I must be honest and say I had no idea what to expect of Tommy Emmanuel live. I had heard the latest album, ‘Little By Little’ and thoroughly enjoyed it, and I knew him by reputation as one of the best acoustic guitarists on the planet but on a day such as yesterday when most people were either winding down from overindulgence at a street party or a ‘Not The Wedding’ party or were away to avoid the wedding altogether it was a complete unknown to me.
Mr Emmanuel had already started when I got there, very prompt at 20:00, but I still had plenty of musical fireworks in store. The crowd was all seated – not usual for the Forum – but still managed to put over an almost manic enthusiasm for this silver haired and genially smiling Australian as he played solo and some of the best acoustic guitar I have ever heard live – this is a man that is absolutely up there with Al Di Meola, Paco Delucia et al and the audience were rapt with attention as he played fast, slow, a Beatles medley and even some folky ‘stuff’. When his band joined him – Simon Husford on Guitar, Robin Liddle on bass, Ashley Crick on keys and Kevin Murray drums - they just seemed to fill in the spaces behind him and never took attention away from the man himself.
A wonderful version of ‘Classical Gas’, ‘Little By Little’ and ‘Lookin’ At The World Thru Willie’s Shades’ were all on his acoustic but he even switched to electric for ‘Tailing The Invisible’ and ‘Terra Firma’ and then back to solo for ‘Moon River’ and a delightful ‘Michelle’ .
His genial banter with the band and the audience was borne out of a long career but never forced or false and I got the impression that here was a genuinely fine guitarist and a seriously nice guy. The audience seemed to agree because they were giving him all sorts of positive feedback.
Over two hours in the centre is a long time for anyone but he seemed to carry it off easily and I can honestly say that I left with a beaming smile on my face after some really fine playing
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