Pat Metheny's Orchestrion Show in St. Louis

I saw the Orchestrion concert at the Blanche Touhill Center at UMSL (University of Missouri at St. Louis) not too long ago. What a spectacle! Considering the ticket price (compared to, say, the price of a ticket to sit in the dirt and watch Rush on TV at the Verizon Amphitheater), you really shouldn't miss this concert. It's really something to see, and Metheny's performance alone is worth the price of admission.

The Orchestrion machinery is very novel, and Pat does his best to make it musically pertinent instead of merely a curiosity. There are other self-accompanists displayed, including a oddly shaped guitar with a creepy, internal plucking hand mechanism, along with pre-recorded sections.

At one point in the evening, in an effort to show the audience how things work, Pat built a largely improvised piece, layer upon layer. He recorded a guitar riff and stored it digitally (in a loop pedal, I think). He then recorded another riff, then a bass riff, then stored some midi instructions from his guitar which resulted in the percussion instruments sounding. Then marimba, piano, vibes, more drums, etc, until he had a full ensemble going. He then recorded a second chord progression into the digital loops. Then, with his Roland G808 guitar on the "Phase Dance" guitar stand that he invented, he soloed over the progression, moving from one loop to the next with a click of a foot pedal. The end result was technically astounding, but even more, musically great.

Here's what I remember of the setlist. Please leave me a comment if you were at the show and have a better memory than I!

1. Unidentified nylon acoustic piece
2. Make Peace - Baritone Guitar
3. The Sound of Water - Pikasso Guitar
4. Unity Village - PM100 plus Orchestrion Percussion
5. Orchestrion Suite - PM100 plus Full Orchestrion
1. Expansion
2. Spirit of the Air
3. Entry Point
4. Orchestrion
5. Soul Search
6. Improv including Broadway Blues and or Round Trip
7. Antonia
8. Improv on bizzare, self-playing guitar
9. Step-by-step looped improv
10. Sueño con México
11. Stranger in Town
12. Encore (Help - I can't remember what he played)

I'll leave you with this thought, from Pat himself, quoted from the Philadelphia Daily News. This is his response to those who would rather just see him playing with live musicians:

"It's like somebody watching 'Bambi,' then saying, 'That was a good movie, but why didn't they get a real deer?' They're missing the point. It's not a substitute. It's a medium of its own. Of my own."