y Gabriela are welcomed on to the stage; the crowd breaks into clapping the rhythm instantaneously with ‘Hanuman’s blissfully simple melody, the sheer joy at just playing etched across both Rodrigo and Gabriela’s faces. Barely time to catch breath, much less applaud and ‘Diablo rojo’ has the crowd at fever pitch, a place they will spend the rest of tonight’s concert.

Considering the staggering technical ability of both musician’s it’s amazing the way the audience is able to latch on to the songs, and there-in lies one of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s many secrets-when something is so obviously exceptional it goes beyond ability and becomes something all together more powerful.

Rodrigo y Gabriela’s influences are clearly on show, largely through their newest album ’11:11’ a collection of songs in the style of everything from Carlos Santana to Dimebag Darrell, and not for the first time is the metal cap donned, when the now obligatory cover of ‘Orion’ is picked out and given an altogether invigorated feel.

There’s an incredible amount of crowd participation, not from the usual call & response, but from Rodrigo clapping out a beat with one side of the crowd and then prompting the other half to pound out another. At its height there are three sections of the audience drumming out the rhythm that they play over, a complicated rhythm too-all without either musician saying a word-astounding.

Explaining that its “Difficult to write on the road” “it’s crazy” and regaling recent travel mishap stories, Gabriela is engaging and humble, although to hear her use the word ‘Fuck’ has the audience smiling- it’s instantly disarming.

People have now started to dance and whoop as ‘Satori’ weaves through the crowd, it is impossible not to move, the music is so ingrained in rhythm. With Gabriela’s hits of the guitar body and raps of the knuckles just rolling along, the playing sounds like water being poured- smooth and natural.

When Gabriela breaks for her solo section no beat is lost, in fact it highlights just how talented she is; hitting and slapping the guitar gives the playing an intimate feel, and that the instrument is played to within an inch of its life-and loving it.

Effortlessly flowing into ‘Juan Loco’ Rodrigo makes his way back on stage, the lighting and backdrop have been an unusual mixture of dark colours and subdued lighting to flashing hypnotics and camera views of the two playing, which are both aesthetically pleasing and a insight into the techniques employed-particularly during Gabriela’s solo, as the camera projects a close up of the hands.

After explaining to the crowd that the next song is in the style of Pink Floyd, and throwing out the intro to ‘Shine on you crazy diamond’ they break into one of a succession of set highlights starting with ‘11:11’, complete with a Gilmour sounding slide solo played with a beer bottle. All the time Rodrigo’s eyes are closed, both lost and found in the music.

If Gabriela’s solo section represented the sheer talent of the duo, Rodrigo’s represent’s the history. Beginning with the opening of Metallica’s ‘Battery’ , followed by ‘Master of puppets’, the members of the crowd with metal t-shirts are contented, clearly Rodrigo’s love for Cliff Burton is exemplified with excerpts from “(Anesthesia) Pulling teeth”. It comes as a complete surprise when Rodrigo starts picking out a well known tune, and the audience takes a moment to recognise it before bellowing out the chorus-it Radiohead’s ‘High and dry’, and receives one of the best responses all night.
Concluding the set with ‘Tamacun’ and ‘Buster’, a set which seemed to fly by, bereft of any low points consistently entertaining, engrossing and at times truly special, Rodrigo y Gabriela are positioning themselves as keen exponents of the acoustic/ classical guitar cutting edge, with a healthy respect for forerunners before them- Di Meola, De luca, Mc Laughlin, and fusing them with their own contemporaries, regardless of genre, to create a new avenue to explore.

Rodrigo y Gabriela have stayed true to every musical style they have enjoyed, be it metal, indie, Spanish or progressive guitar and complimented it with technical chops and a love of performance that translates, and then transcends any language and rises to be what music always should be –pure & joyous.