Leo Kottke @ Live at the Mayo Civic Center (Rochester, MN)
When: May 8th, 2005
My grade: 4.5


Admittedly, before late April of this year, I had never even heard of Leo Kottke. When I heard he was supposed to be one of the greatest living guitarists, and that he coming to within 15 minutes of my house though, I decided it would be worth my evening to go see him. Two weeks flew by, and before I knew it, the concert was upon me, and I hadn’t even taken the time to listen to any of his sound clips online. I got to the venue, a concert hall usually reserved for concerts of the classical genre, and waited in line for 15 minutes with people ages 7-75. I got to my seat, and waited patiently for the show to start. I wasn’t too sure what to expect.

At a few minutes after 7, the lights went down, and out walked a man, about 60 years old with a guitar. That was it. No big amps, no backup band, no nothing. It was just a man and his acoustic 6-string and 12-string guitars on an otherwise completely empty stage. I thought to myself “This might not be as good as I thought it would be” and settled back in my seat, half expecting to possibly fall asleep.

But then he started playing. If I had actually thought about taking a nap, those thoughts were instantly abandoned. Kottke is spellbinding. He’s fascinating. He’s mind blowing. He’s that and a ton of other adjectives that I can’t think of o describe greatness. It is small wonder that he is considered one of the greatest guitar players of the 20 st century.

Most of the songs were instrumentals, but some of the songs Kottke sang to. His deep bass voice, which displayed average talent, took a back seat to his playing abilities.

He talked quite a bit, too. His calm demeanor and laid back style of story telling made everyone in the audience feel right at home, just as if they were listening to their old uncle or grandpa reminisce about the days gone by. I think my favorite story was the one he told about when he ran away from home naked with a toothbrush, at age 1 ½. Or maybe when he said “I don’t play this piece very often. Mostly because….. Well…. it’s hard.” Or maybe when he was talking about his song named after the German word “Industrial Park,” “Gewerbegebiet” (pronounced: “guh-VER-beh-geh-beet”). He said “The Germans did what for the consonant what the Hawaiians did for the vowel. They took it, and made an entire language out of it.”

The time flew by however, and before we knew it, Leo was playing his encore. I highly enjoyed the show, and would not hold back for an instant recommending it to anyone who’s a fan of great music.

Reviewed by: Christian