Rodrigo Y Gabriela @ TheEnmore Theatre, Sydney(20/4/11)

Wed 27th Apr, 2011 in Gig Reviews

With three Australian tours under their belt and a cult following across the world, Rodrigo Y Gabriela once again ventured to Australia for a string of intimate sideshows in the lead up to the massive Bluesfest in Byron Bay.

Along for the ride was British singer-songwriter Bobby Long, whose wry humour and soulful melodies quickly won over the audience. With a packed house, the bluesman strode onto stage with nothing but a guitar in hand and a harmonica strapped to his neck, before mesmerizing the audience with a number of raw yet emotional tracks from his latest record – A Winter Tale. In hindsight, it seems truly apt that Long had been asked to open for a Bluesfest sideshow, with his impassioned folk imbued performance being strongly reminiscent of the great Bob Dylan.

Yet whilst the audience had been enthralled by the twenty five year old Long, it was no secret that they had come for the innovative and engaging Rodrigo y Gabriela, who wasted no time in donning their guitars and tearing straight into a dynamic set of both old and new material.

It wasn’t however until the duo were well into the furiously paced Diablo Rojo that the pair seemed to be relaxed, with Gabriela transfixed upon her percussive strumming and Rodrigo adopting his signature power stance as his fingers glided across the fretboard with a virtuosic level of speed and accuracy. From here out, the chemistry between the two was palpable, with an admirable unspoken connection between both performers, whose independent styles fused to form a rich, full and energetic tone that engulfed the theatre.

Even more admirably, the duo discarded their guitars a number of times throughout the night in favour of casually chatting with the audience about the bands diverse history and influences, despite a language barrier which seemed to entertain the audience a great deal.

In many respects this diversity was extolled with the bands rendition of the title track of their latest album, 11:11, which Rodrigo stated to be their “tribute to Pink Floyd”, complete with psychedelic lighting, phaser laden lead lines and the unconventional adoption of beer bottle slides and wah pedals by the two acoustic guitarists.

Pink Floyd was only one of the numerous artists who the band played tribute to on the night, with Rodrigo subversively including the riff’s from Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell and Metallica’s Wherever I May Roam within his cadenza like solo, which, to the predominately older audience, was as out of place as a cannibal corpse solo at a Beethoven recital. Although in saying this, the somewhat surprising fact is that the band they were witnessing was actually formed out of the remnants of a Mexican thrash metal band.

Throughout the night, the pair took a chance to showcase a number of newer tracks including Savitri, Hora Zero and Triveni, yet they fell back on their critically acclaimed 2006 self titled album to end the night, with the vivacious Tamacun garnering a standing ovation from the gracious crowd who for lack of a better phrase, left with their minds blown by the unbelievable talent of the one and only Rodrigo y Gabriela.