Rodrigo y Gabriela

Rodrigo y Gabriela bring their acoustic dialogue to O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on 21 March 2027. Formed in Mexico in the mid-1990s, guitarists Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero switched from a metal band to nylon-string guitars, then honed their approach on the streets and in pubs after moving to Dublin. Entirely instrumental, their music blends flamenco and Latin pulses with the drive of rock and metal, built on the contrast between Rodrigo’s melodic lead work and Gabriela’s percussive, rhythmic playing — tapping, rasgueado and palm-muted patterns used like a drum kit. On stage, they draw from a catalogue spanning re-Foc and their self-titled breakthrough to 11:11, the Cuban-flavoured Area 52, 9 Dead Alive, Mettavolution and In Between Thoughts... A New World. The result is a set that shifts from interlocking, hushed motifs to tense, propulsive grooves, all carried by two guitars and the close interplay that has taken the duo across rock, jazz and world stages.