Rodrigo y Gabriela: The McKittrick Hotel 2019

It was an honor and a privilege to introduce Rodrigo y Gabriela, and spend a few minutes onstage with them earlier this spring, at a very special FUV Live concert, recorded in the intimate space of the Club Car at the McKittrick Hotel in front of an audience of WFUV Marquee members.

I have great affection and and respect for this (predominantly acoustic) guitar duo, who originally hail from Mexico City. Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero's talents are many, especially their astounding speed and dexterity, infinite finesse, and their uncanny ability to marry dissimilar traditions.

You certainly don't need to be a fan of thrash metal to love Rod and Gab, but that's an easy point of entry. A highlight of my interview with them during their FUV Live set was when they acknowledged some of their inspirations from that world, like Pantera's Dimebag Darrell and James Hetfield of Metallica. They even played a little of Metallica's "Battery" to illustrate the point!

Sánchez and Quintero are both crazy about David Gilmour too and the duo's new album, Mettavolution, includes a fantastic interpretation of Pink Floyd's "Echoes." A live performance of that song was one of many jaw-dropping moments in this FUV Live show.

Setlist:

• Intro
• Krotona Days
• Electric Soul
• Terracentric
• Echoes
• Mettavolution

[Recorded: 5/20/19; Engineers: Hear No Evil and Jim O'Hara; Producer: Sarah Wardrop]