An Evening with Pat Metheny @ City Hall, Hull. November 11

Pat Metheny – guitars (various); Antonio Sanchez – drums and percussion; Linda May Han Oh – acoustic and electric bass; Gwilym Simcock  - piano and keyboard

(Review by Hugh C)

I was first alerted to this concert by an email from Basho Records informing me that Gwilym Simcock would be performing as part of a world Tour by Pat Metheny.  At the time of booking only three dates were available in the UK – London (EFG Festival), Belfast and Hull – additional dates were added subsequently.  I am a distant Metheny follower (having only two of his CDs), but as my wife was heavily involved in her own artistic endeavour over the weekend, it was an ideal opportunity to both hear the man and visit the UK City of Culture 2017.  A few tickets were left so I ended up with a seat at the front of the balcony.

The City Hall, Kingston-upon-Hull is an Edwardian baroque revival style building in the centre of the city and a fitting “Temple of Culture” in this year, 2017.  The concert was billed as starting at 7.30 pm; when I arrived at 7pm, two orderly queues had already formed stretching out into the adjacent Victoria Square.  Two spaces ahead of me in the queue a local muso chatting to the visitors behind him informed them that the acoustic was terrible, especially in the balcony – good start!  The reason for the queues became apparent on entry to the lobby – a bag check was in operation (sign of the times, I guess).  As I ascended the rather splendid staircase I noted a movable clock that suggested a finish time of 10pm and continued to the balcony to take my seat.  After a short interval, a couple asked to come past, each carrying a couple of plastic glasses – the male carrying a filled beer glass at a jaunty angle that threatened to give those seated in the stalls an unexpected shower!  My new companion then proceeded to inform me that the gig was going to be f***ing brilliant, man.

At 7.30pm there were still many empty seats and over the next 10 minutes or so the hall gradually filled.  Once full, there was a distinct air of anticipation, the house lights dimmed, followed by rapturous applause and we were entreated by an anonymous voice “...given the nature of the performance, not to take photographs, not to record, not to text and to turn our cell phones off”.  After an invitation by the voice to welcome Pat Metheny, the high priest of jazz guitar himself walked onto the stage and sat down on a stool at the front.  A black-clad guitar technician handed him an instrument  with two necks, a chimera – subsequent research suggests this monster was a 42 stringed instrument commissioned by Metheny in 1984, the Manzer Pikasso. 

The auditorium was now so dark I could not see my notes  - subsequent perusal in the hotel bar revealed that many were written over each other and some indecipherable!  The first item was a solo performance by the maestro himself.  At the end of the piece the trusty techician re-chained the monster, and it was not seen again for the remainder of the evening.  The remainder of the band then entered and Metheny then stood with a regular (single-necked) guitar.  I started enumerating the individual musical items in my notes, but soon got lost as one followed another, with no announcements.  There were however present in the hall a significant number of the Metheny Faithful who welcomed each number as they recognised it with a ripple of applause. 

The formula suited my ears, each band member took a solo in turn over the course of the evening, the other band members chipping in as they felt moved.  The muso in the queue was right, the acoustic did leave a lot to be desired – Simcock's piano solos being somewhat lost in the cavernous acoustic of the hall.  After about the 10^th item my neighbours, Mr Pisshead and partner had spotted better seats and decided to push past those seated to move to pastures new – much to my relief – no more running commentary.  Item (approximately) 15 was a “free improv” with strange guitar effects and scratchy bowed bass.  Then a brief pause:  Pat Metheny introduced the band, thanked us for coming, thanked Hull for the invitation and informed the house that this was mostly old music they were playing.  At 1 hour 25 minutes in, I was expecting the house lights to be brought up and the band to leave the stage for the interval. 

Pat Metheny then announced that they would, if pressed, keep on playing; the band did leave the stage with the exception of the Mane (I use the word advisedly) Man who then retook his initial seated position at the front of the stage  and proceeded to play solo guitar, lit by a single spot, the reflected light from the guitar's metalwork poetically dancing on the silver hair and shiny pates in the front few rows of the stalls.   The rest of the band then rejoined him – ensemble, solo, ensemble etc.  At 9.50pm the band left the stage.  Thunderous applause ensued, with calls for more, rhythmic clapping and stamping of feet.  Pat Metheny returned on his own for a solo encore; leaving again at the pre-ordained hour of 10pm.  The band re-entered ensemble for the final encore, a solo each – then at 10.15pm it, the audience, thought it was all over – the house lights came up – it was now! 

Two and one half hours' music  - at a ticket price of £25 that works at £10 per hour – not bad I reckon.

Hugh

Postscript: For guitar buffs – I recognised some of these on stage