Tommy Emmanuel CGP Living In The Light Tour Queen's Hall Edinburgh 18th January 2026 Review
Tommy Emmanuel CGP - Living in the Light Tour stopped off at the Queen's Hall Edinburgh tonight and, as to be expected, this was a sold out show from the legendary guitar player.
The CGP letters after Tommy Emmanuel's name mean so much to him as they are an honour given to him by Chet Atkins and stand for Certified Guitar Player. This designation, given to signify that the recipient has not only mastered their instrument but taken it to new levels, was only given to Tommy and five other handpicked players over the years.
The tour title comes from "Living In The Light", Tommy Emmanuel's first solo album in 10 years which was released in October 2025. This current tour for 2026 is a large one with many dates in North America, New Zealand and Europe, and obviously from the sheer energy that Tommy arrived on stage with tonight, he plans to enjoy every minute of his time with his audiences across the world.
There is little that can be added to any review of Tommy Emmanuel's guitar playing as so much has been said of it over the years. Needless to say, everything that the fans expected to hear and see was on display in abundance here - the dazzling technical proficiency, unbelievable speed (when required), the ability to effortless switch between playing styles, wonderful melodies, and to often do the completely unexpected with a guitar, taking slapping and tapping techniques to new heights. What might come as a surprise to anyone who has not seen Tommy Emmanuel live though is his humour and just sheer love of not only playing music, but sharing this with his audience.
As you would expect, some of tonight's music came from the new album, and this included "Black and White To Color" and "Little Georgia", the latter written by Tommy for his youngest grand-daughter. Fans of the now trademark Tommy Emmanuel arrangements of songs were also well-catered for here with "Over The Rainbow", "Classical Gas", "Angelina" and his "Beatles Medley of Songs", and many others on tonight's set list.
One of the lighter moments of this show was Tommy introducing his band to everyone, including bass guitar, rhythm guitar and drums. Somehow all of these band members fit into his guitar and his ability to keep the sustain flowing from one note to another also makes so many songs sound like there is a vocalist present too.
This show was over two sets with no support band, but the second half of this show had a real treat in store for guitar lovers when Tommy Emmanuel was joined on stage for several songs by another of the world's great guitarists - Martin Taylor. I am not going to give their set list away in this review in case Martin Taylor is at any upcoming shows, but just watching the sheer pleasure that these two great guitarists were getting from simply playing music with one another was for me (and obviously many other people in this audience too) one of the highlights of this show.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
The CGP letters after Tommy Emmanuel's name mean so much to him as they are an honour given to him by Chet Atkins and stand for Certified Guitar Player. This designation, given to signify that the recipient has not only mastered their instrument but taken it to new levels, was only given to Tommy and five other handpicked players over the years.
The tour title comes from "Living In The Light", Tommy Emmanuel's first solo album in 10 years which was released in October 2025. This current tour for 2026 is a large one with many dates in North America, New Zealand and Europe, and obviously from the sheer energy that Tommy arrived on stage with tonight, he plans to enjoy every minute of his time with his audiences across the world.
There is little that can be added to any review of Tommy Emmanuel's guitar playing as so much has been said of it over the years. Needless to say, everything that the fans expected to hear and see was on display in abundance here - the dazzling technical proficiency, unbelievable speed (when required), the ability to effortless switch between playing styles, wonderful melodies, and to often do the completely unexpected with a guitar, taking slapping and tapping techniques to new heights. What might come as a surprise to anyone who has not seen Tommy Emmanuel live though is his humour and just sheer love of not only playing music, but sharing this with his audience.
As you would expect, some of tonight's music came from the new album, and this included "Black and White To Color" and "Little Georgia", the latter written by Tommy for his youngest grand-daughter. Fans of the now trademark Tommy Emmanuel arrangements of songs were also well-catered for here with "Over The Rainbow", "Classical Gas", "Angelina" and his "Beatles Medley of Songs", and many others on tonight's set list.
One of the lighter moments of this show was Tommy introducing his band to everyone, including bass guitar, rhythm guitar and drums. Somehow all of these band members fit into his guitar and his ability to keep the sustain flowing from one note to another also makes so many songs sound like there is a vocalist present too.
This show was over two sets with no support band, but the second half of this show had a real treat in store for guitar lovers when Tommy Emmanuel was joined on stage for several songs by another of the world's great guitarists - Martin Taylor. I am not going to give their set list away in this review in case Martin Taylor is at any upcoming shows, but just watching the sheer pleasure that these two great guitarists were getting from simply playing music with one another was for me (and obviously many other people in this audience too) one of the highlights of this show.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com