After scrubbing up it was time to meet the group in the hotel lobby. From there we'd walk the 2 blocks or so to the Museum of Contemporary Art for a farewell dinner - outdoors. And the clever part (thanks Peter!) is that the outdoor seating is close to Scene General Motors, where the final concert of the Festival is to take place. AND we can sit after dinner and enjoy the concert; it's like having reserved seating at an outdoor concert!
The most convenient route was via the Underground City connection from the Metro station at the end of our hotel's block. And along the way, I saw this advertisment from the Festival's major sponsor.
The scene just outside our eating area, i.e. just off the concourse of the Place des Arts. The concert stage was off to the right.
More of the same, except in better detail.
"Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking..." Martin gives his farewell and thanks speech. And handed out the "extra" gifts, including a CD, the title of which was translated by the couple sitting at the table on the very left (lady only visible, in blue).
Barbara, June and Greg listening to "the speech".
Sandra, Karen and Bev (back to camera).
Clockwise from the bottom: Martin, Signe, Ann, Peter (red shirt), Paul, Carol and Don.
June, Greg, Elaine and Ron. And the couple who translated the CD title at the table behind Greg.
As we were sitting there having a good time, it looked like there was a storm coming; lightning and thunder, and rapidly darkening skies. Fortunately a wind came up from somewhere and blew the storm away. While I enjoy storms, we were outside; not a good position in terms of protection from lightning, nor getting wet. Again.
We had a TV screen on which to watch the stage; the audio we could hear easily. This appears to be the Festival director (whom we met at our first soggy meal in Montreal)
The man himself, or more precisely his hands and guitar! Pat Metheny can really play. The first hour of the concert was the contents of their new CD. It's very different to the previous ones, consisting of two tracks (if I remember the number correctly). On the plane from Toronto to Quebec City, I was sitting next to a person going to a guitar camp, and naturally the topic of the Montreal Jazz Festival came up. He mentioned that this new CD was quite different, and he was right. He was also worried about his guitar arriving in one piece; I hope it did.
Pat Metheny enjoying the applause of the very large crowd. After the first hour, the group returned to their previous material, which I much preferred. And it was a very long concert.
Eventually the hour got the better of me, and so I headed back to the hotel. It was about 12:15AM (Monday) when I got into bed - still hearing this concert going full steam. It was a very generous act on the part of the musicians, as they started at 9PM! I don't know what time they stopped, as I fell asleep quickly.
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