“A virtuoso beyond virtuosos”: Matteo Mancuso has become one of the hottest guitar talents on the planet – now he’s finally announced his first headline US tour

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Fusion virtuoso Matteo Mancuso has announced his first headline tour dates in the US and Canada, with over 30 shows scheduled across May and June.

The Yamaha-endorsed guitarist had electric guitar greats like Steve Vai, Tosin Abasi, and Al Di Meola purring over his talents long before he released his debut album. His lofty reputation has always preceded him, and now he’s finally hitting the road for an extensive run of headline shows in North America.

Kicking off at Boston’s City Winery on May 20, and wrapping up with a June 30 spot at Le Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, the trip represents the first time that North American audiences will be able to witness Mancuso’s guitar mastery as part of a broader headline tour.

A few years ago, Steve Vai called Mancuso “the evolution of guitar” while Tosin Abasi said he was “a virtuoso beyond virtuosos” and Di Meola says the “phenomenon” is “lightyears ahead” of his peers.

Since then, he’s added to his impressive body of work, with a hugely acclaimed debut album, a blazing single last year – which saw him pay tribute to one of his guitar heroes on a Bacci baritone guitar – and much more.

Speaking to Prog about the hype that surrounded his debut album’s release, he admitted that having a string of virtuosos shout your praises “puts a lot of pressure on you”.

“It’s a dream come true,” he added. “All I want to do with my life is play and make music, and that’s what I’m doing now” – and he’s certainly done that since.

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Matteo Mancuso // The Price Of Love (JTC Guitar) – YouTube

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His unique style and genre-melding proficiency has seen him share the stage with Joe Bonamassa – “It felt like I was daydreaming,” he’d later reflect. He’s also raised eyebrows by revealing that fake nails are the secret to his otherworldly finger-picking techniques.

Though his stock is rightfully high, he appreciates that modern players can’t afford a bad gig, which he uses as a motivator. Still, he is happy to embrace mistakes. Talented though he may be, he doesn’t want to let his technique overshadow the human aspects of his playing.

Matteo Mancuso reveals the guitar techniques that saw Vai call him “the evolution of guitar” – YouTube

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“I’m always trying to find that balance. I don’t consider myself one of the best technical players; there are so many good players who can play twice as fast as me, or they know more leads and have more vocabulary,” he told Guitar World last year.

“But people don’t care about your technical stuff; people care about the emotion of it. I’m always trying to search for that.”

Ticket sales for Mancuso’s long-overdue first US headline tour will be staggered, so readers are advised to check with their local box offices for on-sale details.

Head to Matteo Mancuso for more.

Tour dates:5/20 Boston, MA City Winery Boston5/21 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Bowl5/22 Ardmore, PA The Ardmore Music Hall5/23 Red Bank, NJ The Vogel5/24 Washington, DC The Hamilton Live5/25 Cumberland, MD Allegany County Fairgrounds5/27 Pittsburgh, PA City Winery Pittsburgh5/28 Lansing, MI Grewal Hall at 2245/29 Ferndale, MI The Magic Bag5/31 Cincinnati, OH The Ludlow Garage6/01 Kent, OH The Kent Stage6/02 Indianapolis, IN The Vogue6/04 Minneapolis, MN The Dakota6/05 Milwaukee, WI Vivarium6/06 Chicago, IL Garcia’s6/07 Chicago, IL Garcia’s6/10 Denver, CO Cervantes’ Other Side6/13 Sante Fe, NM The Bridge at Sante Fe Brewing6/14 Phoenix, AZ MIM6/15 Tucson, AZ The Rialto Theatre6/16 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern6/17 Highland Park, CA Lodge Room6/18 San Juan Capistrano, CA The Coach House6/20 Berkeley, CA The UC Theatre6/22 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater6/23 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre6/24 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw6/25 Victoria, BC Wicket Hall6/28 Syracuse, NY Syracuse Jazz Fest6/29 Buffalo, NY Electric City6/30 Montreal, QC Le Festival International de Jazz de Montreal

A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He’s also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.

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