Well I saw Steve Vai in Concert last., Jaw. Dropping. and funny too!

[eyepaddle]

What an incredibly good time. He was an insanely amzing musician in 1987, and has apparetnly done nothing but practice more in the last twenty years!

I am gonna get out in front of the obligatory "speed kills" and "yeah sure he's fast, but he still sucks!" comments which seem to be gravitationally bound to his name whenever people discuss guitar players; I am well aware that people who don't like "noodly" music are rubbed more raw by Steve Vai than practically any other wank-guitarist, but those really just miss the point. He's well aware that instrumental guiatr is a "narrowly appreciated" genre (to say the least), but for those few of us who DO like it, well, his performances are nothing short of awe-inspiring. Clearly he and his band are made up of individuals who have found their talent and muse and have had the desire to pursue it to the utmost--and then share it with their fans unself-consciously. Musically if the human mind can conceive it, somebody on stage last night could play it. I have to admire that.

One other thing, Vai has always been a fairly "active" stage performer, but in addition to learning how to move his hands and fingers more fluidly, in the last fifteen years he's become a lot better at connecting with the audience and really expressing his humour and humanity. I can't wait for the DVD they are going to release from last night's show.

If anybody is interested, here is a clip (from the same venue, and yes, I was at this show too) from 1996.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7kcuWoyjLs

[IndianaJones]

1. Crossroads. nt.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. I've Got In On DVD

I will put it in, watch them blow the roof off in the juke joint, and then the duel at the end.

Love that movie.

"I got a big white boy, out of Memphis; name o' Jack Butler. He cuts heads every Saturday night. He discourages a lot of up & coming young boys!" Legbah
The Professor

[IndianaJones]

3. great movie. I'm adding it to my Blockbuster queue. nt.

[swag]

4. This is my favorite clip of him tearing it up:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=_s3Sk8o3xaU

[eyepaddle]

6. Just for comparison here's the clip with the real

soundtrack.

I liked yours too--it sync's up close enough on the closeup handshots that you almost buy it! :rofl:

[swag]

8. The guy who posts those bogus solos is one of my heroes.

Glad you liked it.

[eyepaddle]

10. Are there more of those bogus solos?

It'd be easy to substitute horrid playing, but to actually get the trilling more or less right when the video does a closeup actually takes a bit of skill. That is some fairly talented smart-assery!

[swag]

11. Here ya go!

http://nl.youtube.com/user/StSanders

[Dukkha]

5. yeah sure he's fast, but he still sucks

j/k!

I saw him in 87 and 88 and he was amazing! Obviously Zappa realized his talents long ago. You only need to hear Flex-Able to appreciate how diverse his musical talents are.

[eyepaddle]

7. I'd love to hear him play Viv Woman live sometime

but they did do Answers last night and the Attitude Song, so I really can't complain. :)

[hfojvt]

9. faster! faster! pick up the pace

http://www.amazon.com/School-Velocity-Op-299-Complete/dp/0793552907

[Bennyboy]

12. He was awesome with Zappa plays Zappa

last summer. be sure to check out Stevie's Spanking form that DVD when it comes out (The Zappa family had the YouTube pulled).

[Initech]

15. I saw last year's incarnation of the ZPZ tour - great show!

I missed it this time around because I was out of town, but I will try to catch it every time.

[bbernardini]

13. BRYAN BELLER ON BASS!

I'll refrain from expressing my opinion on Steve Vai, but you are one of the luckiest people alive to have witnessed the one and only Bryan Beller on bass. Bryan's a super-cool guy, and a hell of a bassist and composer.

http://www.bryanbeller.com

[eyepaddle]

14. I'd forgotten his name--but I've always thought of him when

I thought about "ultimate cool rocl bass tone"

Plus, I love his website:

"Just after I achieved success at Berklee, I came upon a cruel realization: it didn't mean a fucking thing in the real world. Boston-a bitter town to begin with-hated Berklee musicians with a passion usually reserved for Yankee fans. They wanted to hear "real" music, not this lounge-jazz muzo shit we were cranking out to show our fellow students how good we were..."