A night at the Byham: Ax-slinger edition
While I almost certainly would have come across them in due course one way or another, my introduction to acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela was entirely incidental. Browsing the headlines of BBC News one day in March 2007, I found a small write-up about an internationally-acclaimed guitarist who was unable to renew his work visa and who therefore had to cancel or postpone part of a tour through the United States.
My interest was piqued, and I looked into what Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero were all about. I never quite got around to picking up their self-titled 2006 album, but it stayed on my list of titles to buy.
In September 2009 Rodrigo y Gabriela released their latest masterpiece, 11:11, comprised of eleven original songs dedicated to artists that inspired the pair. Again: onto the backburner, but I kept the title in mind.
This January, then, they announced a series of North American tour dates as part of their world tour in support of 11:11, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Opus One Productions had the foresight and wisdom to book them for the Byham Theater on 2 March. After all that I'd heard about these virtuosos, there was no way that I was missing this.
Rodrigo y Gabriela are joined on their North American tour dates by the Alex Skolnick Trio, who opened the evening promptly at 8:00pm. Best known for his work with American thrash metal giant Testament, Skolnick is a legend among legends of metal guitarists. Over the years he has also logged time with bands and projects including Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. In contrast to his other pursuits, the Alex Skolnick trio is a jazz group whose catalogue includes both jazz renditions of rock and metal classics as well as original material. By all means Skolnick takes center-stage in each number, but the music would be nothing without the more than capable talents of the rhythm section of Pittsburghers Nathan Peck and Matt Zebroski (upright bass and percussion, respectively), and both also had their time to shine on this night.
The trio blistered through a quick thirty-five minute set including renditions of "Detroit Rock City" (Kiss) and "Electric Eye" (Judas Priest); in both instances, as I suspect is likely the case for other material that the trio reimagines, the primary musical themes are left intact, but after that, anything goes. The band also played original pieces "Transformation," "Last Day in Paradise," and "Western Sabbath Stomp," the latter of which very clearly bears musical inspiration from early (Ozzy-era) Black Sabbath to great effect.
After a short ten- or fifteen-minute break, Rodrigo y Gabriela took the stage to thunderous applause.
The focus of the set this evening was, of course, 11:11, but they also played several other songs from their previous albums as well as some new material they're "practicing." All but one of the songs from 11:11 made it into the set, and they also played an abbreviated version of their rendition of Metallica's instrumental "Orion" (from Master of Puppets originally, and featured on the duo's self-titled breakthrough). A handful of the pieces, like the title track of 11:11, were slower and more atmospheric, but most of Rodrigo y Gabriela's material maintains a quick tempo that leaves no room for error.
Neither musician is a flamenco artist; as Rodrigo noted during a quick breather after the first few songs, anyone in the audience who came expecting to hear flamenco was bound to be disappointed. Rather, Rodrigo y Gabriela's roots lie firmly in heavy metal. In fact, both were members of thrash metal bands in their native Mexico City before they relocated to Dublin to try their hand in a new town at the acoustic guitar, whereafter they quickly rose to great acclaim both in Ireland and around the world.
And while their music does not carry the same classical tones or intangibly exotic airs of that vaunted art of flamenco, this is not a mark either for or against the team but merely a statement of how they differ from their contemporaries and indeed their influences. Rodrigo y Gabriela possess a fire all their own, and their speed, dexterity, emotional expression, and otherwise skill is every bit as invigorating, exhilirating, and chilling as one could ever hope to witness.
For that matter, it's not just a question of strumming the guitar. To see their fingers flying over the strings is one thing. Beyond this, Gabriela (who often plays the rhythm to Rodrigo's lead) also makes use of the unbelievably fast percussive rapping of fingers and knuckles against the body of the guitar, adding a tom-tom-like element to the songs and opening the music even further, and this, too, is a wonder to behold; I could only dream of having even one-tenth of their incredible dexterity and nimbleness. Furthermore, simply by virtue of vibrating the strings a certain way, Rodrigo y Gabriela are able to elicit sounds out of their instruments that I didn't know was even possible for an acoustic guitar; passages on 11:11 that I thought for sure had to be a rare instance of an electric guitar are revealed in the mystical live performance to be just another trick of the trade.
