Rodrigo y Gabriela

Last Thursday night we went to the Rodrigo y Gabriela show in Vicar Street, with Niall and Rita. It was Niall who had introduced us to their music a good few months ago. I had watched a few minutes of their DVD, which Niall had kindly loaned to us, but I hadn't really paid much attention to it, I have to admit.

So, it was a good surprise when the concert turned out to be excellent. Basically, Rodrigo y Gabriela are 2 Mexicans who live in Ireland, and the music is just their 2 guitars, which they play like maniacs. They used to play in heavy metal bands, and you certainly get a sense of that influence in their music, but the fact that it's just 2 guitars gives it a very flamenco sound. Rodrigo does the more delicate work, while Gabriela's fingerwork on her guitar resembles more that of a bodhran player. Her knuckles must be in bits!

Anyway, what a show - the skill and the passion! You can check them out on My Space, where you can listen to some of their music.

And I was glad for the projections on the back of the stage in the second half of the concert - otherwise, all I would have seen would have been 2 bobbing heads. I would have missed out on the visual effect of how they play the guitar! When I went to the Bob Dylan concert with Brendan a few months ago, all I saw was Bob's hat!