Saturday 5th December 2009 @ Colston Hall, Bristol

The name Tommy Emmanuel may not be familiar to most, but for those who have witnessed the Australian guitarist live follow him with an almost cultish level of dedication. For them and many others, Emmanuel is the greatest living exponent of the acoustic guitar. Tonight, the Colston Hall boils over with anticipation as the unassuming figure takes to the stage and picks up his battered guitar.

Tonight’s set is varied in both tempo and tone, with Emmanuel using each composition to emphasise yet another aspect of his prodigious talent. There is the delicately affecting, Angelina; the superlative tributes to Byron Berline on Tall Fiddler and Django Reinhardt on Nuages; the frenetic and fun Classical Gas, and a Beatles medley where Emmanuel recreates a whole band, playing bass lines whilst adding melody and percussion simultaneously. And that’s not forgetting Initiation, a storm of percussion, feedback and animal calls in which Emmanuel evokes the Australian landscape with a little help from Pink Floyd.

The highlight of tonight’s set is when fellow Certified Guitar Player, John Knowles, joins Emmanuel on stage for four songs including Tennessee Waltz and He Ain’t Heavy. Both tracks, taken from Emmanuel’s forthcoming album Little By Little, are stunning, connecting on an emotional level as well as being technically faultless. Knowles’ subtle playing anchors Emmanuel, encouraging him to channel his vast talent into a more reflective, less showy style.

There are moments when Emmanuel’s simple lyrics appear trite next to his complex playing and the inclusion of pop balladeer Rick Price in the set’s finale seems odd. Yet these minor grievances aside, the show is a triumph. Emmanuel’s between song banter and over-enthusiastic leg-popping generates an informal atmosphere which moves the somewhat stilted appreciation of virtuosity into an altogether more relaxed and informal schema. Never before has technical excellence been so much fun.

www.tommyemmanuel.com

Tom Spooner