Review: Pat Metheny Unity Group (14 March 2014, Capitol Theatre)

After seeing the Unity Group earlier this week, I was stoked to catch them a second time. The venue was better --- much better. The crowd was worse --- maybe sleepy is the better description. And the bandleader was in a very different mood. As you can tell by comparing this photo to Monday's, I had a much better seat this time; about forty feet from the stage but off to stage right and slightly elevated. It gave me a chance to watch what everybody was doing pretty carefully. That includes Giulio, who was tucked in back for this gig as well. I might have had the only clear sightline in the building on him. For the record, he was enjoying himself despite being tucked in the corner like Jennifer Grey. And why not? I suppose I'd play in Pat's group even if I had to stand behind a curtain or something, the way Roger Waters makes his backup bass player do it on the Wall Tour.

The Capitol Theatre in Columbus is a much better venue than the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. There isn't a bad seat in the place and the acoustics are brilliant. With far less amplification (Pat had a freaking Bose L1 tower on his side for monitoring, and I could hear that) it sounded much better. On the other hand, the crowd wasn't nearly as involved as they were up north. The long-form pieces that got standing ovations in Michigan received polite applause here. Most of the first three rows got up to get wine or beer at some point. A significant percentage of the house left before the end, and a lot of the upper balcony was empty. I'd be surprised if Pat returned next time he comes through the Midwest.

I'd expected about the same setlist, and I got it. The only change was in the Chris Potter/Metheny duet, where the Miles Davis tune "Solar" replaced the Coltrane tune, "Countdown". Pat's take on it was nearly note-for-note what he does on the "Question&Answer" disc. Potter was blowing a bit harder than he'd done at the previous gig.

That was true for everyone. The band definitely stepped it up all the way around, all evening. Pat was playing far more "outside" and taking a lot more chances, not all of which worked out. Carmassi hit notes he didn't try on Monday night, Antonio was more active and harder-hitting, and Ben Williams was far more convincing during "Bright Size Life" and everywhere else. For the record, Pat's recent (as in, um, since 1999) fetish for playing "BSL" with an upright bass is pure bullshit. I realize it's a nice way to sidestep the Jaco comparisons, but I think it should either be left out of the set or done with someone who can handle it, like the long-departed-with-hard-feelings Richard Bona.

I watched Pat pretty intensely tonight and I noticed two things. The first thing is that he's mixing WAY too much piezo in with his Ibanez electric. It took me a while to figure out why so much of his playing sounded "quacky" at times. But then during the duet with Williams he dialed down the neck pickup and started strumming and I realized aha! Piezo! Or, given that he has a floating tailpiece, it might be a reprocessing of the stereo signal coming from his Ibanez. But it has that creepy piezo quack thing going on and when he dialed it out his tone improved a hundredfold.

The second thing sounds weird, but here it is: Pat is a far, far better guitar player than he was in 2005, or 1994, or 1977. We don't want to think about that for some reason; we like to think of talented people as kind of springing from the ground, not improving over time as a consequence of dedicated effort. Don't get me wrong. He was obviously brilliant in 1977, but now he's so much faster and has so many more ideas it's like he's a different person. Several times tonight, during other players' solos, he started comping at the speed of a solo. What I mean by that is that he would play eighth-note or even sixteenth-note chords, changing grips too fast for me to even guess at where he was going next.

When he bothered to play a single-note line, he was faster than I've ever seen him. It seems unlikely that he'd be at his technical best at the end of his sixth decade, but that's what is happening. Pat is notorious for his practice regimen. I suppose it's paying off. There doesn't seem to be much room for improvement left, frankly.

This has been a satisfying week, to say the least. Shame I have to return to work on Monday --- but before I do that, I'm going to head out on a little tour of my own. If you're in Chicago this weekend, stop by Independence Tap Saturday night; I'm playing bass for a group of guitarists. Don't expect to hear any Metheny tunes, though!