4/12/1979 Pat Metheny & the Pat Metheny Group, Shryock Auditorium, Carbondale, IL


 42 years ago today...

April 12, 1979 - Carbondale, IL

Jazz guitar virtuoso Pat Metheny brought his Pat Metheny Group to Shryock Auditorium on the campus of Southern Illinois University.
Metheny has three gold albums and 20 Grammy Awards and is the only musician to win Grammys in 10 different categories.
This show served as my introduction to jazz guitar. It was also my first working concert as a new member of the Student Government Activities Council Consorts Committee, a volunteer organization formed to produce and promote on-campus concerts at 1,200-seat Shryock Auditorium. This committee was my foot-in-the-door to the concert business and an opportunity for real world experience. My roles over time included booking, promotion, ticketing, production, load-in/load-out and artist relations.
I saw Pat again 10 years later in 1989 at Symphony Hall in Phoenix. He returned there again in 1992 and 1995 and to Union Hall in 1998. He is an incredible player, his fingers flying up and down the frets. His songs are primarily instrumental, with any vocals being more a scat styling with no words by guest vocalists. This show gave me a new appreciation for the genre.

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