At Islington Assembly Hall, the old theatre’s ornate balconies and faded grandeur proved a fitting backdrop for a night that often felt less like a conventional guitar showcase and more like a collision of musical languages. Italian virtuoso Matteo Mancuso may be routinely described as the future of guitar music, but what stood out here was not simply speed or technical precision. It was the sheer breadth of references crammed into a single set, delivered with almost unnerving ease.

Before that came an absorbing solo acoustic support performance from Jesse Garwood, whose fingerstyle dexterity bordered on the implausible. Playing alone onstage, Garwood transformed the acoustic guitar into something orchestral, his hands darting across the fretboard with such velocity that individual notes often dissolved into pure motion. Yet the set never became an empty demonstration of technique. 'What a Wonderful World' was treated with warmth rather than irony, while 'Tommy Gun Rag' crackled with restless energy. By the closing Rodrigo y Gabriela cover 'Tamacun', Garwood was crossing hands over the neck of the guitar mid-performance, drawing audible gasps from parts of the crowd.

The atmosphere in the hall shifted entirely once Mancuso and his trio arrived. Opening with 'Solar Wind', he immediately established the evening’s dominant mood: dense Jazz Fusion indebted to Allan Holdsworth but played with a sharper, more Metallic attack. 'Samba Party' followed with sudden drum ’n’ bass dynamics, Gianluca Pellerito’s drumming veering from feather-light Jazz touches into breakneck rhythmic assaults. Meanwhile bassist Riccardo Oliva remained astonishingly agile throughout, somehow locking into Mancuso’s endless detours without ever sounding tethered to him.

At times the set felt intentionally disorientating. 'The Great Wall' drifted into eastern motifs before 'Silk Road' emerged from chord changes loosely built around 'Blackbird'. Elsewhere Mancuso briefly improvised around 'Please Please Me' and even the theme from 'Mission: Impossible'. The effect was exhilarating, though occasionally exhausting. Mancuso’s range encompasses Jazz Fusion, Prog, Hard Rock and outright Metal, often within the same composition, and the audience were required to keep up mentally as much as musically.

Still, there was little doubt about the collective musicianship on display. The encore performance of 'The Chicken' unexpectedly folded in AC/DC-style riffs, while the closing 'Drop D' descended into full-scale shredding, with flashes of Prince emerging amid the chaos. It was dazzling, excessive, occasionally overwhelming and, for long stretches, completely thrilling.

Offstage, the sense of a thriving musicians’ network lingered too. At the merch table, Garwood was joined by friend Mark Lasis, an up-and-coming accordion player whose own Jazz quintet is beginning to generate attention on the live circuit. There was also a chance encounter with Carlos Garcia of Garcia, who was preparing for the upcoming Isle of Wight New Blood Festival at Bush Hall. After a night like this, it was difficult not to feel that adventurous live music, in all its bewildering forms, remains very much alive.

Review: Ivan De Mello
Photos: Simon Green and Ivan De Mello