Brief report about my meeting with Paco de Lucia and Vicente Amigo on the last weekend of June 2012. Both played in Germany and i went to see them.

On the last weekend in June 2012, it turned out that Paco de Lucia was playing at the Rheingau Festival and Vicente on the next day in Cologne Philharmonic Hall. Of course, I did not want to miss the chance to see these two geniuses one after another and left for Johannisberg Castle early Friday to arrive on time for Paco’s sound check. I still have very good contacts to his manager and other artists, because I was responsible for merchandising on Paco’s European tours a few times at the end of the 90s. I had a reason to see Paco anyway, since he asked me at our last meeting in Mallorca a few months ago to bring him a carbon case. Paco just arrived at the sound check when I got there. He is a really relaxed guy, who puts no value at on superficialities. He then immediately selected a case too, and I took his old BAM case, which he didn’t want anymore. I of course gave him a couple of capos, because he only uses traditional ones. I spoke a bit with him in the dressing room during catering and took a couple of photos during the sound check. I was then able to enjoy the concert in the evening with a backstage pass. The concert was fantastic! Even if Paco does not play as fast as many years ago, his music is still unique. He is so versatile and emotional, no one comes near to playing like him in that respect. He is and remains the god of flamenco guitar for me.