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Rating: I found out about it about six months before... Sunday, June 19, 2005, Pat Metheny Group "The Way Up Tour" at the Teatroteam in Bari... the artist I love the most... the best jazz guitarist, the most imaginative, the most everything... a simple genius... Perhaps not all of you will know him, but Pat Metheny has been churning out records for thirty years, and no one like him in jazz has done so much nowadays.
Unique event for me... we arrive in Bari six of us in a car from Potenza... the police didn't catch us, luckily; as soon as we arrive, a friend and I catapult ourselves into the theater. First spectacular impact... guitars everywhere... there's everything... classical... acoustic... electric... the legendary Yamaha guitar-synth that costs an arm and a leg; not to mention Lyle Mays, his faithful pianist-keyboardist... a Steinway & Sons in the foreground and 2 Korg synths with 88 keys each connected to a laptop... Pat's assistants are in a fervor on stage, mounting and tuning all the instruments...
The band keeps us waiting... but it's worth waiting even an eternity for Pat... he enters to the roar of the audience accompanied by an ensemble of musicians that would make anyone reading this review's eyes pop out: as already mentioned, Lyle Mays on piano and keyboards (but in one piece he even improvises as a guitarist...), Steve Rodby on electric bass and double bass (another beast standing by Metheny's side for 20 years), the excellent Antonio Sanchez on drums, Nando Lauria on percussion (a semi-unknown but very talented artist of what I believe to be Lucanian origins, and I recommend downloading something from emule), Cuong Vu, perhaps the best trumpeter in the world, an absolute talent, delivers lethal solos, Richard Bona who plays absolutely everything, I don't know how he does it (vocalist... percussionist, guitarist, and bassist a disciple of Pastorius!!!)
Well, after a very brief introduction, the group sets out to play the entire latest masterpiece "The Way Up", an intense hour without breaks, engaging every second... too bad we were in the back rows... but now comes the best part... my friend and I start advancing from the gallery towards the seats, then to the front rows until we reach the foot of the stage... and there... and there... and there... something orgasmic... Pat Metheny and his band two meters from you playing "Are You Going With Me" with the initial solo by Cuong Vu breaking the final rhythm of the previous song "Imaginary Day" and picking up the guitar solo... I know you don't understand anything... but it was something spectacular! Then comes the famous "Last Train Home", "James" played in trio, "Have You Heard" and "First Circle" just to name a few, among impeccable and thrilling solos, among instruments exchanging... among Vu and Sanchez's masterful virtuosity... with the audience almost cheering like in a stadium as they "shout" the various melodies of the songs, while others in reverent silence try in all ways to calm the enthusiastic soul of the budding "howlers"...
Almost four uninterrupted hours for a memorable concert... audience in rapture in sweltering heat... too bad the service was breaking at every photo and every hint of video a guy with an American and grumpy look was threatening: "Give me your fucking cassette!", "Stop!! Close your camera! Don't hurt my ball"... bastard.
Around one o'clock, we leave the theater literally shocked... out of our minds... "was it really him?" we ask ourselves... and off to home to tell our incredible and wonderful adventure to all our friends...
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