I recently saw the Pat Metheny Group live in Arizona. I have probably seen Pat's group live about 7 or 8 times since around 1980, so I would like to think that I'm more than qualified to comment on their progress. The last time I saw them live before this, was in Toronto in 1998. I also have their last live DVD that was released a couple years ago.
Now, on to my review of this show in Arizona. This was most definitely the worst performance I have ever witnessed by the PMG. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy it, but I couldn't believe how many gaffs Pat had. It must have been his worst night ever. He was missing cues, blowing unison lines, and just not playing inspired at all. It was really unlike him. As for the rest of the band, everyone played well, if somewhat sterile.
And what's the deal with all the sequencing and backing tracks? If I wanted to hear the latest record exactly as it was recorded, I would just stay home and listen to it. I was really disappointed to hear so much stuff not being played live. Has jazz succumbed to the Ashley Simpson disease? I hope Pat rethinks his approach next time out.
I love Pat, and have tons of respect for him, but if he's going to keep doing this sequencing stuff, I may limit my live shows to his trios.
Has anyone else gone to see the latest tour of the PMG?
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 14, 2005 06:22 AM: Message edited by: drumming sort of person ]</font>
I haven't seen the new tour but I think that he has tried to do something really grounbreaking with his new album and produce something which is at odds with the current trends in our artistic culture.
I think he maybe wants to present this new work as close as he can to the studio version for these reasons.
And the new piece I imagine is a bit difficult to play (?!?!) hence the fluffs. a few weeks in maybe these will be gone.
Maybe he was having a bad day too?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have the new CD, and I like it a lot (not crazy about it though).Originally posted by Andy Edwards:
And the new piece I imagine is a bit difficult to play (?!?!) hence the fluffs. a few weeks in maybe these will be gone.
I think the 'fluffs' are more a result of playing with the sequencing. Granted, it's early in the tour, but when you know that the 'sequencer waits for no one', the stress can induce errors like nobody's business.
The few glitches he made weren't during any difficult passages. It seemed as though he just wasn't concentrating on his playing, but rather on where he was relative to the sequencer.
I watched Metheny back in 2002 and left before the show were over.
I don't blame the band or Metheny himself, i blame the company that manages the tour. Too god damn big venues for these kind of gigs, you don't have any chance catching anything that happens while they're improvising. It's a shame because they were obiously having a great time at the first row, but you could just see how the seats where people where sitting more than 200feet away began to look empty. People paid tons for the concert and te show were completely sold out. More came out after me leaving in Anger.
Metheny is scheduled to perform at a new venue in Denmark, which is even bigger than the one I attended, 5000 can attend this gig.
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The venue I was at wasn't too big at all. Maybe 1,000 people, and I was in the 5th row, centre. I could hear every little nuance.
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