Al DiMeola played superbly with his trio, which consisted of a second guitarist and a percussionist. It was an acoustic show with Al and the other guitarist (whose name I can't recall) playing steel string acoustics. The Magnolia seats 1200, so it was a perfect venue for the show with superb sound. The only minor complaint is that the guitars got a bit compressed and thin when strummed very loudly, probably due to the pickups being used.
The performance was outstanding. I haven't followed Al's career, so I wasn't familiar with the songs played. They are in the jazz vein with complex chords, shifting time signatures and precisely executed single-string runs. However, they don't contain specific melodies for the most part, making them challenging for those who don't play music.
The musicianship itself was flawless, of course. Al is an extremely talented guitarist with no discernible limits to his technique. The second guitarist was similarly talented. They both easily played long synchronized runs, and would switch back and forth between lead and rhythm duties within a song. They also employed sympathetic chord voicings in a song to really bring out the best in a given piece of music.
The group played for about 50-60 minutes, then took a break of about 20 minutes. They returned to the stage for another 35-40 minutes. Instead of taking encores, Al got up between songs and told some anecdotes from a forthcoming book. Some interesting background about his student days at Berklee, joining Return to Forever and his parent's reactions to his early career.
Overall, a wonderful evening spent with an awesome and warm musician.