New York Guitar Festival: "The Misbehaving Guitar" featuring The Messthetics with Marc Ribot/Pierre Bensusan/Gyan Riley @ Bryant Park, New York, NY 8/15/26

 

Bill: "The Misbehaving Guitar" featuring The Messthetics with Marc Ribot/Pierre Bensusan/Gyan Riley

Venue: Bryant Park, 41st St and 6th Ave., New York, NY

Date: Saturday 8/15/26

Door: Free

8:45 The Messthetics with Marc Ribot

Active: Messthetics: 2016 (Washington, DC), Marc Ribot 1981 (New York, NY)

Latest Release: (Messthetics) Deface The Currency (with James Brandon Lewis) (Impulse, 2026), Anthropcosmic Nest (Dischord, 2019)   Ribot: Map Of A Blue City (New West, 2025), Trifecta (with Ivo Perelman, Elliot Sharp and Joe Morris) (Makakala, 2026)

Messthetics: Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs Setlist AllMusic Wiki YouTube Spotify

Ribot: Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs Setlist AllMusic Wiki YouTube Spotify

7:45 Pierre Bensusan

Active: 1975 (Château-Thierry, France via Oran, Algeria)

Latest Release: Azwan (MVD-Audio, 2020)

Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs Setlist AllMusic Wiki YouTube Spotify

7pm Gyan Riley

Active: 1995 (Brooklyn, NY via California)

Latest Release: Winter Sun (Agyanamus, 2025), Hug (with Devendra Banhart & Noah Georgeson (Luaka Bop, out 9/11/26)

Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs Setlist AllMusic Wiki YouTube Spotify 

Night two of the New York Guitar Festival was titled "The Misbehaving Guitar."  I guess following a night of more "well-healed" classical based artists, tonight's program was comprised of messier outliers either by incorporating vocals or in the Messthetics case an amplified, louder format.  It kicked off with Terry Riley's son Gyan who has been on the road of late in Paul Simon's band.  However, he has a new band called Hug out in September on the esteemed Luaka Bop label with Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson, so he may very well not have time to be anyone's sideman for long.  Sometimes you want guys like this to shut up and play instead of complaining about social media on his day off, but his set didn't go on too long so you got the meat of his technical ability.

Pierre Bensusan, known for his D-A-D-G-A-D tuning, was the clear star of the night.  He acted like a star should, dressing down the soundman for a seemingly endless several minutes to get a faulty stage left monitor fixed.  Ultimately, it just needed a volume adjustment and when he went into a vocal piece you could see why it was important.  Although Bensusan is a Folk music household name to me, I don't know his stuff that well, so he was the person I was most looking forward to seeing for the entire two day festival and he didn't disappoint.  Combining formidable technique and vocal scat-like interpretation of his guitar notes gave an air of other-worldly authority and command of a legend.

Juxtaposed with this, the Messthetics seemed almost bombastic and ham fisted in their playing, even guitarist Anthony Pirog.  You might expect that of Fugazi rhythm section  who xeroxed what they've always done into a successful, Impulse Records worthy, respected Jazz structure.  However, Pirog is the guy that came up avant in the aughts before settling into this as a relatively young practicioner of the genre and all that implies.  This is not Bitches Brew or Jack Johnson of the now.   However, time marched on in the set and once Pirog settled in with his licks, the trio sounded in fine form.  Marc Ribot was tonight's guest collaborator.  The band admitted they got a brief sound check only with Ribot, so this was not the heavily rehrearsed and released collaboration that I saw recently with James Brandon Lewis.  The band made it seem like Ribot just dropped in, but it seemed like from the get go he was on stage he was in step with Pirog on a different part of the neck.  I guess being an established 72 year old multi-genre avant-Jazz specialist comes with intuitive gifts.  He was on for a bit in a chair, then he let the Messthetics wrap on their own. 

Speaking of chairs, between the F train 15 minute delay and the greatest chair reservation for press, I was in about the same type of seat I had the day before despite leaving a half hour earlier they got blocked in my aisle seat by people camped out on the lawn, so I couldn't easily get a clear path walk to the stage during the encore for some closer snaps.

FOR FURTHER REVIEW:

The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis @ Le Poisson Rouge 5/6/26

Paul Simon @ Forest Hills Stadium 7/9/26