I had the most amazing time last night at the auditorium for the Pat Metheny Trio concert. I’m not normally that sophisticated to listen to jazz, but I went with an open mind, and it was a blast and it could have possibly turn me into a groupie 
Anyway! The Roma jazz festival is here, from the 8th to the 30th November. And Cart managed to find out about the concert, which is held at Auditorium Parco Musica Roma, quite by chance.
The place reminds me quite a bit of the Esplanade in Singapore, which is another concert hall. The only thing missing was the sea, I suppose.
Coincidentally, it was also the location where Pat Metheny played some years back while Cart and I were dating, Knowing how much he loves this group, I would be happy to treat him to a concert. But either Pat arrived come months too early then or Cart some months too late and we didn’t get a chance to watch it then.
But as soon as Cart told me about the concert, I quickly jumped at the chance. Take it as an early Xmas present or a 2012 birthday present I guess *aren’t I a good wife? *coughs* And here are the tickets!
Because the seats were quickly filling up (and we bought the tickets the day before) we only managed to get balcony seats at the sides. Which is amazing, because I think that this particular concert was the priciest in the list of concerts … Buy hey, whatever makes Cart happy … He just better not get too used to it
There were loads of people when we arrived there last night. It doesn’t look crowded here in the picture below because I snapped this earlier February this year. There were interesting phrases in lights above every pillar. This particular one says, “Music is the soul to the universe and our imagination”
And *here* is the same place yesterday, with a crowd of people yesterday. There were probably about 5 thousand in all.
And here is the theater! It’s huge! It looked as if we were in a huge spaceship with the futuristic looking lighting on top. It was my first time in there, and it was Cart’s too even! And as a sidenote, I’d have to confess that even though I’m a Singaporean, I’ve yet to watch anything in the esplanade … that’s quite sad.
Anyway, here we are, taking a picture for posterity, waiting for the concert to start. The concert was supposed to start at 9 but they started like 15 minutes later and before that, poor Cartcart was stressing out, trying to reach the area by 8.30pm to search for parking and stuff.
But at length, they started. We’re sitting in an odd angle, but the sound is amazing up here nevertheless. All three players were really energetic and enigmatic and there were a number of songs which I recognized, as Cart forced encouraged me listen to them.
I took a couple of pictures which is totally not allowed, hence it’s a little bit blurry. But there were so many others taking footages (many with flash too … WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!) so I thought that one or two wouldn’t hurt.
The one on the bass is Larry Grenadier and it was rather hypnotising seeing him handle his instrument to the point that it looked quite sensual. The one on the drums is Bill Stewart, he totally reminds me of animal when he plays and we all know that animal, is fabulous! And of course, on the guitar is the amazing Pat Metheny himself, with his trademark striped shirt. We only got to see his back throughout the entire concert though, boo hoo!
But oh, if only I could somehow do a Professor X and share with all of you telepathically the concert somehow, because it was simply spectacular. Especially the finale bit where Pat Metheny performed alone, but pressing some pedals, he controlled a couple of instruments to accompany him as he plays.
It was something like this, but with more instruments.
If only I could remember the title of the song … argh! But that performance was totally eargasmic. I wonder if I’ll ever hear that again. 
Anyway, before I end, I thought that I’ll share his last encore performance which was really beautifully haunting to me. Visually, it’s a crappy quality but sound wise I think it’s worth listening to.
It’s very sexilicious, no?
Anyway … Well. Well. Well! Look at how happy Cart looks with Pat Metheny leaning on his shoulder
If I were rich, I would buy Pat Metheny and make him play before I got to sleep each night. But I’m not rich … So it looks like I’d have to start harassing Cartcart to pick up the guitar again 
* cracks whip *
Sometimes we have to catch the opportunities when available, it is sure that Meteny doesn’t come to Rome everyday. And some pleasures are simply priceless.
I only have one CD of this artist, I also like it a lot. This post gives me the mood to look for some more albums of him.
That’s true Emanuele, one has to catch the opportunities when they come. Do look out for more albums, there are quite a bundle around the house, most of them Cart made me listen to … He even made me watch Buffy and Angel back to back … LOL! What have I gotten married to?!
By the way, Metheny didn’t go to Rome every day, but Cart was recounting about how he first watched his concerts back in late 1978 while he was playing in an area in Gianicolo, and then in Eur and also in Rai, if I’m not wrong.