In the late '80s McLaughlin began performing live and recording with a trio including percussionist Trilok Gurtu, and three bassists at various times; firstly Jeff Berlin, then Kai Eckhardt and finally Dominique Di Piazza. Berlin contributed to the trio's live work only in 1988/89, and didn't record with McLaughlin. The group recorded two albums: "Live at The Royal Festival Hall" and "Que Alegria", the former with Eckhardt, and the latter with di Piazza for all but two tracks. These recordings saw a return to acoustic instruments for McLaughlin, performing on nylon-string guitar. On "Live at the Royal Festival Hall" McLaughlin used a unique guitar synth that enabled him to effectively "loop" guitar parts and play over them live. The synth also featured a pedal that provided sustain. McLaughlin overdubbed parts to create lush soundscapes, aided by Gurtu's unique percussive sounds. He used this approach to great effect in the track "Florianapolis", among others.