These great skills are put to such use in the songs that Rodrigo y Gabriela write or arrange that their heavy metal roots are plainly evident alongside the influences of other guitarists and musicians that inspired them. Still, it's not just the music: the very style in which Sanchez and Quintero play, as seen live, bears a tangible ferocity and energy that makes their shared origins even more apparent. They attack their instruments with such electricity that even the more relaxed, "feel-good" beats of the first few songs on 11:11, such as "Hanuman" and "Buster Voodoo" (also the first two songs of the set this evening) gain an even greater sense of desperate urgency and emotional intelligence when performed live.
Even when the music did slow down, the imposing energy in the theater did not diminish as we saw another side of the duo's skills. Again to use "11:11" as an example: this closing track from their 2009 album, like others in the set, benefitted from improvisation and embellishment that made the songs even more fantastic live, if that were possible. Inspired by and dedicated to Pink Floyd in the album's liner notes, Rodrigo made this piece uniquely memorable by playing while holding an empty glass bottle against the strings, creating distinct, high-pitched notes that recalled the opening of "Echoes" from Floyd's early masterpiece Meddle and which invoked the experimental genius of the Floyd's earliest psychedelic days with Syd Barrett.
Equal to the momentous energy with which Rodrigo y Gabriela left the audience was the rapport they built. After every few songs, Sanchez and Quintero would rest their hands for a few minutes' time and pick up the microphones to tell stories or make various observations. Both are delightfully funny and candid as it is, but the contrast with both each other and their musical personas was outright hilarious to behold. Rodrigo, taking up the lead guitar, carries himself onstage with the confidence and bravado that one would expect of anyone in a similarly highlighted position, and creates the expectation that such is how he is generally. Yet when he got behind the microphone to say a few words, he was remarkably soft-spoken and polite, almost to the point of seeming shy. Gabriela, on the other hand, no matter how intense the music, wears a determined serenity and a serene determination while she plays, by all means seeming "the quiet one" of the two. With the microphone in her hand, though, she is so candid and naturally chatty that she let fly more than a handful of "fuck's" casually thrown into her dialogue.
Including the extended encore, Rodrigo y Gabriela were on stage for a little less than two full hours. From the time that they first took the stage to Tool's "The Pot" to when the house lights finally came back on to the sound of AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock," the entire theater was roaring with such a reception as previously given to The Decemberists or to Metallica. This is the first time that the duo have played in Pittsburgh. I think, after this night, the city will clamor for their return, and no doubt they will happily oblige.
And make no mistake: when next Rodrigo y Gabriela come around, I'll be going.
My interest was piqued, and I looked into what Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero were all about. I never quite got around to picking up their self-titled 2006 album, but it stayed on my list of titles to buy.
In September 2009 Rodrigo y Gabriela released their latest masterpiece, 11:11, comprised of eleven original songs dedicated to artists that inspired the pair. Again: onto the backburner, but I kept the title in mind.
This January, then, they announced a series of North American tour dates as part of their world tour in support of 11:11, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Opus One Productions had the foresight and wisdom to book them for the Byham Theater on 2 March. After all that I'd heard about these virtuosos, there was no way that I was missing this.
Rodrigo y Gabriela are joined on their North American tour dates by the Alex Skolnick Trio, who opened the evening promptly at 8:00pm. Best known for his work with American thrash metal giant Testament, Skolnick is a legend among legends of metal guitarists. Over the years he has also logged time with bands and projects including Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. In contrast to his other pursuits, the Alex Skolnick trio is a jazz group whose catalogue includes both jazz renditions of rock and metal classics as well as original material. By all means Skolnick takes center-stage in each number, but the music would be nothing without the more than capable talents of the rhythm section of Pittsburghers Nathan Peck and Matt Zebroski (upright bass and percussion, respectively), and both also had their time to shine on this night.
The trio blistered through a quick thirty-five minute set including renditions of "Detroit Rock City" (Kiss) and "Electric Eye" (Judas Priest); in both instances, as I suspect is likely the case for other material that the trio reimagines, the primary musical themes are left intact, but after that, anything goes. The band also played original pieces "Transformation," "Last Day in Paradise," and "Western Sabbath Stomp," the latter of which very clearly bears musical inspiration from early (Ozzy-era) Black Sabbath to great effect.
After a short ten- or fifteen-minute break, Rodrigo y Gabriela took the stage to thunderous applause.
