Pat Metheny Side-Eye III gig in London 19 July

**grahambop** · Today, 07:06 AM

Went to see Pat Metheny’s Side-Eye III concert at the Barbican in London on Sunday afternoon. I haven’t seen him before, so I thought it would be good to see him in this smaller ‘trio+’ format. He did not disappoint!

He played a mix of old tunes (I’m not a Metheny expert, but I recognised Bright Size Life and a couple of other tunes), and some of the tunes from his new album.

He played non-stop for 2 and a half hours, with 5 encores, so we got our money’s worth! He played a lot of guitars (the Ibanez, the roland synth guitar, various acoustics) and did some solo acoustic spots.

The group was excellent too (keyboards, drums, bass, percussion/vocalist), all new people to me, but I think that’s partly the point of the group, to give the new guys exposure. They all got to play solos too.

In the encores he played some old favourites with the group (e.g. Song for Bilbao) and he did 2 great solo medleys, one on the baritone steel-string acoustic, and one on a classical guitar (on which he played a nice solo arrangement of Minuano, which I am going to have a go at doing myself!)

So yeah, great gig, Pat’s enthusiasm for playing the guitar is infectious, he still looks like he just got his first guitar and can’t put it down!

No photos allowed during the concert, so you’ll have to make do with these:

Pat Metheny Side-Eye III gig in London 19 July-20260719_153121-jpg

Pat Metheny Side-Eye III gig in London 19 July-20260719_153121-jpg

Pat Metheny Side-Eye III gig in London 19 July-img_4588-jpeg

**grahambop** · Today, 07:14 AM

I had a bit of time to kill beforehand, so I went and had a quick look at the nearby 14th-century Charterhouse and got a photo.

London has been invaded by parakeets and while I was there, a parakeet sang in Charterhouse Square (that reminds me of something…)

Pat Metheny Side-Eye III gig in London 19 July-20260719_122944-jpg

Pat Metheny Side-Eye III gig in London 19 July-20260719_122944-jpg

**grahambop** · Today, 07:22 AM

Incidentally I think this video covers all the guitars Pat played. Interesting that he sticks bits of velcro on his expensive Manzer guitars to stop his nails banging on the top!

**bleakanddivine** · Today, 09:55 AM

It was one of the best gigs I've ever been to. The sound quality was superlative, the playing top notch. Just 5 musicians in the zone creating an almost orchestral soundscape with a staggering amount of detail, accuracy, complexity, dynamic range, musicality. Here's a full review:

Pat Metheny’s Side-Eye III+ in London - UK Jazz News