On Wednesday, a duo of virtuosic pianists filled the halls of the SUB with songs by everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis to Hozier.
A traveling act, Dueling Pianos has been performing for over 15 years and has been touring for 14 of those years due to a demand and passion for music. Kirk Garrett and Rick Wyman, the current duo of Dueling Pianos, have each been playing since they were four years old, giving each of them over 30 years of experience behind the keyboard.
Garrett and Wyman said they are always on the road, which to many would sound excruciating, but Garrett doesn’t see it like that.
“It’s not so bad,” Garrett said. “There’s sort of an old saying that when you’re on the road you can’t wait to get home, and when you’re at home you can’t wait to get back on the road. We love touring, we love traveling, we love our customers, we love our clients, we love our guests. Our shows are about having fun.”
Garrett wasn’t kidding. The performance started off with a meager crowd and little to no participation, but once Dueling Pianos got the attention of passersby and the trust of the crowd, they brought the house down.
Wyman and Garrett put on a masterful performance that got the crowd to participate by sending in their requests to the duo on a “competitive tip” system. Dueling Pianos is a tip-based performance that has the audience send in requests with monetary incentives.
According to Wyman, a request alone is considered a soft suggestion. If you tip them a dollar then the request is validated, and if you tip more than the previous request you have the ability to “kill” the song by having your request take its place. Garrett said that often times the tips they make are donated to various charities.
Dueling pianos played for two hours and kept the audience involved at every point with well-placed humor, energetic playing, strong stage-presence and,at some points, special effects.
During their finale, Wyman and Garrett drove home a piano rendition of Charlie Daniels’ “Devil Went Down to Georgia,” where, during the solo, Garrett triggered a fog machine under his piano that made his keyboard appear as if it were smoking.
“It was a really entertaining show and it was really amazing to watch,” said Jesse Garcia, a theater major and performance attendee. “Just two people that are so talented go head to head with each other, working together at the same time, it’s just really amazing to see. They’re not rivals, but partners that put on a performance.”
Fin Martinez is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @FinMartinez.
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