The focus of the set this evening was, of course, 11:11, but they also played several other songs from their previous albums as well as some new material they're "practicing." All but one of the songs from 11:11 made it into the set, and they also played an abbreviated version of their rendition of Metallica's instrumental "Orion" (from Master of Puppets originally, and featured on the duo's self-titled breakthrough). A handful of the pieces, like the title track of 11:11, were slower and more atmospheric, but most of Rodrigo y Gabriela's material maintains a quick tempo that leaves no room for error.
Neither musician is a flamenco artist; as Rodrigo noted during a quick breather after the first few songs, anyone in the audience who came expecting to hear flamenco was bound to be disappointed. Rather, Rodrigo y Gabriela's roots lie firmly in heavy metal. In fact, both were members of thrash metal bands in their native Mexico City before they relocated to Dublin to try their hand in a new town at the acoustic guitar, whereafter they quickly rose to great acclaim both in Ireland and around the world.
And while their music does not carry the same classical tones or intangibly exotic airs of that vaunted art of flamenco, this is not a mark either for or against the team but merely a statement of how they differ from their contemporaries and indeed their influences. Rodrigo y Gabriela possess a fire all their own, and their speed, dexterity, emotional expression, and otherwise skill is every bit as invigorating, exhilirating, and chilling as one could ever hope to witness.
For that matter, it's not just a question of strumming the guitar. To see their fingers flying over the strings is one thing. Beyond this, Gabriela (who often plays the rhythm to Rodrigo's lead) also makes use of the unbelievably fast percussive rapping of fingers and knuckles against the body of the guitar, adding a tom-tom-like element to the songs and opening the music even further, and this, too, is a wonder to behold; I could only dream of having even one-tenth of their incredible dexterity and nimbleness. Furthermore, simply by virtue of vibrating the strings a certain way, Rodrigo y Gabriela are able to elicit sounds out of their instruments that I didn't know was even possible for an acoustic guitar; passages on 11:11 that I thought for sure had to be a rare instance of an electric guitar are revealed in the mystical live performance to be just another trick of the trade.
These great skills are put to such use in the songs that Rodrigo y Gabriela write or arrange that their heavy metal roots are plainly evident alongside the influences of other guitarists and musicians that inspired them. Still, it's not just the music: the very style in which Sanchez and Quintero play, as seen live, bears a tangible ferocity and energy that makes their shared origins even more apparent. They attack their instruments with such electricity that even the more relaxed, "feel-good" beats of the first few songs on 11:11, such as "Hanuman" and "Buster Voodoo" (also the first two songs of the set this evening) gain an even greater sense of desperate urgency and emotional intelligence when performed live.
Even when the music did slow down, the imposing energy in the theater did not diminish as we saw another side of the duo's skills. Again to use "11:11" as an example: this closing track from their 2009 album, like others in the set, benefitted from improvisation and embellishment that made the songs even more fantastic live, if that were possible. Inspired by and dedicated to Pink Floyd in the album's liner notes, Rodrigo made this piece uniquely memorable by playing while holding an empty glass bottle against the strings, creating distinct, high-pitched notes that recalled the opening of "Echoes" from Floyd's early masterpiece Meddle and which invoked the experimental genius of the Floyd's earliest psychedelic days with Syd Barrett.
Equal to the momentous energy with which Rodrigo y Gabriela left the audience was the rapport they built. After every few songs, Sanchez and Quintero would rest their hands for a few minutes' time and pick up the microphones to tell stories or make various observations. Both are delightfully funny and candid as it is, but the contrast with both each other and their musical personas was outright hilarious to behold. Rodrigo, taking up the lead guitar, carries himself onstage with the confidence and bravado that one would expect of anyone in a similarly highlighted position, and creates the expectation that such is how he is generally. Yet when he got behind the microphone to say a few words, he was remarkably soft-spoken and polite, almost to the point of seeming shy. Gabriela, on the other hand, no matter how intense the music, wears a determined serenity and a serene determination while she plays, by all means seeming "the quiet one" of the two. With the microphone in her hand, though, she is so candid and naturally chatty that she let fly more than a handful of "fuck's" casually thrown into her dialogue.
Including the extended encore, Rodrigo y Gabriela were on stage for a little less than two full hours. From the time that they first took the stage to Tool's "The Pot" to when the house lights finally came back on to the sound of AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock," the entire theater was roaring with such a reception as previously given to The Decemberists or to Metallica. This is the first time that the duo have played in Pittsburgh. I think, after this night, the city will clamor for their return, and no doubt they will happily oblige.
And make no mistake: when next Rodrigo y Gabriela come around, I'll be going.