Pat Metheny – Side-Eye III+ | JazzNights 2026

Guitar legend Pat Metheny on tour at JazzNights in June 2026

Pat Metheny has been one of the most influential guitarists in modern jazz for decades - an exceptional musician who combines technical mastery, inexhaustible curiosity and powerful expression like no other.

In June 2026, the multi-award-winning artist will be coming to Germany for a series of selected concerts. As part of his tour, he will be stopping off in Flensburg, Lübeck, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Dortmund, Freiburg, Nuremberg and Frankfurt.

Born in Lee's Summit, Missouri, Metheny discovered his love of music at an early age. He began playing the trumpet at the age of eight, but switched to the guitar at twelve - the instrument that was to shape his life. By the age of 15, he was already performing regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, where he developed a musical maturity that went far beyond his age.
Metheny celebrated his international breakthrough in 1974 alongside vibraphonist Gary Burton. Even then, the individual style that makes him unmistakable to this day was already apparent: the flexible, almost vocal articulation, a modern improvisational approach that nevertheless remains deeply rooted in jazz, as well as an extraordinary rhythmic and harmonic sense. With his debut album Bright Size Life (1975), he fundamentally renewed the sound of the jazz guitar and inspired an entire generation of young musicians.

Hardly any other guitarist moves so naturally between genres and sound worlds. Metheny worked with icons such as Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Milton Nascimento and David Bowie and composed for solo guitar, ensembles, orchestra, ballet and his groundbreaking "Orchestrion" project. He always pushed stylistic boundaries and explored the technical possibilities of his instrument in new ways - whether with the Synclavier in the early years of electronic music or with innovative guitars such as the 42-string picasso guitar.

Metheny also set standards as a teacher: at the age of just 18, he became the youngest lecturer at the University of Miami, and a year later the youngest teacher at Berklee College of Music, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1996. He led workshops all over the world and inspired generations of young musicians.

Pat Metheny has received almost every honor the jazz world has to offer for his work - including 20 Grammy Awards in various categories, three gold albums and induction into the DownBeat Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was also honored as an NEA Jazz Master, the highest award in American jazz.

As a passionate live musician, Metheny has been touring the world tirelessly for over five decades and plays well over a hundred concerts a year. In 2026, jazz fans and music lovers can once again look forward to extraordinary evenings in which Metheny will present his impressive life's work just as impressively as his unwavering openness to new ideas.

Line-up
Chris Fishman - Piano/keyboards Joe Dyson - Drums
Jermaine Paul - bass