Review and Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: Danny Zelisko Presents (https://dzplive.com/ )
Venue: Celebrity Theatre (https://celebritytheatre.com/ )
Date: October 5th, 2024
Tour: The Electric Years
I first saw Al Di Meola when he performed with Chick Corea & Stanley Clarke in Return To Forever. It was amazing to see this young guitarist that was so proficient at jazz fusion music. Over the years I have followed Al, and in the past few years I have seen him perform numerous times, but each show he performed acoustic guitar music. I was hoping that someday I would be able to re-experience Al playing electric guitar again.
Well finally my wish came true. He has put together his Electric Year tour and came to Phoenix. Al has pulled together a group of friends from around the world to perform as his band. Al was joined by keyboardist Philippe Saisse, drummer Tommy Brechtlein, bassist Elias Tona, and the fabulous percussionist Gumbi Ortiz.
At a previous concert Al, told us that when he was in high school, he tried to join a neighborhood garage band, but they told him he wasn’t good enough. So, his dad created a suite for Al to practice in. After high school, he went to the Berklee School of music in Boston. Tonight, we got the next part of the story. Al said a good friend of his who was a sound engineer asked him to play at a New Year’s Eve party. His friend recorded his performance. Jokingly Al told his friend that his favorite band was Return To Forever. At that time, Return to Forever was going electric and was looking for a new electric guitarist. Al’s friend sent the tape to Chick Corea. A few days later, Al gets a phone call from Chick. Al doesn’t believe it, but final, Chick told him if he wanted to join the band he was in. The catch was Al needed to be in New York City in a couple of days because practice started for their performance at Carnegie Hall. So, Al leaves school and returned to home to New Jersey. Both of his parents thought it was a joke and told him to go back to school. It finally sank in to his parents when a limo took them to Carnegie Hall. Thus at 19 years of age started the amazing career of Al Di Meola. Finally in 2008 he received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Berklee College of Music.
Al has created over 26 studio albums and has performed on numerous other artists albums. But tonight, they concentrated on 3 main albums from his career, Return To Forever’s Where Have I Known You Before, Al’s Elegant Gypsy and Casino. For some people, they might not like the show because there is no one singing. The entire show was instrumental. But what a spectacular instrumental show it was. The show was broken up into 2 sets with a short intermission, that Al jokingly told everyone it was their chance to buy merch.
I am not going to go into what songs were played, you can check out the setlist at the end of this review. But here are some of the highlights for me. They started with “The Wizard” that set the tempo for the evening. You could tell the band like playing together and seemed to have a great time on stage. Their playing was truly masterful.
The second set started with only Al on stage and he was seated with an acoustic guitar. He played for about 15 minutes a number of acoustic songs in a melody. Later the rest of the band came back on stage and the real fun started. I personally loved their performance of “Elegant Gypsy Suite”.
If you loved Return To Forever and electric jazz fusion music, then this show is a must see. I loved it and would highly recommend it. I can’t wait to see Al again no matter which style of show he performs.
Al Di Meola Social Media sites:
Website: https://www.aldimeola.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlDiMeolaMusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/official_aldimeola/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialAlDiMeola
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aldimeola.official
Al Di Meola
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2024, All Rights Reserved
Setlist: (Album)
Set 1:
The Wizard (Land of the Midnight Sun)
One Night Last June (The Al Di Meola Project song)
Flight Over Rio (Elegant Gypsy)
Beyond the 7th Galaxy (Return to Forever’s Where Have I Known You Before)
Dark Eye Tango (Casino)
Casino (Casino)
Set 2:
15 Minute Acoustic Medley
Egyptian Danza (Casino)
Señor Mouse (Casino)
Elegant Gypsy Suite (Elegant Gypsy)
Midnight Tango (Elegant Gypsy)
Song to the Pharaoh Kings (Return to Forever’s Where Have I Known You Before)
Encore:
Race With Devil on Spanish Highway (Elegant Gypsy)
