Tommy Emmanuel at the Keswick

I wrote about Tommy Emmanuel after last summer's folk fest (post is here), and ended the post by saying that I'd love to see him again. Well, I got my chance earlier this month when he came to the Keswick Theater.

Darling Wife and I had seats about ten rows from the front, all the way to the left. My bandmates were eating their hearts out at having to miss it - but since they were on a sailboat in the Caribbean, we won't shed too many tears for them.

There was an opening act, who I'd never heard of, but I figured that anyone touring with Tommy Emmanuel would have to be good. Was I ever right. The guy's name was Richard Smith, and he was a killer finger-style acoustic guitar player. Just like Tommy, he played a mix of instrumentals and songs with vocals. It turns out that he's fairly well-known in guitar circles (Chip knew who he was when we talked about the show later.)

His 45-minute set was fantastic (it's not often that you're sorry when the opener announces it's their last song) - then after a short break, Tommy came out. After writing last year about the show he puts on, I'm pretty much out of superlatives. With so many amazing players out there, and so many different styles of music, I hesitate to use terms like "the best" - but it's also hard to imagine that there are too many (or maybe *any*) better players. As a friend commented on the pic I put on FB: "He's OK if you like superlative unbelievable sounds like 6 hands playing on a single guitar!"

For two hours, he pulled out all the stops, and I just sat there with my jaw hanging open. Darling Wife said later, "I was paying attention to you watching him, and you kept doing two things - shaking your head, and laughing out loud." I know she's right. I couldn't help myself. That's the only way I know how to react to watching the impossible happen right before my eyes.

It really did seem like I watching the impossible. How can you do that many things at once on a guitar? And one of the things I love the most about him is how much fun he seems to be having. He has the enthusiasm of a child, and seems like there's nothing else he'd rather be doing and nowhere he'd rather be. And sometimes he looks up with an expressions of, "I know, I can't believe it myself!"

For the encores, he brought out Richard Smith, and they played 3-4 songs together. Again, I'm out of superlatives. I would have been thrilled to listen to a few more hours of them playing together.

I posted a bunch of YouTube links last summer, and here are a couple more.

• Angelina
• How Deep Is Your Love

Just a treat of an evening.