Neil Stacey & Dominic Photo by Sandra Scherning

Dominic Miller/Neil Stacey - International Guitar Festival, Bath 2005

What a great opener for a guitar festival – the collaboration of two well-known and respected guitarists, Dominic Miller and Neil Stacey. The former is known for his work with Sting, the latter is known better in guitar circles for his work with Antonio Forcione in the now disbanded Acoustic Mania.

Dominic is a regular at this festival. On Saturday night, with Neil, he returned with a much more confident and laid back approach than in earlier years. His playing was fluid and he interacted well with Neil, exchanging ideas with humour and versatility. The combination of nylon string and steel string guitars gave Dominic the chance to play his fingerstyle-based compositions, including the well-known Sting/Miller written Shape of my Heart and Fragile, and Neil the space to give blistering Metheny-esque solos and touching melody-based accompaniments with the use of a volume pedal and synth effects.

There had been a masterclass taken by the two guitarists earlier in the day, from which guitarists came to see proof of the day’s lesson. Dominic confessed to feeling a little intimidated by the number of guitarists in the audience, but if he did he certainly didn’t show it.

At just over an hour, it was a shorter set than promised, but a good one and guitarists in the audience would certainly have taken something home with them. As would the rest of the audience I’m sure.  

© The Bath Chronicle | August 2005

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