Having only previously seen the guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela in an electric band format, I was curious as to how they could keep an audience like the 5000 attendees at the Greek Theatre attentive. After all, just down the road McCabe’s Guitar Shop has six stringers playing before dozens in folding chairs all the time. But a place like the Greek?
Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quitero not only blended their twelve strings in a manner that kept everyone’s rapt attention (wisely adding a camera to the ends of their guitar necks so everyone could see the digital prowess), but was able to get the audience on its feet in a festive mood as well as have them sit in concentration over impressionistic opuses.
The 90 minute concert featured a healthy portion of material from their latest album Mettavolution, with wonderful and energetic forays between the two on “Krotona Days” and “Witness Tree” combining intricate melodic themes at a rapid pace with percussive percolations trading off between the two as the fingers and palms went back and forth between strings and acoustic guitar body. With Rodrigo switching two electric guitar, the pair delivered a dramatic and frenetic “Cumbe’” that had Gabriela’s strings pound out a table dance while the two forayed back and forth on a passionate, infectious and sensuous “Electric Soul.”
The most impressive part of the evening came as the two delved into an over 20 minute acoustic guitar interpretation of the Pink Floyd progressive rock classic “Echoes.” Mixing sounds of Paco Pena and David Gilmore, Rodrigo y Gabriela took the moody and iconic piece and combined relentless rhythms, spacey, windswept and bluesy soundscapes with dreamy journeys that had the strings take the audience to strange and intriguing new worlds.
Before the pair closed with celebratory and upbeat “Hanuman” and “Terracentric,” Gabriela told the appreciative crowd that “when we play, we try to get in touch with deep parts of ourselves to connect to you.” On this balmy night in LA, the connection was electric.
Upcoming concerts at The Greek include Chicago 07/27, George Clinton and Funkadelic 08/02, Boney James 08/03, Steve Miller Band w/ Marty Stuart 08/21, Bryan Ferry 08/29, Ringo Starr 09/01, King Crimson 09/03, Mark Knopfler 09/22