an audience with Andy McKee

I was looking very forward to tonight's show. Having caught Andy McKee a couple of times earlier, one time performing a duet with his hero Don Ross in a pub environment, tonight was a different type of show, all seated in the Playhouse with the theatre spotlight firmly on the Kansas wonder. Three guitars built by the amazing Michael Greenfield; an acoustic, a baritone and the absurd but similarly beautiful harp guitar, all stand in the wings waiting to be plucked, tapped and slapped.



Andy is a welcoming soul; he engages with the audience straight away (and some of them have nice 'heckles' back), telling us stories of paying FlyBe a small fortune to carry these wondrous guitars, how he finally named a song for his heavy metal loving sister ('Heather Song') and about his wife who could not make this tour due to being heavily pregnant, and to who he wrote 'She' all those years ago (he didn't want to name it with a girl's name in case it didn't work out. Could be time to change it…)

He starts tonight with 'The Art Of Motion' on the acoustic guitar, and performs his only slip up of the night, though I only know this as he said there was a "funky chord"... I couldn't tell. The man does not make any other mistakes all evening, not one note out of pitch or tone anywhere. Sheer genius.

Next are two cover arrangements, the excellent Tears For Fears track 'Everybody Want's To Rule The World' and his more well know cover of 'Africa' by Toto, with a chuckle at the end as he fades out to nothing. There's his take on Don Ross' 'Tight Trite Night', followed by 'Ebon Coast' from 2007's 'Gates Of Gnomeria' and 'Heather Song', both on the beautiful green ribbed baritone guitar.

Then it's time for the beast; the guitar that McKee begged Greenfield to make for him; the Harp guitar. Looking like the son of a Spanish guitar and a legless wooden elephant, this beautiful piece of craftsmanship took 2 years to design and build and is here for our hearing pleasure. Track 'Away' from latest album 'Joyland' is the first song tonight to showcase its rich tones and the crazy amount of musicianship it takes to play. Andy describes it's anatomy a little more to us beforehand; it's a normal acoustic 6 string on the bottom with 6 sub bass strings above. And they are deep bass strings with a lovely sound…



After a short interval McKee returns to the harp guitar (which was missing from the stage during the break, as it probably takes that long to retune it!) to play 'Into The Ocean' and then dedicate the song 'The Friend I Never Met' to Michael Wedges, a performer Andy unfortunately never got to see before his untimely death in 1997.

McKee explained his sister introduced him to Metallica and Iron Maiden at the age of seven, so he played electric guitar until when he heard the likes of Preston Reed and Michael Hedges and went over to the fingerstyle side. I would love to hear McKee shred some electric guitar at a show too though!

Next up it is back to the baritone for the title track of new album 'Joyland', a song about an old abandoned amusement park (or metaphor for growing up). Next is a version of a song he played on the Guitar Masters tour in America with other heroes Eric Johnson and Peppino D'Agostino called 'Blue Liquid', and then onto the crazy 'Hunter's Moon', one of only a couple of songs where Andy taps and slaps the guitar. He explains that he is well known for this style from one You Tube video and it is not his usual style at all, plus it's a real workout!

In the opening plucking of 'Rylynn' the crowd give a recognisable cheer, then McKee ends the set with a song we all know and what helped him get where he is today via Candy Rat Records and You Tube; 'Drifting'. This whole set earns him a standing ovation, and he truly deserves it.

After quite possibly the world's shortest encore he is back to finish the show with a cover of Michael Hedge's 'Ragamuffin'. He makes it look so easy that I try some of these guitar playing techniques when I get home, but I'm a good 20 years of solid practice away from being anywhere close to Andy's level.

Absolutely amazing stuff.

Setlist:

The Art of Motion
Common Ground
Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Africa
Tight Trite Night
Ebon Coast
Heather Song
Away

Into The Ocean
The Friend I Never Met
Joyland
Blue Liquid
Hunter's Moon
She
Rylynn
Drifting

Ragamuffin

FUTURE GIGS