Where: GIbson Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA
When: February 3, 2007
RBD is a musical spin-off of the popular Mexican telenovela Rebelde, probably the biggest teen telenovela of all time. It follows a group of students at an elite school through the trials and tribulations of adolescence. Six of the teens in the show perform in a band, and it is this sextet that has escaped the small screen and hit the big time with albums, concerts and tours under the name RBD (to distinguish them from the show, Rebelde).
Diego Gonzalez Opens The Show
Saturday night's opening act was Diego Gonzalez. Gonzalez gained popularity via Codigo F.A.M.A, an American-Idol type program, which helped to springboard his career through a couple of other telenovelas, most notably Mision S.O.S. and ultimately land him the role of Rocco on Rebelde.
Gonzalez has a pleasant voice and an engaging stage presence. He sang some tunes from his 2005 self-titled debut album, most notably "Responde" and "Mas". The audience was welcoming and appreciative, but then, they were just warming up for the main act.
Better Late Than Never - RBD Finally Hits The Stage
I wonder whether there's a rule that says that the more popular a group is, the later they are getting on stage? If so, RBD followed it, finally showing up a half hour after the opening act was over. Once there, all was forgiven as a frenzied audience welcomed them.
For non-Rebelde initiates, RBD's is composed of six young artists, three girls (Anahi, Dulce Maria, Maite) and three boys (Christopher, Alfonso and Christian). The group performed for 2 hours, sometimes together, sometimes in different pairings. The songs were from their albums Rebelde, Nuestro Amor, their newly released Celestial and the English Rebels.
In between songs, one of the performers would go stage center and talk to the audience, the topics ranging from global issues to advice to teenagers. In what was probably the ultimate in cutsy moments, each of the couples did a little 'sneak' kissing scene that had the audience screaming and applauding. I guess you need to be a teenager.
The Bottom Line
RBD is not really a group of musicians, they're actors that have OK voices. They don't write the songs and, although I've seen some claims about instruments on their bios, all of the instrumentals were played by the back-up band.
Their forte is performance; they strut, dance, look sexy, play against each other and sell an image. From that standpoint, they did a good job, although the energy level started to flag towards the end. Well, it was a long, energetic concert.
It all made for a pleasant evening. It was pretty obvious their fans thought it was a wonderful concert. Music aficionados might scoff, but I bet Placido Domingo never go THAT much applause.
