Steve Vai Sound Theories Tour hits Detroit

[roburado]

Steve Vai and his amazing band came through town last night. Jeremy Colson still is on the drums. Bass duties were handled by Bryan Beller, who needs some Bongos and a Markbass rig. Ooops...did I say that? Sorry. I guess I'm just a fanboy. Then, he had Mark Depuy (I'm reasonably sure that I've mispelled his name.) on keys and violin. Also, he had Ann Marie Calhoun on keys and violin. BTW, she's gorgeous! [slide whistle glissando up] Unfortunately, she's married. [slide whistle glissando down]

Anyway, the band was fantastic. Unfortunately, biggest thing marring the experience was that some speaker(s) on the left side was crackling throughout much of the show. Grrr... It could be heard at some really inopportune moments. The band soldiered on, and the sound was otherwise great. The way they integrate the strings into the arrangements was very true to the original versions of the songs, but they added a great element. It's not hard to make the conceptual leap from chasing a "violin tone" with one's electric guitar to actually using a violin on stage. Very cool.

The opening act, Zack Wiesinger is hysterical. He's a little goofy. He's certainly a talented guy. He's a great guitar player. That's perfect for a Steve Vai show, I think.

If you've got the chance to see Steve Vai on any of the remaining dates. Go for it. He still puts on a great show.

 

[73h Nils]

Oh man, that sounds amazing. The Toronto show is tonight, but I couldn't score any tickets :'(

Setlist? All I really wanna know is if he played Building the Church and Blue Powder. I'd kill to see those. (I just naturally assume FTLoG was played )

 

[roburado]

Yes. "Building" was played. He did not play "Blue Powder."

He played some stuff I don't know. I don't remember the whole set. He worked in the intro to "Damn Good" from back in the "Skyscraper" days. Some other stuff I remember off the top of my head:

Answers
Liberty
Bangkok
All About Eve
The Audience Is Listening
Tender Surrender
Die To Live

Obviously, there were a lot more tunes. As I said, I don't know a lot of them.

 

[Shnook]

Bryan Beller is awesome! Loves his Mike Lull's though.

 

[73h Nils]

Ooh! The Audience is Listening. First Vai song I ever heard/saw. OMG.

 

[roburado]

I gotta catch up on my more-recent Vai stuff. Haven't really bought anything by him since "Alive in an Ultra World"

He also played "Freak Show Excess."

 

[Peter Murray]

Bryan is a friend of mine and a great player.
I was at the Toronto show last night and hung out with him for a while afterwards.
Unfortunately I couldn't hear what he was doing with any clarity whatsoever... which is too bad, cause I know he was playing great!
He's a loyal SWR user and used to work for the company... I opted to not engage him in an amp debate!
But needless to say, I too would have loved to have heard him through a Markbass rig!

 

[roburado]

I felt like I only heard him intermittently.

 

[Shnook]

Bryan is a friend of mine and a great player.
I was at the Toronto show last night and hung out with him for a while afterwards.
Unfortunately I couldn't hear what he was doing with any clarity whatsoever... which is too bad, cause I know he was playing great!
He's a loyal SWR user and used to work for the company... I opted to not engage him in an amp debate!
But needless to say, I too would have loved to have heard him through a Markbass rig!

I'm friends with Bryan as well and I've never had a problem hearing him with Keneally. I take it Vai is mixed um...a little(or a lot) hotter.

 

[pauldogx]

No Dave Weiner??? Thought he was on the tour???

 

[kneeoh]

No Dave Weiner??? Thought he was on the tour???

Dave Weiner is still with Vai's band.... I think Schnook was referring to the times Brian Beller tours with Mike Keneally.

 

[mesadualrec]

I was at the Glasgow show and it was out of this world

Before the show I met Anne and Steve as well as the opening act Zakk ohh and Mark very briefly,he was outside and we cheered for some Paganini so he gave us a few bars...smug B£$%!"&!!!


really amazing show

the sound was off for the first couple of songs there too but then the engineer go into it and sorted it out a little.

Steve is a Lovely guy as well

Vai is God