Tommy Emmanuel/Mike Dawes!

islandguitar · #1 07-19-2019, 05:54 PM

Hi folks!
Well, I waited through the day to see if others might post about this concert in New London Ct. last night.
My third time seeing TE.........is it possible he had even more enthusiasm and buoyancy than a few years ago? YES!!
Mike started the program and was precise and beautiful with his select tunings and presence. Truly an artist and rising in his ability to bring an interesting stage presence to his audience as a solo performer with intricate and delicate fingerstyle play. It was a beautiful start to the evening.
TE joined in after the intermission and played for 2 hours.......such command of the stage..........such virtuosity!! Classics like Angelina ( most requested tune), Lewis and Clarke, Blood Brothers (very powerful) and Michelle with phenomenal harp harmonics. House of the Rising Sun, which he sung and...........incredible guitar work through the mid section. And, a night where the Beatles medley AND Guitar Boogie came to visit!! A few new tunes, including "Fuel" which he wrote on a train ride in France.
Above all, Tommy seemed to enjoy his audience so much.........shared two new details about his life:
-he's now a US citizen! (6 weeks ago)and,
-a brand new grandpa (last week!).
Also talked about his involvement with "Guitars for Vets".......great!
A special night........as many of you know who have witnessed what it's like to see him live. His heart and soul in his music on full display.
Don't miss seeing him if you catch the opportunity!!!

jemartin · #2 07-21-2019, 02:57 PM

Yes... love Tommy Emanuel’s music. As you mentioned Lewis and Clark is great. Another one that I love is The Finger Lakes... did he play that song?
And Mike Dawes’ work is exceptional.... glad you got to see them together. I hope to some day!

islandguitar · #3 07-21-2019, 07:27 PM

Hi Joe!
Nope, Finger Lakes was not among the songs for that evening. just means we'll have to see him again to see if we can catch that tune!

thechariot1x · #4 07-23-2019, 07:57 AM

This sounds like an awesome show! Tommy Emmanuel and Al Petteway (my current favorite artist) are both on my concert bucket list. Mike Dawes is just incredible too, I really like his covers of titanium and somebody that I used to know.

JonnyBGood · #5 07-24-2019, 03:28 AM

What a line up.

When I saw this tour announced on Mike's Instagram feed I thought wow , what a treat for you lucky US fingerstyle guitar fans. Tommy is practically a household name for guitarists of course but its great for Mike to get this exposure and share this bill. He is such a fantastic musician, his compositions and arrangements are both beautiful and mind boggling in their intricacy/detail. I was a few feet away from him playing on his last UK tour and he has exceptional chops..and for those that don't know, his pre-fame/success posts can still be found here on AGF.

I've just watched a backstage video Mike recorded with them both chatting about guitar and jamming through several numbers, solo and duo. Awesome stuff and great to see Tommy so humble and appreciative of a modern style player like Mike (as he is about Andy McKee and others). Mike of course is a big fan of Tommy's and has always cited him as an influence.

islandguitar · #6 07-25-2019, 12:34 PM

Very cool, Jon....do you have a link to that clip??

JonnyBGood · #7 07-26-2019, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by islandguitar

Very cool, Jon....do you have a link to that clip??

I'm afraid not, Mike live-streamed it to his Instagram feed and I caught it the next day before it expired. I've no idea whether these things are archived anywhere.

JonnyBGood · #8 07-30-2019, 07:55 AM

Hey Fred - Mike just added the video to his Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux_5p2vTiy4&t=1086s

Bad news is the audio is pretty bad quality - I don't know what bitrate live streams to Facebook/Instagram stream at, but capturing this then encoding and uploading it to Youtube has degraded it a little further by the sounds of it. The talking/chatting is fine but guitars are not good. Auto focus on the camera (phone?) is a bit annoying too.

Worth watching though if you are fans of these guys, and despite the quality their duet on 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room' is great.

PS Just had a listen to A Playground Melody - very nice! And whatever guitar that is you are getting a lovely tone from it :-)

islandguitar · #9 07-31-2019, 10:19 PM

Thank you for sharing the link, Jon! Very enjoyable in spite of the audio quality.

these two get along so well........in their concert it was obvious to all in attendance......however, they didn't play together that night....separate sets, both of which were great. My wife and I agreed that it was, from a performance /concert aspect, wise to keep things separate so each could individually shine.

Thanks for taking a listen to my "Playground Melody". the guitar is my Tom Doerr Legacy.

All the best,
fred