Friday, April 29, 2005

i'm a believer

A couple of nights ago we headed out to the Grove in Anaheim to see Steve Vai; first rock concert in a long while and it was a blast!

I have to admit, that while I am well aware of Vai's considerable abilities, a fast and very clean player, I'd always been left with an impression that he was long on guitar antics and short on... emotion(?)

Not sure what description I'm looking for, but I've learned something very important from seeing him play the other night ~ I was way off base in my assumptions. He was just amazing and he played with as much depth and feeling as anyone I've ever seen. Actually, his sheer joy in performing was obvious and (mostly) contagious... ironically there was a bit of a kerfuffle that erupted about halfway through the show (happened only a couple of feet away from us and I was terrified that they were going to really hurt each other - and possibly my hubby as well, who was close enough to be on the receiving end of one of the two getting shoved right into his path)... that almost blew the whole thing for everybody, but within a few minutes it was over with and the two troublemakers disengaged from each other and went their separate ways.

But it was impossible for even that to ruin the evening; the immensely talented and personable Vai and his equally talented band (Billy Sheehan, Tony McAlpine, Dave Weiner and Jeremy Colson) played brilliantly for almost three hours; and gimmicky or not, the sheer energy and showmanship was mindblowing. At one point, the four axemen were lined up together and each one had one hand on the other's guitars as well as their own. And the drummer, Jeremy Colson, was one of the best rock drummers I've ever seen perform; this guy was really strong too... I'm talking Bonzo-like strength and stamina here. It was an amazing performance and I'm really glad we took the opportunity to go see them.

Unfortunately, we missed the local opening act; I heard a bit of their last song as we headed inside and it sounded really good. But I don't remember the name of the band.

Eric Sardinas and his band (on-tour support band for Vai all through April) was really fantastic as well. I love this rough and raunchy blues sound so I was pretty much thrilled to discover this band, and they really had everyone else going before Vai came out! I'm going to have to get my hands on this asap! Eric's slick trick was a real keeper too: he plays awesome bottle neck but he really gilded the proverbial lily when he used a beer bottle to play - and then shook it up so we would realize that it was a full bottle of beer! The music was loud and the band was a flashback to those longhaired rock and roll swaggering badboy days and the music was flat out in your face joyously rock-tinged blues and I was in heaven! And I honestly wondered how Vai was going to top that ~ silly me! About two hours later, I was a believer!

ahem, I reaaaaaaaally need to get out more! :-P And maybe, maybe I will. Hubby always says this after we go to a concert: We should really do this more. But this time, I told him that we are going to do exactly that because I'm not gonna wait for him to take action; from now on, I'm whipping out the credit card and I'm ordering tickets and then I'll let him know that it's been done and all he has to do is get in the car and get us there.

I've already missed Jeff Beck/BB King together, I've NEVER (sob) seen LZ, and we didn't even go to see Page and Plant though we had at least two opportunities to do so, and we were one day and one horridly heartbreaking backache away from seeing Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes in Irvine... and now it is highly unlikely that any of those precious opportunities will ever come again... and I don't intend to miss anymore must-sees in my life, when it is so late into it and when we are in a place where great opportunities to see great performances abound.

I've heard RP and the Strange Sensation are touring this summer and I hope we can either catch him at the Greek or in San Diego.
Posted by etherealfire :: 4:09 AM :: 0 Comments:

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