Colonial Theatre in Bethlehem, New Hampshire: Pat Metheny kicked off on May 16, 2019 with an acoustic and did a version of that medley he was ending his quartet shows in. Started with “Phase Dance” and mixed in stuff from all eras. Had that long segment with “This Is Not America.”
He spoke of his best friend Charlie Haden, and how Charlie was always pushing him to play more acoustic guitar. In fact, when they recorded Beyond The Missouri Sky, Haden insisted that Metheny not ever bring an electric guitar with him. So, after that he played a fairly long medley of stuff from that record.
Then, there was a short bit of the history of Pat Metheny’s baritone guitar, after which he played a bunch of stuff from One Quiet Night. There were a couple of scratchy noise-fests, using acoustic guitars, which I totally loved. And of course, he did a piece using the Pikasso.
Still, you could see that there were a couple of scrims behind him hiding stuff. And up front on the left and the right were this misshapen things draped with cloth. So, Pat gets up and center stage and taps a couple of pedals, then starts playing … and what comes out are bells, chimes, and some ringing percussion. A roadie comes and and pulls back the scrims revealing a few bits and pieces of Orchestrion machines.
He gets a groove going on, taps a pedal and puts the guitar down. Walks to stage right and takes the cover off of what turns out to be another hollow body guitar on a stand. He adds some more to the groove with that one, then walks to the opposite side of the stage, uncovering what I thought looked like a Fender Mustang. Fucking hell, Pat Metheny with a Fender Mustang!
So, then he adds even more to the goings on before going to the back of the stage and picking up the Red One: Let the guitar-synth screeching commence! There was also a segment before this were he played a blues over a loop that ended up turning into “The Turnaround” from 80/81. A certain high point for me.
He ended the show with his baritone, doing a cover of the Beatles’ “And I Love Her.” Two hours, and I was exhausted.
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