If
you don't know Steve Vai, he can play the guitar,
he can really play the guitar! So much so that
he's realise numerous solo albums, and has been
in bands such as Whitesnake, Frank Zappas and
David Lee Roths supergroup, and guesting on one
of my favourite songs, Alice Coopers Feed My Frankenstein.
He is a guitar virtuoso, and I'm sure any one
who is serious about playing the six string, will
appreciate his playing.
There's
no support on this The Story of Light tour, due
to Beverly McClellan, pulling out due to personal
family reasons. Instead we are treated to Mr Vai
coming on at 8pm and playing a mammoth 3 hour
set, not a bad way to spend the night.
He opens the set with Racing the World, Velorum,
after which he pinches a friends camera and takes
a photo of himself in front of the crowd then
proceeds to take a photo of his undercarriage.
He
carries on with the superb, Building the Church.
One thing I notice is that if your here to hear
all the instruments in the songs, you're in for
a bit of a disappointment, as all I can hear is
Steve Vais guitar and the drums. Also the harp
player scares me a little as she's swinging that
thing around from her groin area like a big multi
stringed cock.
After Tender Surrender and the storming Gravity
Storm, Steve disappears for a short break while
Dave Weiner, the other guitarist on stage, plays
a solo acoustic song. Steve returns with a costume
change, to play the likes of Weeping China Doll,
The Moon and I, Answers, The Animal, The Audience
is Listening before Deborah Conant plays her harp
solo, before everything comes down a notch with
a few acoustic songs.
I
have to say its a mesmerisingly superb performance
by Vai, I knew the man was superb but live he's
something else, I have to say vocals wouldn't
go a miss but why bother when you don't have to.
The acoustic songs played are Rescue Me or Bury
Me, Sisters, Treasure Island, Salamanders Sun
and Pusa Road, the crowd being most respectfully
silent, which is nice as past experience has gotten
me pissed off with the crowd talking during acoustic
sets. This section of the gig is finished off
with a drum Solo, I hate drum solos, it's a throw
back to the past, they just bore me.
The
final few songs of the set feature the likes of
The Ultra Zone, Frank, then a rather interesting
piece which I haven't seen before but really shows
how good Vai and his band are, the make a new
song up on the spot with getting a few crowd members
on stage to hash out a song, a instrument at a
time, pretty cool. they close the set out with,
For the Love of God probably one of Steves best
known songs, I wouldn't have said no to hearing
the Halo theme Mjolnir mix, as its superb. The
night is closed out with Taurus Bulba, pretty
awesome but I'd have ended with For the Love of
God.
Overall what a superb night of Virtuosic guitar
playing from Steve Vai and co, Playing a l g set
like this could have done with an intermission,
but never mind.
Steve Vai 5/5
Review By Robert Lawrence
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