Review: In Clearwater, Andy Summers closes solo tour with, at-times, jaw-dropping set

In only the first few seconds of his one-man performance on Sunday night at Clearwater’s Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, it was clear that Andy Summers is a jovial, laid back guy. The superb former guitarist for new wave/pop band The Police took the stage just a few minutes after the advertised 8 p.m. kickoff time and, from the get-go, technical difficulties began. Walking onto the stage and, apparently, beginning to greet the crowd that had come to see him, his mouth was moving, but no speech was being transmitted through the headset microphone he was wearing. In an instant, his onstage tech made some adjustments to allow the guitarist’s greetings to be audible.

“It’s all so technical!” Summers quipped in good spirits, which helped set the tone for the enjoyable, relaxed evening of music he had in store on this, the final night of his The Cracked Lens + A Missing String tour.

Sporting simple black slacks and a colorful shirt over his plain black T-shirt, Summers looked at home in his presentation as well as in his surroundings; the sparse stage was adorned with only a chair, a loveseat, and a small coffee table. The massive screen at the rear of the stage would play a vital role in the evening’s proceedings, however. Billed as a vehicle to promote Summers’ music, alongside his penchant for intriguing photography and his gift for storytelling, the screen was all the visual accompaniment the veteran musician would need. After going through an introductory rundown of his career achievements outside of his musical accomplishments and touching on his interest in photography and writing short stories, Summers did what he does best: play guitar.
Opening with “Metal Dog,” the title track of his 2015 solo album, Summers showed off his chops throughout the fuzzy, riff-heavy track that crosses into psychedelia. Alone, yet playing to recorded backing tracks, Summers played along and displayed his intricate and sometimes elegant style marvelously for the duration of the night. While his relaxed and easygoing manner was evident throughout the night, his laser focusing on his playing is no nonsense.

Bouncing through a variety of material and making sure to interject plenty of colorful commentary and stories throughout the program, Summers seemed at ease with occupying the stage all alone as opposed to sharing it with Sting and Stewart Copeland, his former bandmates with The Police. He did, of course, offer selections from that band’s catalog to great response. Besides a gorgeous reading of the haunting, subdued “Tea in the Sahara,” Summers also highlighted more upbeat Police tracks like “Spirits in the Material World” and a fantastic rendition of the reggae influenced “Bring on the Night” which more than amply proved the depth and the texture Summers brought to The Police and their sound. While hearing these familiar tracks in instrumental format and without the aid of vocals might have been unusual for some, Summers’ ability to inject color and landscape to the night’s numbers made up for the lack of a vocalist at the helm. His stunning photographs being flashed on the screen as he performed also helped in adding nuances and context to the program.

Summers included a few covers into his repertoire as well; after speaking of the major impact jazz legend Thelonious Monk had on his playing and his style, the guitarist performed a completely unique reading of one of Monk’s masterworks, “’Round Midnight” which was one of the night’s truly jaw-dropping moments. Reminiscing about the influence foreign films had on his vision as a teenager, Summers singled out the great 1959 Brazilian film Black Orpheus and proceeded to play a selection from the movie’s soundtrack entitled “Manhã de carnaval” which was truly dazzling.

A few comical and lively stories found their way into the set; Summers described a flight to Brazil from Los Angeles during which he took three Ambien pills and arrived at his destination in a less-than-conscious state after doing so and a tale about doing magic mushrooms with the late comedian and actor, John Belushi. One of the truly charming and hilarious moments of the evening came via a video capturing Summers walking the streets of Japan and overhearing a rendition of The Police’s most popular single, “Every Breath You Take” being sung from a karaoke bar. Summers then walks into the bar and joins the man singing the song and sings along with him, without revealing his identity. It’s in a later scene where Summers is recognized as the singer and some patrons have a good laugh at the event.

Rounding out the set was an encore of “Message in a Bottle,” another Police classic, on which Summers really got to stretch out and show off ability to get a little brawnier and more aggressive with his guitarwork.

For any Police fan, or any fan of tasteful, classy, smart guitarwork, this solo night of outstanding instrumental performances from one of the rock era’s most imaginative and clever players was truly a great experience with a lot of lighthearted fun thrown in.

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