Al Di Meola Niagara Falls review

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abrackas

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It was my first time seeing Al and music-wise he did not disappoint. He played a bunch of older material from Casino and Elegant Gypsy. Stayed with his Les Paul the entire show. It was great seeing Philippe Saisse on keyboards with Al as well (the Minimoog was awesome!). The staff at the venue were some of the best I've seen. Very helpful and no bullshit for people that were misbehaving.

The show was supposed to start at 8pm and there was no opening act. Ten minutes go by then twenty. The staff said he was supposed to go on five after. By 8:30 people were verbally complaining about what's going on - some even left the show. He finally hits the stage at 8:40pm and provides no explanation. He gets his guitar on and he can't quite seem to get the sound on. He then says something to the effect "this is why I don't like electric". His tech comes out and gets it working by stepping on the correct button.

He finishes and walks off stage with the crowd chanting and cheering for an encore. He comes out a minute later (it is 10pm by now) and says "the problem with the states is you have these unions and I would love to play another hour but they won't let me. I'll get fined something crazy." He then gets confirmation he can do another song and says something to the effect "how many doughnuts can they eat?".

Everyone was saying the same thing - "if you weren't 40 minutes late you wouldn't have this problem".
What, did the union make him late? Let's handle things professionally Al.
 
Ah yes, bash the U.S. for your lack of professionalism.
Wasn't he born in Jersey?
 
Badronald":3jyrbwq5 said:
Ah yes, bash the U.S. for your lack of professionalism.
Wasn't he born in Jersey?
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He was; Teaneck I believe, for those familiar with North Jersey.

Edit: Bergenfield, doh!
 
Was bummed I missed out on getting tickets for this (they went fast). Now, not as much. Thanks for the review!
 
se7en":3hecds2b said:
Was bummed I missed out on getting tickets for this (they went fast). Now, not as much. Thanks for the review!
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I was late on the bandwagon and literally checked everyday to see if there were any tickets and setup an alert on Stubhub. Someone finally listed a single seat on SH and I took it. Sure enough the week of the show they released about a dozen tickets (I still looked out of curiosity). It was a great show, just wish he would have been on time and not shifted blame around.
 
I really dislike artists that act that way, especially if people pay good money to see them.
 
Fuck you dimeola. I am Union right here in NY.
I'll support my Union brothers way before I waste a dollar to go see you.
Your music is fuckin boring and your a fuckin asshole.
I pray that you do a show here real soon and that me and my crew work on it.....
 
The concert promoter should of addressed him "Axl" Di Meola.
 
Al is a great guitar player, and a horrible human being. He's playing here in SD soon (or I just missed it, I can't remember). My wife saw the ad on the theater downtown and called me to see if I wanted to go. I almost said yes, but then I remembered his repuation for being consistently late, treating the audience like shit (or ignoring their existence entirely), and generally being a racist asshole.

I'll just watch him playing with Paco and McLaughlin from my the comfort of my own home for free. Those shows are so fun to watch!
 
Racist, too? I'd be interested in some examples. I'll reserve judgement until then.

Lots of big name stars have unreasonably sized egos. I give them a little leeway for selfish behavior.
 
I like to hear him play but I'd rather not hear him speak a word, or know anything about the guy at all. He's basically on par with a 22 year old Yngwie as far as ego and doucheness go.
 
So you know nothing about the guy at all but think he's a douche on par with a 22 year old Yngwie? Glad you give people the benefit of the doubt.
Man you fuckers are amazingly judgmental. Glad to know you're all such stellar people...you know no facts here but many conclusions based on NOTHING!
Not his defender but I have yet to see anything in print or otherwise to make me draw such harsh conclusions about the man. And yeah, he's a motherfucker of a guitar player that could bury anyone on this site.
 
RG955TT":2dd9b29k said:
So you know nothing about the guy at all but think he's a douche on par with a 22 year old Yngwie? Glad you give people the benefit of the doubt.
Man you fuckers are amazingly judgmental. Glad to know you're all such stellar people...you know no facts here but many conclusions based on NOTHING!
Not his defender but I have yet to see anything in print or otherwise to make me draw such harsh conclusions about the man. And yeah, he's a motherfucker of a guitar player that could bury anyone on this site.
Click to expand...
Al, is that you?
 
RG955TT":jt2msdte said:
So you know nothing about the guy at all but think he's a douche on par with a 22 year old Yngwie? Glad you give people the benefit of the doubt.
Man you fuckers are amazingly judgmental. Glad to know you're all such stellar people...you know no facts here but many conclusions based on NOTHING!
Not his defender but I have yet to see anything in print or otherwise to make me draw such harsh conclusions about the man. And yeah, he's a motherfucker of a guitar player that could bury anyone on this site.
Click to expand...

Yeah sure, based on nothing. The guy is an incredible player but with an ego to match. Comparing a pro's abilities to everyone here when someone is sticking up for them..........Oh that one never gets old does it does it.

http://acousticguitarvideos.com/3006/al ... -audience/
 
People get outraged when an 8pm show starts at 840?
That's so typical on every show from everyone it's expected. No reason to start playing until people fill in most seats.
 
Well in all honesty I never really cared for the guys music. Not my type, but he plays well obviously.
I don't need to know somebody when they bash unions because that's my livelihood.

And another thing, he's an idiot because not only me but if any other of my union brothers ever heard about that and we work on a show of his, rest a sured, he's gonna have a lot of problems and that's all I'm saying about that.
 
Ah yes, gotta love labor unions...great people one and all, and the death of American industry. Thank you unions for FUCKING over the country.
 
I met Di Meola at a meet and greet after a concert and he was rude and condescending to people who were just excited to meet him. Don't know much else about him though.
 
I have seen Al four times, and he was always on time and always played perfect. I didn't always care for the setlists, as I saw him once during the World Sinfonia tour and the tour that followed. With that said, the Kiss my axe and G3 reunion tours were amazing. I personally would love to see this go around as Elegant Gypsy and Casino are my two favorites (next to Friday Night- which we know will never happen again).

The only downside is, that due to my over indulgence of shred growing up, my adhd flairs up and I wish he would let it rip a lit more. As I have gotten older, I'm sure that I would appreciate the subtleties of his syncopation, but back then I just wanted Racing played back to back to back the entire night, with an encore of Fantasia or Mediterranean.
 
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