Pat Metheny Group; The Songbook Tour

29 June, Križanke

The star of the evening as well as this year’s festival, Pat Metheny, began his The Songbook Tour in completely full Križanke theatre. He initially played a sort of “best of” miscellany, from Phase Dance to James, also adapting his compositions somewhat as he “had almost forgotten how they went”.

He repeatedly stressed how happy he was to play in Ljubljana, whose audiences have had the pleasure of seeing Metheny perform live several times. He then also played several new pieces, on various differently sounding guitars and creating diverse effects. The core of his well-versed group has been accompanying him since 1977 – keyboard player Lyle Mays has played with Metheny since the very beginning, while later on they were joined by Steve Rodby, this time excelling on his bass guitar as well as double bass; also excellent was the new member of the group, the astounding drummer Antonio Sanchez, who joined the band in 2002.

The audiences heartily welcomed the band, whose lively and virtuosic rendition was met with standing ovations and, finally, the listeners crowding the stage.

                                                                                    Andraž Jež