Alexandr Misko built his following the hard way: a tapping video that hit a million views while he was still in high school, a Michael Jackson cover that cleared 30 million Facebook views, Carnegie Hall in 2020, and 200 million combined video views since. On September 1, his Final Boss tour brings that catalog to The 9th Ward at Babeville in Buffalo, with two of the most compelling voices in acoustic guitar alongside him.
About the Show
Misko’s 2026 album Final Boss is, in his own words, “the culmination of everything I’ve been working toward as a musician.” He plays it on a custom “Frankenstein Guitar” featuring a triple de-tuning system, built-in percussion, and 14 pickups. UK magazine MusicRadar named him Guitarist of the Year in 2018; his work has since extended to collaborations with Hans Zimmer. The Final Boss tour has taken him through New Zealand, Australia, and across North America, with dates in Germany and the Netherlands running through January 2027.
Joining him is Gareth Pearson, the Welsh guitarist known as “The Welsh Tornado.” Guitarist Magazine‘s Steve Harvey called his playing “fingerstyle pyrotechnics combined with explosive lead runs,” and the biography backs it up: Pearson opened for Tommy Emmanuel’s UK tour within his first year of playing, toured with Ray Davies of The Kinks, performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, and became the first UK guitarist signed to Candyrat Records. His debut album Urban Echoes Vol 1 was named one of the Essential Acoustic Albums of 2010 by Acoustic Guitar magazine.
Opening the evening is Forest Bailey, whose percussive fingerstyle pulls from folk, world, blues, jazz, and post-rock in the tradition of Michael Hedges and Andy McKee. Bailey completed a 40-plus-concert national tour across 26 states from 2018 to 2019, and his songs “Midnight Picnic” and “Daybreak” have been featured on the Candyrat Records YouTube channel. In 2025 he opened Misko’s sold-out 26-date Canadian tour. This bill has history behind it.
Venue & Logistics
The show is in The 9th Ward, a room within the Babeville complex at 341 Delaware Ave in Buffalo, promoted by DSP Shows. Doors at 6:00 p.m., show runs 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. General Admission Seated, all ages. It’s a focused listening room in western New York — the kind of night where close quarters are part of the point.
Tickets
Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 day of show. Buy tickets