Two months into a joint tour, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia took the stage at San Francisco's Warfield Theatre on Friday, December 5, 1980. The three acoustic guitarists, intuitively connected to one another, employed no rhythm section or other instrumentalists. Their tight interplay was nothing short of magical; one could hear a pin drop in the 2,300-seat venue. Di Meola remembered the evening as "a night of pure balls to the wall. But highly inventive balls to the wall."