Al Di Meola - 9/27/26 - Fresno, CA - Tower Theater

I wish I had the music and guitar knowledge and vocabulary to put into words how incredible of a guitar player he is. I just saw Chris Duarte a couple weeks ago, who was mind-blowingly good, but this guy Albert (Alfredo maybe?) is just as good or maybe even a little better. His technical skills are off the chart. He effortlessly changed chord shapes all over the neck and accurately picked strings in every imaginable combination.  

If I was going to try to describe it what kind of music it was, I'd say it was latin jazz. But I'm sure someone who really knew music theory and music history would be able to pinpoint a ton of different influences. Almost the same way you need a true literature scholar to describe what James Joyce is doing in Ulysses.

It was a fully acoustic set. Al had a backing band consisting of another guitarist and a percussionist, both of whom are from Spain. And both of whom were pretty talented in their own rights.

During every song, there were videos playing on a screen behind the performers. Most of them appeared to be home movies featuring Al's family and children. One was a short film following John Lennon around. And another was various clips of Bob Weir, during which Al and the boys played Uncle John's Band.

The show was two and a half hours long, with a short break in between two sets. I settled in and enjoyed the show pretty quickly, just getting lost in Al's mastery of the guitar.