[True North]

I have a few shows, not in a any order;

1) Al Di Meola - The first was going to see Airto Moreira and Al Di Meola in 87' at Convocation Hall in Toronto. They also played with a Piano player whose name escapes me now. At that time I had just started to listen to some of the jazz fusion greats. The concert was my first 'jazz' concert and it is memory that will stick with me for quite some time. The concert was all acoustic, so Al played only acoustic guitar and there was of course piano and percussion. I remember that Airto did a percussion solo that crescendoes with, of all things, a china type. The whole performance was so inspiring and intense that I was teary eyed.

2) Pat Metheney - Same year, I also went to see Pat Metheney in Toronto at the old Ontario Place Auditorium (the stage used to spin in circles - seriously!!). Once again I was absolutely blown away with the level of performance. Not so much the technique but just the sheer inspriation of it all, melodically, rhytmically and texturally the whole night was so densely rich in a musical sense that it has stayed with me as one of my favourite performances.

3) The Scorpions - this is obviously on the other end of the spectrum from my previous two examples and obviously the things I took away from the experience were different. I had been to a boatload of rock shows previously but there was no rock band that I had seen that put as much energy into a show as these guys. They were all over the stage, climbing on stuff, moving around, throwing guitars in the air - it really was an unbeleivable rock show - I thin it was the Rock you Like a Hurrican tour. They weren't even a favourite band of mine but I was blown away by the performance.