Rodrigo Y Gabriela, two guitarists from Mexico that grew up together, play to an adoring audience in St Helena. The winery has a special purpose made intimate outdoor amphitheater. On one side is the "VIP' section and the other side is General Admission. My plus one and I sat on the grass on The VIP side, just a few feet back from the railings. Just before Rod Y Gab went onstage four people in front of me stood up from their blanket and the crowd got super angry when these four stood up. Rod y Gab came onstage, but, no one could see them, so one by one... men from the audience came up to the front to confront this guy that wouldnt sit down. Now only one upstanding audience member remained and each person that would try and urge him to sit down, started a fight. The third guy interacting with the standing audience member actually came up from behind him and picked him up to throw him out of the way so we could all see. I found it to be unusual this amount of anger ensue for such a upscale small event. These interactions caused quite a negative vibe in the crowd around us, and I soon moved a few feet back as not to get into the ruck and I also wanted to see the stage, and protect my gear, of course. So that happened at the start. It doesn't happen often, but when fights break out at a live music event, it does not add to the positive feelings of simply being in the presence of live music. But we did our best to ignore the angry audience members, get out of the way, and enjoy the show.
And enjoy the show we did. Rod y Gab were a tad different this evening to as I've seen them before. This gig was like an intimate evening in their living room. The stage was set up as such and the music played this evening felt like it was them and us in someones home or backyard. The audience was a lot smaller than I've seen them previously play to, and the music they played was a tad more subdued than normal. They announced that they worked on a new album during the pandemic called, "Mettavolution". This is their ninth album since they began in Dublin, Ireland in 2000. Rodrigo did not pull out his electric guitar and be the rockstar he is, and neither really stood up much as I've seen them do in the past. It was all good, (apart from the dude that wanted to cause others aggravation up in front)...the music was great, the evening was a lovely cool night in St Helena and Rodrigo y Gabriela are here touring the US again post pandemic. If you havent yet seen these two, and may be unfamiliar with their music, I'd describe it as Flamenco meets Metal. All instrumental and all inspirational. Unusual, captivating and highly recommended! If you want to read more about their previous shows, search in The Music Soup blogs and you'll find at least another couple articles I've written about this fab duo.
A few of my shots from the evening...
Comentários