Jonny’s Setup for Fermo Benefit
We’ve been given a preview of Jonny’s setup for the Fermo benefit performance at the Teatro Dell'Aquila di Fermo on Oct 25, thanks to a couple of posts by Sharona Katan on twitter! The photos show that Jonny will be using his natural finish Ondomo, his aged cherry sunburst Fender Modern Player Starcaster, and a laptop. Earlier this month, Jonny posted a video on twitter in which he played a snippet of Messiaen’s Vocalise Etude on the same Ondomo. Jonny hasn’t used the Modern Player Starcaster publicly since a performance with the LCO in Budapest in October 2015 (photos here). Perhaps he uses the reissue to avoid traveling with his vintage Starcaster when he isn’t on tour. A video from Sharona Katan shows Jonny using the reissue to play his piece Loop. The laptop is surely to be used to supply the backing tracks for Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint. According to an interview with the Italian magazine Corriere Adriatico, Jonny will also play Tanpura (certainly to perform Three Miniatures from Water).
Update (Oct 25, 2019):
According to concertgoers, Daniel Pioro began the concert by playing Bach’s Chaconne from the second Partita. This was followed by Three Miniatures from Water, for which Jonny played Tanpura. The first half closed with Electric Counterpoint, for which Jonny played his Modern Player Starcaster into a Marshall Bluesbreaker amplifier. Given that Jonny has used Thom’s old gear for past performances with the LCO, it’s likely that this is the same Marshall Bluesbreaker that Thom used for for Kid A, Amnesiac, and during the recording of In Rainbows.
In the second half, Jonny played his natural finish Ondomo for two pieces by Messiaen: Vocalise Etude and Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus (from Quatuor pour la fin de temps). Kat Tinker accompanied on piano for both pieces. Louange à l'immortalité is frequently played by ondes Martenot players, but this is the first time that Jonny has performed the movement. Another surprise was that Jonny played piano for Phantom Thread II, with Daniel Pioro playing the solo violin part. Tinker performed Jonny’s piece 88, and Pioro and Tinker together performed Nico Muhly’s Drones and Violin. There was also a performance of There Will Be Blood, which must have been a seriously reduced arrangement. The concert ended with a performance of a new arrangement of Loop, for which Jonny played his Modern Player Starcaster. The new arrangement for Fermo included Kat Tinker on piano.
The Marshall Bluesbreaker can be seen in this photo by Yasuko.