Last night, I went to Massey Theatre in New Westminster and listened to the latest iteration of the IGN tour - Brian Gore (fingerstyle); Itamar Erez (Arabic/Israeli influences) Stephen Bennett (harp guitar/blues), and Lulo Reinhardt.
Venue - The Massey theatre is old for Vancouver - 60 y.o., and the seats aren't all that comfortable. They've overstuffed the seat for some reason, so you feel like you're sitting on one of those posture balls. Go figure. OTOH, the size was perfect! Massey only holds ~1200 people, and it was probably 3/4 full. Nice ambiance.
Lighting - good. No craziness, just spots on the performers. You could really see the hand positions, and the movement of the pompe.
Sound - B+ They took a little time right at the start to dial things in, but it was okay after. THe only complaint I would have concerns Lulo's Gitane. It was maybe too dry sounding, and in fact sounded pretty thin in comparison to the others. I think they had him dialed back quite a bit, probably because of his power?
Performers - Brian Gore - good fingerstyler working in DADGAD or lower, I think. Nice phrases.
Itamar Erez - I enjoyed how he could coax those middle-eastern bends and distortions out of his classical guitar in the very same song that came back into segovia-like phrases. Very nice.
Stephen Bennett - his harp guitar was celebrating it's 100'th birthday last night, apparently. His resonator wasn't but sounded good, too. He was as good as always, but the one piece that really got me was when he and Lulo did a duet of Tears. That's right, Tears on a harp guitar! 8)
Lulo - I'm biased, but he was definitely the most dynamic of the performers last night. He played a couple of his own Spanish-influenced pieces on a classical, and Tears, Django , and Nocturne (I think) on his Gitane.
Whether the name influences me or not, I really enjoyed his playing
. I would love to see him at Djangofest, and hearing how he blends his two playing styles.
He demonstrated some amazing pompe last night. My neighbour in the seat next to me called him "inspiring" for her own guitar playing. If you can leave a performance inspired, I guess that's a high recommendation. I agree with her.
The whole night was inspiring to me, as well.
Ian