I wrote about them last year <“Rodrigo Y Gabriela” – The Most Badass Guitarists You’ve Never Heard of>, and last night, I finally saw them live… they blew away my lofty expectations.

Hearing their percussive, metal influenced classical guitar harmonies on album is one thing… seeing them do all of this crazy stuff live is a whole different experience.

Last night’s show at Terminal 5 in Manhattan was their first show since releasing their excellent new album 11:11 (Yet another thing I ran out of time to write about. I’m going to skip an individual review post and just say that it’s excellent. You should listen to it). Gabriela explained that it was only supposed to take them six months to make their last CD but they recorded it and re-recorded it a few times until it was to their liking. She described it as being a lot like “Spinal Tap,” which cracked me up.

They played a brilliant mix of stuff from their first & second studio albums and a few things from their latest live album. They killed with each and every track. I clapped and danced my geeky ass off all night; it was one of the most fun and energetic performances that I ever had the honor of seeing.

Probably the most emotional moment of the show for me was when they played Metallica’s Orion. Orion was written in honor of Cliff Burton, Metallica’s bassist who died when the band’s tour bus got into an accident in Europe. Metallica basically never performs the song live, but Rodrigo y Gabriela play it essentially note-for-note, daring listeners who claim they “don’t like metal” to reevaluate that judgment. I can think of no better tribute for the late Mr. Burton.

This is kind of a discombobulated review (mostly because I am beyond exhausted), but my point is listen to Rodrigo y Gabriela (albums). If they are playing near you, do yourself a favor and go see them (tour schedule).

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