Project Description
Tommy Emmanuel
Canberra Theatre Centre
(2 August 2018)
Live Review
Reviewer – Benjamin Smith
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Tommy Emmanuel is considered one of the great guitarists, not just in Australia but internationally he is recognised as a phenomenal talent who can do things with a guitar most people could never even dream of. He is currently touring off the back of Accomplice One, his most commercially successful record to date.
It’s been something of a tough year for Emmanuel with the passing of both his brother and long time collaborator Phil and sister Virginia within a very short space of time. He pays tribute to both of them and manages to inject some very emotional moments into his performance whilst maintaining a sense of levity throughout the show.
The thing that really makes Tommy Emmanuel’s show noteworthy is just how engaging it really is. I am someone who has been less than reticent about reminding guitarists that their mid-set solos are often an act of musical onanism, so the potential for something so technically focussed to devolve into an ego driven mire is something of which I was at the very least conscious. In reality there is actually a real sense of humility that comes with the way he plays. It’s almost as if he still surprises himself with how fucking good he really is. Unlike a lot of musicians who aren’t the talent he is, Emmanuel doesn’t load the stage with a rack of endlessly varied guitars. His set consists of three which he rotates but for the most part he plays his trusty Maton and does things with it that simply don’t seem possible. It isn’t just the technical prowess, although that’s certainly very impressive. It is that the capacity to take that and build something that, beyond just showing what six strings can do, becomes something that elicits a genuinely emotional response.
Opening the show is Richard Smith, renowned finger picker who plays his first show ever in front of tonight’s Canberra Theatre audience. He is both incredibly talented and affable to a fault, which is a blessing because he comes with a list of dad jokes almost as long as his songbook. At one point towards the end of the show Smith and Emmanuel take to the stage together and it’s a real privilege to watch these two artists who’s mastery of their chosen instrument is unrivalled play off each other.
It’s also worth remembering that he’s been doing this at this level for something like forty years now and is continually able to find something new to say and new ways to make his instrument sing. Tommy Emmanuel doesn’t show any signs of slowing down and he’s likely to be with us for some time yet, but this tour is a showcase of a man at the height of his powers and well worth seeing. A couple of times if you can swing it.
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