Go ahead and yell at me for being here and not reading some article about Latino students retention in college, but I have to gush about Rodrigo y Gabriela’s awesome performance last night at the Henry Fonda Theater.

I discovered their music in February (I think) and immediately loved them. I kept missing their LA shows because I was traveling out of the state or country. When I heard about their two LA shows, I immediately bought tickets ignoring the fact that the date was pretty close to my exam.

The show was pretty awesome. Rodrigo y Gabriela played a long set (I think the better part of two hours) consisting of songs off their self-titled album. They took requests and admitted to being bored of setlists after touring for nearly a year. They played some new songs too, including one Rodrigo titled “Fuck the US Visa Department” as well as covers of Pink Floyd, Metallica and Van Halen songs. Gabriela shouted out her Mexico City roots by yelling “¡arriba los chilangos!” but admitted to denying her Chilanga-ness and pretening to be from Guadalajara because the people in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo don’t like Chilangos. When she yelled out “¡Viva México cabrones!” only a few folks in the audience responded, which surprised me because I’m used to a roar of affirmation from the crowd whenever musicians yell out that phrase.

Rodrigo y Gabriela have an excellent stage presence, which makes them even more attractive and likable. They dedicated the show to their hardworking crew and joked about having visa issues. They also encouraged the crowd — pretty mixed ethnically and age wise (my friend thought there were a lot of “old” people in attendance — to clap along and sing during the cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”

My only gripes were that the show felt a little long and I struggled to see them through most of the show because of all the tall(er) people. I hate being short. The show wasn’t long, but we waited a while for them to begin and it usually takes me a few days to adjust to the end of Daylight Savings Time.

I tried to find a clip of them performing “Ixtapa,” my favorite of their original songs, but didn’t have any luck. In the YouTube clip below they peform “Diablo Rojo.” You can get a sense of just how incredible they are from the clip, but it really doesn’t do them justice. I mean, Rodrigo y Gabriela are so much more amazing (and good looking*) live.

This second clip is of the duo playing Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.” Although most of the crowd was singing (as in the clip above), my friend and I were a little confused as we didn’t figure out the song until later.

Last night’s show was their final show in the US. They’ll be leaving for a tour in Europe and then relaxing in Mexico where they’ll begin pre-production on their next album. I can’t wait.

*Rodrigo is hot! My guy friend says Gabriela is hot too. Check out this slideshow from a concert in Chicago.

Photo of Rodrigo Sánchez at a festival in the UK by Flykr used under a Creative Commons License.