Khruangbin steady grooving at The Rady Shell with Hermanos Gutiérrez
Khruangbin is a three piece band from Texas with a 1960s Thai funk inspired sound and a Tarentino soundtrack inspired psychedelic groove. “What a vibe!” was mainstream of constant words floating through the air in night from audience members.
Khruangbin had me feeling a natural high from their psychedelic sound. Through their etherial colored set, and steady calm, and groovy stage presence, I felt like I had eaten magic mushrooms and been teleported to another universe where I was riding a wave through the night and coexisting with both the city and the sea in an alternate universe, groovy version, of San Diego. The Rady Shell, an outdoor music venue in the heart of San Diego, on the edge of the water, was truly the perfect venue for a show such as this. With plenty of room to dance up the hill on the turf, a friend and I found ourselves seamlessly moving our bodies to the beats of songs such as “Evan Finds The Third Room” from Con Todo El Mound, 2018, to songs from their newest album “A La Sala” 2024. To pair perfectly withe the effervescence of Khruangbin, came the opening band Hermanos Gutiérrez, with a deeply spiritual, hallucinogenic, and brimming Latin mystique guitar interplay, that makes you feel like your driving through the desert alone in the middle of the night, with the windows down and the world at your fingertips. If you need a break from the harsh reality of the world today, do yourself a favor, and go see either of these bands in a city near you.
A surprising quote from Hermanos Gutiérrez came up about “the feeling of coming home to play in San Diego,” where they “had once lived in the neighborhood of Ocean Beach” years ago.
