Community (American Garage)

Subject View

From:	Message:
SUBJECT:	Metheny’s PMUG in Europe Back to Subjects
Nissen67 Jun 11 2014 at 9:28 PM	Thanks to some lucky coincidence with work, I have been able to be in Europe on an extended stay, which has allowed me to follow this incredible tour to some unlikely but very interesting destinations. I have resisted posting because I always seem either speechless or I keep saying the same things over and over again. And again. But I can safely say, after following Metheny for all these years this is hands down and far away the best band he has ever had and the most impressive live presentation of his career that I have seen. I was able to see shows in Berlin, Budapest, Frankfurt and Poznan (Poland) and then just now in Manchester and London. First of all, the fact that this band is able to maintain this level of performance night after night 6 or 7 nights a week in different cities every day is just astonishing and PM most of all who never leaves the stage the entire 3 hours and is playing better than I have ever heard him. I never once yet have seen his energy or endless flow of ideas flag even one bit. What has been interesting to me as an observer is the different audiences and how it seems to affect the music and the band. The German audiences were most impressive. They are real listeners and generous to the musicians which seem to inspire the group to dig further and further, and Polish people seem to have a passion about Metheny that I have never seen anywhere else. The Budapest concert was also great. Unfortunately I have to say that the UK audiences were the worst I have ever seen at a Metheny concert. Both in Manchester and tonight in London, while there seemed to be an appreciation of a sort, there was nowhere near the kind of energy or the sense of the audience "getting it" that I have seen in just about every other place I have seen shows over the years. A kind of lethargy and a sense of really not getting it at all that was actually a little disturbing. I was close enough to the band tonight to even see them look at each other like "is anybody out there?" once or twice. That said, they still managed to destroy the place. Hoping to hop down to Italy for at least one more show before they head back to the states in July.
Login to Post
colinl52 Jun 13 2014 at 10:29 AM	Nissen I’m with Yossarian on this one - I actually thought the crowd in London were way more enthusiastic than usual and I doubt he expected to do four encores - I cant remember when he last did that in the UK! (Two in Manchester apparently!)
yossarian Jun 13 2014 at 4:20 AM	Nissen, I just want to add I’ve seen Pat play in Italy and beyond, and the London audience the other night was just as enthusiastic as any I’ve seen. The only thing I’d criticise about the whole night was that the Gents loo door kept slamming (lol) People enjoy great jazz gigs whenever they come up - there aren’t so many Pats, Chicks, Herbies, Sanborns around that people can sit there lethargically. The astonishing gig the other night was hugely appreciated. I think your perception might be skewed in some way?
gazuk Jun 12 2014 at 11:14 PM	As a Brit-based fan I have travelled all over Europe and beyond following Pat. On this tour I saw two shows in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the tour and was also present at Manchester and London. Believe me the two UK shows were much the better of the four so far. The audience reaction in the UK was great and clearly raised the band’s level judged the length of time they played, always a good measure. Of the countries I’ve seen Pat I’d say the Poles are the most deeply affected by his music. Italy and Spain are always great. Pat always gets a great response in Germany. I have also seen Pat in a number of cities in the States where the audiences can be loud and quite disrespectful to the artists. From my experience I just don’t get your comments about the UK audiences.
toneman Jun 12 2014 at 8:12 PM	thanks all for letting those of us on the other side of the pond to continue to enjoy this phenomenal tour vicariously through you. the record is out of this world as were the shows over here.
bxl12378 Jun 12 2014 at 4:31 PM	Nissen!I don’t get this at all. I saw PMUB in Brussels last week and went to the London gig yesterday. It was simply fantastic!! The band did two more encores than they did in Brussels, so if the crowd did not please them, why would they have bothered? I’ve been to hundreds of concerts and I found the London crowd to be very disciplined. They waited each time till the end of a song to applaud and did the same after a great solo by one of those phenomenal musicians.I was surrounded by people almost jumping of the balcony at the end because they were very much in that zone. I started talking to this Scottish guy, who travelled all the way from Glasgow with his wife to see the show. He was way in his sixties and saw The Stones, Beatles,Who and Led Zep life. I mean, this guy had been around. He mostly knew Pat by his music from the eighties and was in London to see him perform live for the very first time. Well, during the gig, as he sat right in front of me, I noticed him crying more than once, so happy that he was to witness this brilliant performance, hearing a lot of tunes he only knew from the albums. More than once, he took his wife by the hand and they listened, still very much in love. This is why I keep on going to Pat’s gigs, for 25 years now and again: yesterday in London it was a great crowd, trust me. If not, I should apparently go and see PM in Poland next time...
tiny_tim Jun 12 2014 at 9:27 AM	Nissen67, as you said ’destroy’ the Hammy/London and they sure did, and in truck loads too. The levels of musical virtuosity I witnessed were astounding. The set list and the interplay with Pat and each of the group in the duets, and retouching/revisiting former charts and them sounding so non-dated and still relevent...and then the playing live of <KIN> which took that piece of work off the CD etc. and brought it to sheer life....So so many layers of detail happening. I truly hope that anyone reading this who has not seen this Tour to get your good self and all the good people who are open to great music, and witness this. Words never do justice describing the vast places Metheny’s world travels to. And those special places get deeper and wider with each passing year. This PMUG <KIN> Tour is pretty special.
Bikenjazz Jun 12 2014 at 8:10 AM	Your perspective and feedback is something I really appreciate reading..................You are more than lucky to see the boys play in many venues...........I usually google the theatre pictures of everywhere that they play.........The Opollo theatre in London was huge..............We saw him at the Shedd Institute in Eugene on the first of March.........very small venue and a great, great show...............but I concur completely about the flow of energy between the audience and the musicians.............always being somewhat different...............but as in many areas of life in the modern world (Crusaders and Ivan Linn, 1988)............people at times seem just to lazy to stand up, get involved or let their hearts and/or spirits soar along with the virtuosos flying the bus...........
terryhickmott Jun 12 2014 at 5:34 AM	I was at the Manchester concert on Tuesday night, and I thought the audience was very enthusiastic. Yes they were quiet during the music, but there was great applause after each song. Towards the end there were at least three standing ovations. Last time I saw Pat, with Gary Burton at the Barbican, the room was only about a third full. The Lowry was more or less sold out. Thankfully the audience were respectful of the request for no photography, which is not always the case. Right at the beginning, when Pat came onto the stage, someone yelled ’Welcome back to the UK Pat’, which Pat didn’t acknowledge. I personally don’t think Pat likes a great deal of fuss, but he certainly won’t have been in any doubt as to the enthusiasm of the audience I was in.
yossarian Jun 12 2014 at 4:30 AM	Hey, I was at the London gig last night and it was astonishing. I thought the audience were great too - it seemed to me they did get it. Mind you, it’s easy to get - 5 incredible musicians playing incredible music incredibly well. That was very obvious. I heard the Manchester gig went down great too, so lay off the Brits!
Login to Post