Pat Metheny Side Eye III +, Barbican Centre, London, 19/07/2026

Pat Metheny – guitars, orchestrion, Chris Fishman – keyboards, Joe Dyson – drums, Jermaine Paul – acoustic & electric bass, Leonard Patton – vocals, percussion

July 2026 saw a “Weekend Takeover” at the Barbican as guitarist and composer Pat Metheny played three shows with his Side Eye III + project in the venue’s main hall on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th.  These events formed part of an extensive European tour that had already included a UK date in Manchester on the 17th.

Metheny, now aged seventy one, is a giant of the genre, first coming to attention of jazz audiences in the 1970s as a member of vibraphonist Gary Burton’s band. After leaving to pursue a solo career he made an even bigger splash in 1976 with the release of his debut album “Bright Size Life”, which appeared on ECM Records and featured the late, great Jaco Pastorius.

Metheny then formed a regular working ensemble, the Pat Metheny Group, with his pianist and co-writer Lyle Mays. These two were the only constants in a consistently changing line up that endured in one form or another until 2005. Over the course of this period Metheny and Mays developed a style of writing that was almost symphonic in scope and which utilised music technology to the full, whilst still retaining a human touch and a gift for melody that helped to make their music hugely popular with jazz and rock listeners alike. The Pat Metheny Group built a huge and enthusiastic following via the quality of its music and the excellence of its live performances. Metheny is a musician who has toured almost constantly over the course of the last fifty years while continuing to produce consistently excellent albums. It’s an extraordinary success story based on a combination of extraordinary talent and sheer hard work.

The commercial success of the PMG has also allowed Metheny to work on more experimental projects such as his collaborations with Ornette Coleman and Derek Bailey. He has also returned to the trio format of “Bright Size Life” on numerous occasions and with a variety of partners, among them bassists Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, Larry Grenadier and Christian McBride and drummers Billy Higgins, Roy Haynes, Bill Stewart and Antonio Sanchez.

Post PMG Metheny formed the Unity Band with saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Ben Williams and long time Metheny Group drummer Antonio Sanchez. He later toured with a quartet featuring Sanchez, bassist Linda May Han Oh and British pianist Gwilym Simcock. In recent years he has also released a series of solo guitar albums.

The above represents a brief overview of Metheny’s stellar career, which embraces many other collaborations, writing for movie soundtracks and so much more. It’s a career that has seen him win multiple awards as both instrumentalist and composer and release more than fifty albums as a leader or co-leader. Even long time fans such as myself struggle to keep up with his restless creativity.

The principal idea behind the Side Eye project is for Metheny, now a comparative ‘elder statesman’ to ‘give something back’ and to provide opportunities for younger musicians, such as the four on stage with him today. In an interview with Stuart Nicholson for Jazzwise magazine he explained “I was given so many great opportunities by Gary Burton, Steve Swallow and all those guys and I said I’m going to do that too”.

Metheny has stated that at its heart Side Eye is an organ trio and this is reflected by the first Side Eye recording, which was documented at two live performances at at Sony Hall, New York City in September 2019. Metheny, keyboard player James Francies and drummer Marcus Gilmore tackle a programme featuring a mix of compositions written specifically for the trio, a sprinkling of gems from the Metheny back catalogue, and a version of the Ornette Coleman tune “Turnaround”. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/side-eye-nyc-v1.1v

The current Side Eye core trio, actually the third incarnation,  features keyboard player Chris Fishman and drummer Joe Dyson, who both appear on the latest release “Side Eye III +” alongside a number of guests. These include bassist Daryl Johns and percussionist Luis Conte, who both make substantial contributions to the recording.

“Side Eye III +” expands upon the basic ‘organ trio’ concept to create a sound that is much bigger and almost orchestral in scope. It’s closer in spirit to the music of the Pat Metheny Group (PMG) and also makes extensive use of vocals.

The use of the human voice on Metheny’s albums dates back all the way to 1980 and the duo album “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls”, recorded with PMG keyboardist Lyle Mays and guest percussionist / vocalist Nana Vasconcelos.

From “First Circle” (1984) onwards the regular deployment of vocals, usually wordless, was a characteristic of all PMG albums with an ever changing cast of vocalists, these often doubling on other instruments, passing through the Group’s ranks over the course of the next twenty years or so. As alluded to previously this ‘humanising element’  added hugely to the PMG’s popular appeal.

Following the demise of the PMG in 2005 Metheny has focussed on all instrumental projects but  decided that the music that he had written for this latest edition of Side Eye needed something bigger. With this in mind he approached Mark Kibble, the leader of the gospel vocal group Take 6, who was very keen to become involved. Thus “Side Eye III +” is the first Metheny album in years to feature vocals, with Kibble and his nine piece vocal ensemble adding colour and texture to the recording.

Of “Side Eye III +” Metheny comments;
“It has been said that I make two kinds of records: the documentary ones, a few guys playing together in the studio for a few days, and what I jokingly call my Steven Spielberg records, where the studio itself becomes an instrument. This one is a very interesting mix of both.”

