Review: ANTOINE BOYER WITH YEORE KIM AND JOSH MEADER TRIO – ADELAIDE GUITAR FESTIVAL 2024 at Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Saturday 14th September 2024.

Antoine Boyer and Yeore Kim were here for the 2023 Festival and anybody who saw them would surely have rushed to get tickets to see them again. Guitarist, Antoine Boyer, began the first half of the concert alone, with a fine arrangement of the Beatles hit, And I Love Her, followed by one of his own compositions, with a folk music feel, a melody sometimes reminiscent of Scarborough Fair. Yeore Kim then joined him for the rest of time, beginning with an up-tempo rendition of Sous le Ciel de Paris (Under Paris Skies), made famous through recordings by Edith Piaf and Yves Montand, and then a Cuban tune. Their blend of his acoustic guitar and her chromatic harmonica works beautifully across genres. He played both classical guitar and manouche (gypsy jazz) guitar during the performance.

I particularly enjoyed their wonderfully emotional arrangement of Be My Love, originally written for Mario Lanza, which was followed by another of Boyer’s own compositions and a medley of two more tunes. There is so much variation between the numbers they performed, some filled with emotion, others toe-tapping numbers, all requiring great technique. Bending notes on a chromatic harmonic is more difficult than on a diatonic harmonica, but Yeore Kim not only makes it seem easy, she goes even further, with glissandos across notes. I’m considering putting mine in its case and super-gluing it closed. I’ll possibly do the same with my guitars.

There was one more number and, all too soon, their set was over, and they definitely left us wanting more. The promise of a return in the second half was, naturally, well-received. Let’s hope that they come back to our Festival soon, and often.

Sydney’s Josh Meader Trio is here for the first time and I, for one, feel that once is enough. Judging by the number of people walking out at random times during their half of the concert, I am not alone. I am a little perplexed as to why such a drastically different style of music was in the same concert. It didn’t so much complement the subtlety of acoustic guitar and harmonica, as conflict with it. It was loud, the echo on the guitar obscured the playing, the guitar and keyboards took turns in one playing chords while the other ran up and down the fretboard or keyboard at great speed, and the drummer was one of those overly busy players that turns the whole session into almost a long solo. It all started to sound much the same, repetitive patterns, a wall of sound, and displays of technical ability.

The one enjoyable relief was when Meader played alone, without too much use of effects pedals, on Errol Garner’s Misty.

They brought Boyer and Kim back for the final number, Chick Corea’s Spain, Kim’s harmonica neatly replacing the flowing lines of the alto saxophone in Corea’s band, and Boyer crafting some very interesting melodic lines. More of this collaboration, subduing the trio a little, would have been appreciated.

Annoyingly, they ran long over time, ending a full 25 minutes late. This self-indulgence left the members of the audience who were going on to see the Flamenco concert in the Space Theatre only five minutes to vacate the Dunstan Playhouse during the final applause, desperately detour for a ‘wee’ break on the way, and try to find seats in the almost full Space. We should have had the convenience of the scheduled half an hour between the two performances.

Photography, Claudio Raschella.