Mexican acoustic rock guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela have been blending metal, jazz and Hispanic roots music in their own unique, unmistakable style for more than 20 years, scoring sold-out shows at world-renowned venues including the Hollywood Bowl, Radio City Music Hall and Red Rocks Amphitheatre. They made their mark with flamenco-style covers of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” and Metallica’s “Orion.” Rodrigo y Gabriela come to The Ridgefield Playhouse on Sunday, May 19th at 8:30pm, part of Pepsi Rock Series powered by Xfinity and the World Music Series. Every pair of tickets purchased receives one copy of the new LP, Mettavolution. Visit Southwest Cafe (109 Danbury Road, Ridgefield) for dinner before the show and enjoy a complimentary margarita with your entree when you show your ticket! Media partner for this event is 107.1 The Peak.
Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero have been playing together since the mid-nineties when they were members of Mexican thrash-metal band Terra Acida. Both were raised on a musical feast of classic rock, including The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but the eureka moment came when they first heard Metallica’s ‘Master Of Puppets’, which was their gateway to the fast and furious world of Megadeth, Slayer and Pantera. When Terra Acida split, Rodrigo and Gabriela decided to go traveling, with just a suitcase and two acoustic guitars for company. They arrived in Ireland at the turn of the Millennium, having heard the country was “a good place for musicians.” Speaking no English, they soon ran out of money and took to busking on Dublin’s Grafton Street to make ends meet. Here they met Damien Rice, himself embarking on his solo career, and he invited them to open at one of his key early headline shows. From this beginning, their reputation as killer musicians - Rodrigo with the faster-than-lightning lead guitar and Gabriela with her unique, rhythmic, strumming-and-drumming style - started to spread across the country.
Following a successful live album in 2004, their debut self-titled studio album, produced by John Leckie of Radiohead and Stone Roses fame, was released by Rubyworks in February 2006 and charted at # 1 on the Irish national charts. Having established themselves in their adopted home, the duo started to spread their magic across the rest of the world. They headlined the Jazz World stage at Glastonbury in 2007, which was broadcast live on BBC TV. The Rodrigo y Gabriela album went on to sell over 100,000 records in the UK. They have contributed to the musical soundtracks of films Puss In Boots and Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and have amassed album sales well in excess of 1.5 million worldwide. They have sold out multiple nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Radio City Music Hall and venues around the world, as well as playing the White House invited by President Obama to perform at a reception he hosted for the President and First Lady of Mexico.
For tickets ($125 - $150) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.