The
virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai kicked off his 25th Anniversary tour of
his album ‘Passion and
Warfare’ in Glasgow last night. The show opened with footage from the 1986
cult film ‘Crossroads’- a film that
Vai appeared as the devil’s own guitarist- Steve took to the stage dressed as a
futuristic rock-star; with lights coming from his silvery hoodie, and
futuristic looking 80s style shades and a lit up Ibanez Universe seven string guitar.
‘Bad Horsie’ was bombarding the audience
with a heavy slide riff, which the fans were digging immensely. After the opener,
he discarded the light-up guitar and the hoodie. With the heat in the venue, I
could hardly blame mister Vai.
The
guitar gymnastic stylings of ‘The
attitude song’, followed suit; a plenitude of devastatingly complex guitar
licks erupted.
‘Gravity
Storm’ a thunderous heavy track; with a Hendrix style feel. So heavy, you
felt the vibrations hit your body.
‘Whispering
a Prayer’ , is like an ancient melody passed down giving it a beautiful
primal but gentle sound; playing centuries of musical tradition in a short
space of time.
Steve
began to play the entirety of ‘Passion
and Warfare’ starting with the grandiose ‘Liberty’. He was aided by Brian
May on screen.
‘Erotic
Nightmares’ filled with floating sensuous guitar lines, and a musical dream
sequence which Steve screamed into the guitar for an effect.
‘The
Animal’ a heavy swing-styled track with Steve doing call and response to
the audience and joking, he could do that all night.
‘Answers’
was a burst of undiluted joy; A bright fast-paced adrenalized composition.
Featuring a guest appearance by Steve’s old guitar teacher Joe Satriani on screen,
this was a welcome surprise to the audience.
‘The
Riddle’; a track not played live before; had a great reception. There was a
motif of the song ‘Answers’ included.
‘Ballerina 12/24’,’ is a short fun piece;
a quirky Harpo Marx, Looney Tunes styled melody.
‘For the
Love of God’, in this song, Steve is always trying for a deeper, more intimate
connection with the guitar, trying to reach a new plateau. You can tell this by
his many, many facial expressions.
‘The audience is Listening’ is a playful
song, opened with the 90s music video that shows a young Steve Vai causing a riot with his music in class. This particular
song was a fantasy of mine playing this track in my music class to upset my
utterly odious music teacher. John
Petrucci from Dream Theater
joins Steve on screen for a fun, energetic guitar duel.
‘I Would Love To’, is a sunshine song,
with a very cheesy 90s music video.
‘Blue Powder’ a wonderful mystic tinged
ballad; the melody seems very fragile and has intricate nuances. It also
featured an excellent slap bass solo from the fabulous Phillip Byno.
‘Greasy Kids Stuff’, a dirty rough fast-paced
song caked with filthy guitar leads, played live for the first time.
‘Alien Water Kiss’ a unique track as
it’s created by Steve’s experimentations with the Eventide Harmoniser H3000.
‘Sisters’
was a very beautiful song, which has a quality of tenderness and love. It seems
very earthy but lofty in sound and feel.
‘Love secrets’ is a strange
unconventional track which must have been a really rigorous track to play
correctly. Steve seemed overwhelmed at the audience’s vigorous response and
applause.
Steve
then surprised us all by doing a cover of Frank
Zappa’s song ‘Stevie’s spanking’;
a song that Frank wrote about Steve’s encounter with a groupie than Frank
actually knew.
As a Zappa fan, it was a wonderful nostalgic
trip hearing this song live.
Vai
then invited three lucky members of the audience on stage to ‘Build Me a Song’. It’s a wonderful idea
to be able to create a different song every night on the spur of a moment. Steve
regaled us with a story of a female fan’s fantasy to sit on his amplifier while
he played ‘Bad Horsie.’ The people on
stage helped the band compose a drum part, a bass line instantly played by Phillip Byno; this due to his amazing
perfect pitch. There was also a rhythm guitar part and a lead guitar part.
Overall, it was a wonderful entertaining experience.
The
encore, ‘Taurus Bulba’ a very heavy
track, had a humorous moment when Steve put his guitar around ‘Donna’ a female
audience member he invited on stage; additionally he said she smelled like a
cupcake and Donna looked like she was in pure ecstasy. At the end of the song,
he said to the audience “just one more note.” Finally, he threw out the only
guitar pick he used all evening and I caught it; this made the whole experience
cosmic.
Stuart Ritchie
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