Al Di Meola – The Land of the Midnight Sun tour - The Parker, Fort Lauderdale, Florida - 17th January 2025

Review by Robert Corich

This was a last-minute decision. A very last-minute decision.

I spotted an advertisement for Al Di Meola that very afternoon and, by 5.30pm, I was steering the rather massive RAM I’d procured from MIA only a few days earlier, having just returned to the Sunshine State, up the freeway towards Fort Lauderdale.

I was heading for The Parker without even knowing whether I’d actually be able — or lucky enough — to score a ticket.

Somehow, I did.

And what a bloody good decision it turned out to be.

There are guitarists. There are guitar heroes. And then there’s Al Di Meola — a man for whom the word virtuoso sometimes seems woefully inadequate. The virtuosity of this man is simply incredible. The speed, precision, control and sheer fluency are almost beyond comprehension, yet somehow it never feels like technique for technique’s sake. The notes are there because the music demands them.

The concept of playing one of your classic albums in its entirety is something I absolutely love. And Land of the Midnight Sun is no ordinary classic.

As a debut album it was an extraordinary piece of work. I first heard it as a young man and was totally blown away. In fact, I still am every time I hear it. The playing, the arrangements, the sheer audacity of it all — this was a debut that seemed to arrive fully formed and announce that Al Di Meola was going to be a rather serious force to be reckoned with.

So to have the opportunity to hear Land of the Midnight Sun performed live, in all its glory and in its entirety, was pretty bloody amazing.

And it was the fusion that really got me going.

The Wizard, One Night Last June, Theme of the Mothership, Land of the Midnight Sun, Ava’s Dance, Midnight Tango and Beyond the 7th Galaxy brought those extraordinary early fusion sounds roaring back to life.

For all the technical brilliance — and believe me, there was plenty of that — these were the moments that reminded me just why that album had such an impact in the first place. Di Meola’s astonishing picking, rhythmic precision and seemingly effortless ability to make an electric guitar sound like several instruments simultaneously remain quite something to behold.

Then came the acoustic set, which I absolutely loved.

Egyptian Danza, Casino and Señor Mouse provided a wonderful change of texture and demonstrated that beneath all the electric fireworks is a musician with an extraordinary feel for the instrument. Beautifully played, intricate and, at times, almost ridiculously good.

But give me those fusion tracks and I’m a happy boy.

And Al, should you fancy doing this again, you certainly wouldn’t get any complaints from me if the next candidates were Electric Gypsy, Casino and, especially, Electric Rendezvous.

In fact, I’d go further: anyone who remotely identifies with an electric guitar should catch this tour. There is something rather wonderful about seeing a player of Di Meola’s calibre revisit this material live.

And clearly the evening did its job.

Because once I was back in the truck and pulling away from Fort Lauderdale, there was only one thing to do. I dialled up Land of the Midnight Sun, turned the volume to 11, and proceeded to blast the bloody thing all the way down I-95.

And that wasn’t the end of it. I spent the next several days immersed in Al’s music, revisiting the albums and rediscovering just what an extraordinary body of work he has produced.

Until, inevitably, I got distracted by another group I’d always wanted to see but had somehow never actually managed to catch.

But that, as they say, is another story…