1 post tagged “singapore”
It was about 10 years ago when I first felt the awe of seeing Tommy Emmanuel perform live and seeing him yesterday again in concert in Singapore reinforced my opinion that Tommy is one of the greatest guitarists on this planet. Before the show, Amy and I were looking at a poster of Tommy's show in Victoria Theatre and she asked whether Tommy's music was country and western. I replied that it's not easy to classify his music to any particular genre and at the end of the show Amy agreed that Tommy is indeed a class act of his own.
There are so many words to describe his music but each one of them sounds inadequate to truly convey the sheer virtuosity, talent and versatililty of this artist. Tommy makes his guitar more than just a guitar; in his hands, the instrument becomes a drum, a special effects machine and coupled with Tommy's unique brand of fun and humour as he performs, the man transforms into a one man band and more. I found myself holding my breath during most of the concert, because it felt like a musical joyride adventure where his own compositions and other well known songs are given new, unexpected and surprising dimensions with his performance. I clapped so hard throughout the concert last night that the tip of my fingertips became numb. Tommy's live performance of Mombasa which sounds so tame in a CD recording was transformed into a heart stopping, feet tapping extravanganza, especially with the breath-taking "drum" solo when Tommy started to use his guitar body as a drum. It was simply amazing and it's something which you have to see and hear to believe.
While Tommy has certainly developed his own style of playing, there are certainly clear traces of the legendary Chet Atkins' finger picking style present in his performances. Tommy paid tribute to the late Chet Atkins during the concert and played a medley of songs in finger picking style, starting with a song from Tommy and Chet's album from 1996, The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World entitled To Be or Not to Be which ironically, is written in the key of B!
The concert hall packed last night and it was good to see so many kiddos, obviously guitar enthusiasts, in the audience. Am willing to bet my last dollar that each of them, like me, would die to be able to play the guitar like Tommy.
It's a shame that Tommy's concert was only a one night concert, as I would have definitely loved to have watched him play again. It's not every day that there's a concert which can send me into an musical orgasm.
While Tommy has certainly developed his own style of playing, there are certainly clear traces of the legendary Chet Atkins' finger picking style present in his performances. Tommy paid tribute to the late Chet Atkins during the concert and played a medley of songs in finger picking style, starting with a song from Tommy and Chet's album from 1996, The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World entitled To Be or Not to Be which ironically, is written in the key of B!
The concert hall packed last night and it was good to see so many kiddos, obviously guitar enthusiasts, in the audience. Am willing to bet my last dollar that each of them, like me, would die to be able to play the guitar like Tommy.
It's a shame that Tommy's concert was only a one night concert, as I would have definitely loved to have watched him play again. It's not every day that there's a concert which can send me into an musical orgasm.