He adds;
“People will recognize a lot of my thing in this music, but I think they will also be surprised by it. There is nothing about it that is off-putting, even though much of it is very complex. That balance — making sophisticated music that still feels accessible — has always been one of my goals. I think this record achieves that in a way I have been striving toward for years.”

As previously mentioned this latest release sounds more obviously like the old PMG than many of Metheny’s recent recordings. My review of the “Side Eye III” recording, from which some of the above material has been sourced, can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/pat-metheny-side-eye-iii

Having released a critically acclaimed album in “Side Eye III +” Metheny now turned his attention to adapting it with a view to taking the music out on the road. Touring with Take 6 was never a viable option but Metheny has found a solution with the recruitment of bassist Jermaine Paul and vocalist Leonard Patton, who sings on one track on the recording. Primarily a singer Patton also doubles on percussion for the purposes of touring, and does so with considerable aplomb.

I opted for the one o’ clock ‘matinee’ show on Sunday, meaning that I could make a day trip to London and avoid the inconvenience and expense of an overnight stay. The performance was introduced by jazz journalist and broadcaster Kevin Le Gendre who set the scene as the lights dimmed and the Side Eye Quintet made their entrance marching through the audience playing parade drums as they kicked off the show with “Forward March” from “First Circle”. This brought back memories of 1985 when the “First Circle” tour visited Manchester and the show opened in just the same way.

Once the full band had assembled on stage we were then brought bang up to date with “In On It” from the new “Side Eye” album, with Metheny beginning on acoustic guitar before switching to electric part way through to deliver a solo featuring his trademark guitar sound, warm and melodic, immediately connecting with his audience. Surrounded by banks of keyboards Fishman produced a dizzying variety of sounds as Dyson’s drum explosions punctuated the piece. Patton’s voiced soared in a manner reminiscent of Pedro Aznar, who appeared on “First Circle” and was arguably the best of the many singers who passed through the PMG’s ranks. Tellingly the “First Circle” album was to feature quite prominently during the course of a two and a half hour show that featured music covering the whole of Metheny’s fifty year career as a bandleader.

As if on cue an extended solo electric guitar introduction by the leader ushered in the familiar strains of “Bright Size Life”, the opening and title track of Metheny’s 1976 debut. It’s a piece that he’s constantly returned to throughout his career and an obvious audience favourite. In addition to Metheny’s own fluent soloing we also heard a double bass solo from the impressive Jermaine Paul.

Back to the present and “Don’t Look Down”, another track from the “Side Eye III +” recording featuring Metheny as a soloist on both ‘regular’ electric guitar and also on guitar synthesiser. Metheny first introduced his pioneering Roland guitar synth sound on his 1982 album “Offramp” and it’s been a significant component in his music ever since. His two excursions here were punctuated by an acoustic piano solo from Fishman that provided evidence of his talents as a straight ahead pianist.

Pat’s habit of playing lengthy sequences of tunes without making any announcements can make life difficult for reviewers and as Paul and Patton left the stage to leave the core trio to their own devices I found that I couldn’t immediately put a title on the next two pieces, although I’m fairly sure that the first was “Better Days Ahead”, a tune first recorded for the 1989 PMG album “Letter From Home” and later revisited by the first version of the Side Eye trio. With its beguiling melody it’s become something of a fan favourite and here featured solos from Metheny on electric guitar and Fishman on electric piano.

The second featured Fishman on Hammond organ, sharing the solos with Metheny as Dyson rounded things off with a dynamic drum feature. I’ve read reviews of other dates on this tour that suggest that this may have been a version of “Timeline”, a Metheny composition that features on the 1999 Michael Brecker album “Time Is of the Essence”. Metheny plays on the album alongside Brecker, organist Larry Goldings and a rotating cast of drummers (Elvin Jones, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Bill Stewart).

As Paul and Patten returned to the stage Metheny took the opportunity to speak to the audience for the first time and to introduce the band and to tell us something about the Side Eye project.

We also got to learn that the next piece would be “Make A New World” from the latest Side Eye album. Centred around a classic Metheny melodic hook this piece featured an extended solo from the leader on guitar as Fishman doubled on piano and synthesiser, soloing on the latter.

A true set highlight was a performance of “The First Circle” itself, introduced by the sounds of hand clapping – in 22/8 I’ve been told, no wonder Pat doesn’t ask the audience to join in! But seriously, this is one of the great Metheny tracks and this was the piece where Patton really came into his own, his soaring vocals more than a match for those of Aznar. Fishman also took the chance to shine, channelling the spirit of the late, great Lyle Mays with a dash of Lyle’s trademark Oberheim synth sound and an expansive, increasingly percussive acoustic piano solo. This was a stunning performance of a much loved piece that received the biggest cheer thus far from a highly attentive audience.

Back to the new album for “Urban and Western” a blues and gospel tinged tune that featured Metheny at his most Wes Montgomery like, the late, great Wes being one of Pat’s primary influences. Fishman was also in the spotlight again with a surging Hammond solo.

The next sequence was introduced by Dyson at the drums, joined by Paul on double bass, whose extended bass solo allowed Metheny the opportunity to take a much needed hydration break. He returned to play an extended passage on unaccompanied acoustic guitar, eventually joined by Patton who delivered a beautiful vocal on the song “Mas Alla”, written by Metheny and Aznar for the “First Circle” album. Eventually the rest of the band joined the duo to bring this delightful rendition of a forgotten classic to a satisfactory conclusion.

The Metheny / Patton duo episode represented a foretaste of what was to come. Firstly Metheny and Fishman combined on a highly effective guitar and piano arrangement of the much loved “Phase Dance”, a composition from the 1978 ECM album simply titled “Pat Metheny Group”. A real audience favourite when played with the PMG it worked brilliantly in this new duo format, perhaps allowing Fishman the opportunity to step outside Mays’ giant shadow.

Metheny’s duet with Dyson was totally different, a thrillingly cacophonous and abrasive exchange between guitar synthesiser and drums inspired by “Song X”, Metheny’s famous (some might say infamous) 1986 collaboration with Ornette Coleman. I believe the chosen piece may have been “Trigonometry”, but towards the end of this sonic brawl the melody of Coleman’s “Round Trip / Broadway Blues”, which Metheny covered in more orthodox fashion on “Bright Size Life”, emerged as things came full circle once more.

Metheny continued on synth guitar as the full quintet reconvened to conclude the show with “Zenith Blue” from the first “Side Eye” album, soloing on this instrument alongside Fishman on both piano and synth, while the consistently impressive Dyson unleashed another dynamic drum feature. Also featuring, as it had done periodically throughout the performance, was Metheny’s Orchestrion device, situated behind the players and presumably triggered by Metheny himself. It added further sounds to the already busy mix but personally I found it a bit of a distraction, these five brilliant musicians didn’t really need any additional help.

We were now nearly two hours into the performance, but we’d been promised two and a half so the string of scheduled encores didn’t really come as too much of a surprise. First Metheny returned alone to play an acoustic guitar medley that incorporated “America The Beautiful”, “The People United Will Never Be Defeated” and finally the much loved “Last Train Home” from the 1987 PMG recording “Still Life (Talking)”.

The full band then returned for another audience favourite, “Are You Going With Me?” from 1981’s “Offramp”, the famous introductory vamp eliciting the approval of the audience, as did Metheny’s searing guitar synth solo.

Exit again before the return of Metheny solo and another acoustic guitar medley incorporating another string of audience favourites including “Minuano (Six Eight”), “James”, September Fifteenth” and a particularly poignant “This Is Not America”, the last a song from the mid 1980s co-written by Metheny, Mays and David Bowie that has taken on an additional significance during the Trump era.

The full ensemble the re-assembled for a final glorious romp through “Song For Bilbao”, which originally appeared on the 1983 PMG live album “Travels” and later resurfaced on Michael Brecker’s 1996 release “Tales from the Hudson”. A firm favourite with the Metheny fan base this was a great way to round off a brilliant show with solos from Metheny on guitar synth, Paul on bass and Fishman on piano, culminating in a drum and percussion workout between Dyson and Patton.

This was a superb show that delivered on all its promises, including the two and a half hour duration, almost to the minute. We enjoyed superb musicianship and a selection of tunes both old and new that explored almost every aspect of Metheny’s storied career. We all have our personal favourites from the Metheny canon but surely any fan, whether old or new, must have found something to enjoy here.

Audience satisfaction has always been one of Metheny’s strengths and I’ve never seen him play a bad show, regardless of the format that he’s appearing in. He’s an expensive artist to go and see (but then again it must cost a lot to stage a Metheny show)  but crucially he always delivers and today was no exception.

It was all carefully structured and some jazz purists may gripe about the lack of spontaneity and genuine improvisation or the rock trappings. But really Metheny has created a sub genre of music that is very much his own.  It’s one that is frequently imitated, but there’s no one else who sounds quite like Pat Metheny.

A couple of hours after this show finished Metheny was due to do it all again. At nearly seventy two one wonders how long he can keep up this punishing schedule, although playing with such brilliant young players must be a huge source of inspiration for him.

I was hugely impressed by all the members of the quintet with Fishman really coming into his own in the live environment after being a little underused on the album. Dyson was superb throughout and his close musical relationship with Metheny is at the heart of this project. Paul doesn’t appear on the recording but slotted in superbly. Patton only appears on one track but his singing was a revelation, I’d rate him as the best vocalist that Metheny has employed since Pedro Aznar.

The musicians were well served by the sound engineers, who achieved a good mix in what can sometimes be a difficult venue in terms of acoustics. The grand piano was sometimes a bit too low in the mix during the ensemble passages but this is a very minor quibble in the context of the show as a whole.

Finally a word for my fellow audience members. At the start a polite request was made for all mobile phones to be turned off and put away. As far as I could tell it was adhered to totally, I wasn’t distracted by a single ringtone or illuminated screen. Also I didn’t see anyone leave their seat during the course of a very long performance. It was very different to the Hammersmith shows of old and the constant stream of people on their way to the bar or the loos. Well done to all concerned for helping to make today’s show special for everybody. A five star performance from band and audience alike.

 

 

 

 

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