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Setlist
Tour Dates
Oct 08 The Fillmore Miami Beach Miami, FL
Oct 09 Ruth Eckerd Hall Clearwater, FL Oct 11 Southern Ground Music Festival Oct 12 Iron City Birmingham, AL Oct 15 Bayou Music Center Houston, TX Oct 16 Moody Theater at ACL Live Austin, TX Oct 18 Verizon Wireless Grand Prairie, TX Oct 21 Egyptian Room Indianapolis, IN Oct 22 Orpheum Theatre Madison, WI Oct 24 Chicago Theatre Chicago, IL Oct 25 The Fillmore Detroit Detroit, MI Oct 27 Flynn Center Burlington, VT Oct 28 Calvin Theatre Northampton, MA Oct 29 Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA Read More
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Sometimes back to basics is the best choice.
After fifteen years of playing together and recent collaborations with a Cuban orchestra as well as several soundtrack songs, Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero have decided to go it alone again. And to the rabid crowd that saw them at the State Theatre in Minneapolis, the simpler approach was what the people wanted.
Zach Heckendorf, a Denver native singer/songwriter, opened the show with just over a half hour of tunes, mostly culled from his 2012 release, The Cool Down (Organically Elevated Records). The young up-and-comer was already known to listeners of local station Cities97, having done some promotional gigs for them, which he remembered from the stage.
Heckendorf has an earthy Jason Mraz-style of rapid-fire lyrics while he strums his acoustic guitar, and a clear love of hip-hop, having worked his version of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Money Trees’ into his short set. He’s already shared the stage with the likes of Guster, Jon Butler Trio, and Brett Dennen and his music is complimentary to theirs , and has turned to crowdfunding for his most recent work.
Rodrigo y Gabriela are truly in a class all their own, playing a unique blend of flamenco, hard rock, soul, and classical in what they call acoustic metal. The pair first met as thrash metal fans in their native Mexico City, then left to find bigger fortunes in Dublin and are in support of their latest, 9 Dead Alive (Rubyworks Records), which pays tribute to a different social champion in each of its songs.
Tool’s ‘Jambi’ was the appropriate intro music as the casually dressed pair made their way to the stage for their 90 min. set. The stage was simple with several white waist-high boxes in a semi-circle, back framing the duo with a backdrop screen that would show images of them playing (from mini-cams attached to guitar necks) as well as conceptual patterns that fit the songs.
The set started slowly with the new ‘Torito’, inspired by “animals and nature” but quickly picked up steam with ‘The Soundmaker’, a song in tribute to guitarist Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817 - 1892).
Both are essentially instrumental metal guitarists, though Rodrigo plays more of the riffs and solos, while Gabriela is more rhythm-oriented both in her playing and knuckle-rapping on the guitar body; both amazing in their own right but also clearly symbiotically playing with the other.
‘Misty Moses’ was inspired by American pioneer Harriet Tubman and had screen images to accompany it, and the older ‘Diablo Rojo’, a song the pair performed on David Letterman in 2006 made an impression on the crowd.
The surprise came mid-set as Rodrigo ran through cover songs (a beautiful ‘Breathe’ from Pink Floyd, STP’s ‘Plush’, and Radiohead’s ‘Creep’) hoping the audience would sing along with him, though most didn’t get past the first line or chorus. Gabriela re-appeared on stage as they then ran through their potent cover of Metallica’s ‘Orion’, followed by a rousing solo from Gabriela.
The show ended with two older favorites, ‘Hanuman’ from their third studio album and ‘Tamacun’ from their 2nd, which was also featured in the premiere episode of the “Breaking Bad” TV show. Rodrigo y Gabriela's dexterity and complimentary playing is often breathtaking to behold live and most in the audience seemed mesmerized for the duration of the performance.
The band finished their US leg over the weekend at Red Rocks in Denver, but heads out again to more cities in the fall-- back to basics never sounded so good.
After fifteen years of playing together and recent collaborations with a Cuban orchestra as well as several soundtrack songs, Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero have decided to go it alone again. And to the rabid crowd that saw them at the State Theatre in Minneapolis, the simpler approach was what the people wanted.
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Zach Heckendorf
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Heckendorf has an earthy Jason Mraz-style of rapid-fire lyrics while he strums his acoustic guitar, and a clear love of hip-hop, having worked his version of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Money Trees’ into his short set. He’s already shared the stage with the likes of Guster, Jon Butler Trio, and Brett Dennen and his music is complimentary to theirs , and has turned to crowdfunding for his most recent work.
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Rodrigo y Gabriela
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Tool’s ‘Jambi’ was the appropriate intro music as the casually dressed pair made their way to the stage for their 90 min. set. The stage was simple with several white waist-high boxes in a semi-circle, back framing the duo with a backdrop screen that would show images of them playing (from mini-cams attached to guitar necks) as well as conceptual patterns that fit the songs.
The set started slowly with the new ‘Torito’, inspired by “animals and nature” but quickly picked up steam with ‘The Soundmaker’, a song in tribute to guitarist Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817 - 1892).
Both are essentially instrumental metal guitarists, though Rodrigo plays more of the riffs and solos, while Gabriela is more rhythm-oriented both in her playing and knuckle-rapping on the guitar body; both amazing in their own right but also clearly symbiotically playing with the other.
‘Misty Moses’ was inspired by American pioneer Harriet Tubman and had screen images to accompany it, and the older ‘Diablo Rojo’, a song the pair performed on David Letterman in 2006 made an impression on the crowd.
The surprise came mid-set as Rodrigo ran through cover songs (a beautiful ‘Breathe’ from Pink Floyd, STP’s ‘Plush’, and Radiohead’s ‘Creep’) hoping the audience would sing along with him, though most didn’t get past the first line or chorus. Gabriela re-appeared on stage as they then ran through their potent cover of Metallica’s ‘Orion’, followed by a rousing solo from Gabriela.
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Setlist
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The band finished their US leg over the weekend at Red Rocks in Denver, but heads out again to more cities in the fall-- back to basics never sounded so good.
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Rodrigo y Gabriela at State Theatre, Minneapolis (15 Aug 2014) |
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