Andy McKee in concert

Being a real fan of guitar music, yesterday was a great day for me. I got the chance to see the amazing Andy McKee in concert in London. Guitar playing skills at it’s best. One thing probably sums it up: WOW!

Some of you might not know who Andy McKee is. A couple of months ago, I did not know him either but then I stumbled across one of his videos on YouTube. It was almost unbelievable to see him play like that. And luckily I found out on his web site that he is touring and will be playing in London end of November. So getting a ticket was almost a must.

The gig took place at a pub called George IV, located in Chiswick. I have never been there and for some reason I expected a rather smoke-filled and dark place, crammed with people. But it was totally not like that. Very spacious, bright and tables to sit at (their event room is normally used for comedy nights as well).

Isodore and Clay was the band that played before Andy came on stage. I wouldn’t call them a support band, cause they were clearly more than that. The five guys, led by Michael as the front man, delivered a great performance and I really liked their soft and harmonic tunes. Full of emotion, I would say, and a great introduction of things to come that night.

When Andy came on stage, very down-to-earth and like the guy next door, wearing jeans and a Marshall t-shirt, the welcome by the audience was just amazing. He started the evening with a couple of songs on his “regular” guitar, including Drifting, Rylynn (dedicated to his best friends daughter), For My Father (dedicated to his dad) and Art of Motion. In between the songs, apart from re-tuning his guitar, he had little chats with the audience, showing what a funny and down-to-earth this 28 year old chap from Topeka, Kansas, really is.

After the intermission, he showed us his harp guitar, introducing it with “Are you ready for the tuba?”. The guy next to me said, with a smile: “What are you trying to compensate for?”. You can see him play this instrument on YouTube as well. The group of people who play harp guitar is reasonably small, but maybe you can spot Andy in one of the pictures of this elite group. Again, I have never seen someone play such an instrument, but – as everything that evening – it was pretty WOW. Songs after the break included Toto (the chorus part is probably my favorite), Heather’s Song (dedicated to his sister), Into The Ocean (in reference to his experiences when spending time in California), Shanghai (written almost entirely in a hotel room when being on tour in China) and She (dedicated to his girlfriend). He finished off the evening with an encore which will be featured on his new duet album, where he plays together with another amazing guitar player he got influenced by: Don Ross. The album is due to come out in January.

After the show a lot of fans stayed at the venue to buy CDs (the ones I wanted were out of stock already), get an autograph or have a little chat with the maestro himself. We got lucky and were one of the first ones in the queue and he signed our tickets for us. During this little chat I found out that he will be playing in Linz, Austria, next year and that he is – indeed – just a great and nice guy. And apart from having a great time, that evening made one thing clear to me: He just purely loves what he is doing – the love and passion for the music and the instrument. YouTube helped him to become famous in a way, but even if that would not have happened, he would still love playing and performing. He just loves what he is doing, and considering the response from the audience, people really appreciate that.

I was very thrilled by the nice and friendly atmosphere (I tried to capture it with some photos which can be found in the Photos section), that’s why I would say it was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Normally, you don’t get that up close to such a great musician and I really enjoyed every second of it. So if you are lucky and Andy plays a gig near you…well, you know what to do.