Ottmar Liebert, IMAC Theater December 1, 2006

I know, it's about time! It's been just under a week since I saw Ottmar and I've not written a thing on it yet. Well, no more. Here is my review of things.

I'll have to start off with what might be obvious to a lot of people reading this: I've seen Ottmar a few times before, and each tour was different and had its distinct flavor, but this show was nothing like any of them. There was a guitar and some of the songs were the same--that was it! A completely new experience. Armed with just his guitar and a screen (hooked up to his MacBook Pro on stage) playing a slideshow of his pictures, from his recent pilgrimage in Tibet to images of home in Santa Fe. Without the band to back him up, the atmosphere was changed drastically--it was more relaxed, there was less of a frantic, energetic pace. The guitarist who originally introduced me to flamenco once told me that music isn't about the notes, it's about the space between them. Ottmar accentuated that Friday night. The bulerías were no less exciting than they've always been, but they were sparser, emptier--where he might once have used a chord on a beat, he would rest or do something percussive on the guitar (although this was less the case with the bulería in the video below). His trémolo was particularly clear and beautiful this time around, and he used a bit of it throughout the show.

To hear old favorites like "Snakecharmer" and "Santa Fe" reimagined in this minimalistic, band-less atmosphere--while it may have surprised many who came, having heard nothing but Nouveau Flamenco (an album title that I find to be more unfortunate by the day) and expecting an exciting "Barcelona Nights" fiesta--was, especially now that I'm learning guitar, very interesting, and ultimately--more importantly--very enjoyable. The show highlighted his virtuosity, I thought--unshackled by the constraints of having a 3-4 piece backing band, he seemed freer to do what he wanted, what he thought the song needed, and this proved to make for an amazing concert experience.

So the idea of "Solo Guitar + Talk" has gone through many incarnations, some of which have materialized and others which have never made it past the drawing board, but I was a bit surprised that the show was dominated by guitar--I was long under the impression that about half would be a PowerPoint presentation. Some of you can remind me, but isn't that more or less what the spring shows were like? Here, there was an interesting balance between that and a typical music show--in the second half, he took some questions from the audience, and he definitely talked a lot more in between songs than he usually did (is it on the Wide Eyed + Dreaming DVD where he says he dislikes speaking when he's performing? Not so this time!).

So we learned some interesting things between songs. He talked a bit about the history of flamenco and why no style is "pure", since art is always evolving. I remember a few songs in, the pictures had been cycling on the screen the whole show and he explained them, that they were pictures he'd taken all over, and that they were on random loop, so if you think the pictures you're seeing relate to what he's playing, it's all mental! (I didn't get that feeling much except once, when during one of the One Guitar songs, when this one picture completely fit the mood) He then reminisced about how in the early 90s, he was on the bus and Jon and the percussionist (I'm assuming Davo?) were sitting in front of the TV, eyes glued to the screen, playing Pink Floyd and saying "It matches the movie so well!!" :)

Then, as I mentioned, during the second half, he took Q&A from the audience briefly. Unfortunately, he only did it once or twice and cut it off after a few minutes. I'm not sure if he disliked the questions or just didn't like the talk interrupting him from the music, but if it's the former, I'd understand. There were some...well, interesting questions (like the person who asked "What artists inspired you?" very shortly after someone asked "Where do you get your inspiration?" and he essentially dismissed the question as unanswerable. And yes, there were at least two "Barcelona Nights" questions :) ).

All in all, the show was a beautiful experience. One that I doubt I will ever get to experience again, but that's OK--I think I enjoyed it as much as I really could. Photos are on Flickr, although there are much fewer than I usually take at his shows, for two reasons. First, there was less going on, in the band's absence--it was just him and the guitar, and I wasn't terribly close (that is to say, I was close, just far off to the side), so I couldn't get any nice guitar close-ups or anything of the like. Second, in lieu of a need to take lots of pictures, I wanted to free my memory card room (of which there was precious little--yes, I did run out, even after using up the entire 128 MB!) for...video! I uploaded them to YouTube, so the videos (using YouTube's fantastic embedded interface) are at the bottom of this post. Here is the setlist, as I recorded it during the show (accurate except that I didn't know the names of two of the One Guitar songs, and Sapo may have come before Dream):

Silence: No More Longing
The Longest Night (Soleá por Bulerías) --> Dream --> Sapo
Snakecharmer
This Spring Release 10,000 Butterflies
Santa Fe

---Intermission---

Unknown (Possibly new?) song --> Bulería
1G*
La Luna
1G*
Carrousel

---Encore---

Bombay

*"1G" means that he played a song from One Guitar whose title I wasn't able to recall at the time.

Videos: