THE ONSTAGE BACKDROP for Al Di Meola’s Electric Years Tour is a huge collage of 17 of his most recognizable album covers. Noticeably absent from the bunch is his groundbreaking 1976 debut, Land of the Midnight Sun. But others like 1977’s Elegant Gypsy, 1978’s Casino and 1992’s Kiss My Axe, along with more recent albums like 2018’s Opus and 2020’s Across the Universe, are represented on this imposing wall of Al behind the players.
The guitarist, who was sidelined for nearly four months after suffering a heart attack onstage last September 27 during an acoustic trio concert in Romania’s capital city of Bucharest, steps to the front of the stage before the music starts to make this dramatic announcement: “This is a new beginning for me after what happened in Romania. I was given a second chance, so I decided it would be fun to go back and revisit some of these tunes from the ’70s.” And the packed house of fans, some sporting T-shirts with “Race With the Devil” emblazoned across their chests in bold block letters, roars its approval. He pauses, then sheepishly adds, “I almost got emotional there for a second.”
To complete the nostalgic scene, Di Meola is playing his old 1971 black Les Paul Custom, the same guitar pictured on the cover of Elegant Gypsy. “It’s a guitar that I used on the first Return to Forever records when I was 19,” he says to the awed crowd. “It’s been sitting around for so long. I haven’t played it since 1978. And when I picked it up and played it again for the first time at the beginning of this tour, I said, ‘Damn, this sounds good!’”
Al is energized throughout this performance at the Sacred Heart Community Theatre, a 500-seat venue in Fairfield, Connecticut. He is noticeably thinner but clearly energized as he unleashes his signature hyper-precise, cleanly articulated speed licks on such challenging ’70s staples as “The Wizard” from Land of the Midnight Sun, “Flight Over Rio” and “Race With Devil on Spanish Highway” from Elegant Gypsy, and “Egyptian Danza” from Casino, along with two tunes from his Return to Forever days: “Beyond the Seventh Galaxy” and “Song to the Pharaoh Kings,” both from 1974’s Where Have I Known You Before. He also introduces two new compositions, “Tears of Hope” and “Ava’s Dance in the Moonlight,” the latter named for his eight-year-old daughter, which appear in full orchestral form on his recently released double album, Twentyfour (earMUSIC).
“SUDDENLY, I FELT SOMETHING, AND I SAID, ‘NO, IT CAN’T BE.’ I’M HOLDING MY CHEST, GOING, ‘NO, NO … ’ ”
Di Meola’s band on this Electric Years Spring Tour features two longtime collaborators. Keyboardist Philippe Saisse doubled on marimba in Al’s band back in 1978 and made his recording debut on 1980’s , while percussionist Gumbi Ortiz has appeared on 13 Di Meola albums, beginning with 1990’s . The lineup is rounded out by two relatively new faces in the formidable rhythm tandem of drummer Luis Alicea from Jersey City and electric bassist Elias Tona from Venezuela. Together they all deliver the goods in stunning fashion, harking back to tour from 1982 (with keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassist Anthony Jackson, percussionist Mingo Lewis and drummer Steve Gadd).
