Row E, Seats
109-110 (center section, left aisle – could see reasonably well despite two
tall people sitting directly in front of us)
International
Guitar Night is an annual tour of acoustic guitarists, which has been organized
since 1995 by Californian Brian Gore. The current tour features Gore along with
three European musicians: “Gypsy Jazz legend Lulo Reinhardt, contemporary
fingerstyle innovator Mike Dawes and multi-genre showman Andre Krengel.” (The
IGN web site has more extensive information about each artist.) The opening set
featured each of the four performing two original songs, followed by a final number
featuring all four. The second set was mostly performances featuring 2 of the 4
in various combinations, with all of them coming back on stage for the final song
and the encore. It wound up being over 2.5 hours of music all told; we didn’t
leave until close to 11:00, driving home in the little snow flurry we had that
evening. Fortunately the roads weren’t at all slippery and traffic was light,
although it was coming down hard enough that visibility was less than ideal.
The solo
performances demonstrated amazing virtuousity, although some were a little too
new-agey for my taste. Things picked up considerably when more than one
musician was on stage, especially during the second set, as much of the
material was more up-tempo and the chemistry being the artists added a lot.
Dawes, who’s toured with Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, was the focus
pretty much whenever he was on stage with his energy and self-deprecating
British humour. Krengel was very earnest in his solo numbers, but I was particularly
impressed with his work on the collaborations. I especially enjoyed the
interplay on “Tight Trite Night” (written by Canadian guitarist Don Ross) and
on Dawes’ “Boogie Shred”, which ended the second set.
The encore
did not disappoint either, as all four joined in an instrumental version of
David Guetta’s “Titanium” (a big hit a year or two ago with Sia on vocals). At
Krengel’s suggestion and Dawes’ urging, crowd members activated the flashlights
on their cell phones on each chorus, matching the pulsing of the multi-colored
stage lights.
(Other song
titles I remembered or figured out: “Silverado Squatters” (Gore solo), “Looking
Out For Peace” (Krengel solo), “The Impossible” and “Somewhere Home” (Dawes
solo), “Memories of Dachau, No. 4” (Reinhardt solo), “Stone Haulers” and “San
Luis Obispo” (second set duets).)
