The Apollo Glasgow: A Retrospect

Out of all the gig venues, I have read about. No venue has interested me more than the Apollo in Glasgow. The Apollo was the venue that will make you, either through a baptism of fire or hurled coinage. The amount of live albums recorded there is crazy. On AC/DC’s “If You Want Blood, You Got It” live album, many of the tracks are from the Apollo. An interesting fact, on the song “The Jack,” you can hear Bon ask, “Are there any virgins in Glasgow?” Rush recorded a lot of the “Exit Stage Left “album; in the liner notes there is a thank you to the Glaswegian chorus on “Closer to the Heart.” Another great feature was the bouncy balcony; currently you would have the building condemned, as it would be “unsafe” by the standards of some beige harpy. To me this just added to the experience. When I learned it was pulled down, I felt I had missed a vital piece of history not only in Glasgow but as a rock fan. It had so much history; it was crazy to pull it down to replace it with a soulless 80s construct, demolished in the length of time to put it up. Johnny Cash, the man in black himself was the first person to play the Apollo when they changed it from the Green’s Playhouse. Status Quo recorded their first live album there. Abba’s final performance was in the Apollo. The Rezillo’s performed their final gig there too, and released a live album. Ozzy Osborne’s first solo tour said he was shaking with stage freight before we went on but ended up being one of the best gigs he had ever done and meant so much to him when it was being torn down he did an interview in the empty disused site of the building for Scottish TV. Today the ground is used for a Cineworld and trendy bar Walkabout. What a waste. In recent years, many smaller venues are disappearing leaving conglomerate owned ones in their place. Music venues should be unique, not Wetherspoons, Gastro pub abominations. While the Apollo is a memory, some venues are not. Support them don’t let them be swept by the way side by rules and legislation.

Stuart Ritchie

http://www.glasgowapollo.com/index.asp?s_id=1&m_id=1

Steve Vai 02 ABC June 1st 2016 Gig Review

The virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai kicked off his 25^th 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