The Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, packed to the rafters, welcomed, in an atmosphere of great events, on Tuesday 29 October, the first date of Pat Metheny’s European autumn tour, dedicated to the two albums “Dream box” / “Moon dial”, but in reality a pretext for a roundup of all the solo adventures of our man and to present some news.
The first of which is that on this tour, unlike usual, as announced directly by the protagonist, Pat speaks. And not a little, if it is a question of summing up fifty years of career and fifty-three records recorded, a number that surprised Pat himself, when he learned it.
The first speech followed a long medley led by the acoustic guitar consisting of some famous pieces of the PM Group, from “Minuano” to arrive at a “This is not America” that retains all its dramatic charisma even in this basic version.
Seeing Pat bent over his guitar studying the best harmonic connections to move from one song to another, you can vividly perceive the deep dedication and love for his art that has always accompanied the guitarist’s path.
At least since – as he tells – when he happened to see the Beatles on TV at 10 years old and to notice that strange six-string object that the following year he asked his parents for as a Christmas present.
Then came all the usual stages that tie a teenager to music, from “House of the Rising Sun” to the other hits of the time played in the garage, up to the lightning with jazz, brought about by his trumpeter brother Mike, who one day made him listen to “Four and More” the 1965 live performance in NY by Miles Davis’ quintet.
That changed his life, leading him to eliminate everything else to concentrate on that music, and allowed him to discover his “personal Beatles”, namely Gary Burton’s quartet, Metheny’s home for three years at the beginning of his career.
The second suite is dedicated to Charlie Haden and the duo album “Beyond the Missouri sky”, opened by a story about the meeting with the bassist, who later became a personal friend of Pat, and about the indications given by the older colleague in the recording studio on the use of the acoustic guitar, an instrument with which he ended up recording the entire album together with Haden’s double bass.
There is room for the long rhythmic ride of “New Chautacqua” and for the noise follies of an improvised piece with partly telluric cadences, as well as an appearance of the 42-string Pikasso designed by the faithful Linda Manzer, before the second long speech dedicated this time to Pat’s latest discovery, the baritone guitar.
For him, the possibility of combining a particular type of nylon strings with this guitar that summarizes the sound of three instruments, viola, violin and cello, was a true revelation, to the point of dedicating increasing parts of the shows to the instrument until he decided to record the entire “Moon Dial” during the breaks in the tour.
I remain of the opinion that it is difficult for non-musicians to share Metheny’s uncontainable enthusiasm for this “discovery””, given that it is “simply” an acoustic guitar, albeit with deeper and more serious sounds, which allow one to appreciate in a more vivid and detailed way the unmistakable phrasing of the guitar style, the shades of melancholy that often emanate from the compositions, and the mastery with which the songs of the two medleys are linked, one dedicated to “What’s it all about”, with the famous “Garota de Ipanema” clearly visible, and the other to the most recent album.
At this point the show enters the most spectacular section, with the appearance on stage of the electric guitar and the dramatic turn of events of the unveiling of the famous Orchestrion, a multi-instrument percussion apparatus, with drums, sticks and marimba that interacts with the guitar providing a multicolored rhythmic carpet.
But there is still room for a tribute to Wes Montgomery, in the faithful re-proposal of the organ trio format with the loop stations that allow the guitar to be doubled or tripled, a formula that Metheny then takes to the extreme consequences by multiplying the instruments on stage, playing in sequence the guitar that he carries over his shoulder, the bass and many other guitars mounted on fixed supports. He even provides a much-appreciated shred of nostalgia with the solo on the famous synth guitar that represents one of his sonic trademarks.
Surrounded by six, seven guitars, Pat seems like a child in a world full of toys, jumping from one to the other in perfect timing, supported by the assistants who never miss a second in alternating the appearance of all the instruments. A sort of celebration of his story as a musician in love, fifty years after his debut, with the possibility of playing and reaching, through his strings, the emotional ones of all his passionate audience.
The last encore is with “And I love her” by the Beatles, and then it comes to mind that the closing of the circle, started at 10 years old watching TV, is truly perfect.
Photos by Roberto Cifare.
