09-17-2024, 11:48 PM
You beat me to it (her har...see what I did there!)
I was wearing airpods to protect the hearing all thru the first set, so I didn't catch the poor sound quality. After the intermission, I forgot to put them back in at first and I thought the main vocal was a little too loud, but all in all, it was pretty good.
This was the first show of the tour, and they'd only been practicing the material for a few weeks. Granted Tony Levin and Adrian Belew wrote much of the original material, but drummer Dana Carey and Steve Vai had a lot to learn in a short time. For Vai, it's particularly hard because aside from the unusual time signatures and constant cross-picking, the 2 guitars and the stick often have melody lines that intertwine, so determining who is playing what is difficult.
I saw Steve Vai often shaking his picking had after songs. I hope he makes it thru the tour...Note: He's not one of my favorite guitarists. He's usually very flashy and show-offy which is totally out of place for this ensemble. But outside of his (my friend said "witch" or "Yoko Ono") costume, he, I think was too busy trying not to fuck up complicated parts.
He did alright. I know all of those albums by heart, so it was really great to see the played live. I think the only songs they didn't play were "two hands" "requiem" and "the howler" from beat and "nuages" and "no warning" from 3 of a perfect pair. They could have tossed in "dinosaur", "walking on air", "one time", and sex sleep eat drink dream" IMHO, but it was a great set regardless. So much guitar synth! Opening with Neurotica was pretty bold. Following Industry with Discipline was also pretty bold. Really great to hear these songs live. Hard to watch Tony use the funk-fingers without thinking of everything everywhere all at once. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/everyt...iverse.jpg
They've added a second show at the SJ Civic, but in November, so it might be interesting to see it again then and compare after they've have a bunch of shows under their belt.
--tg
PS: Also, no band members punched each other!
I was wearing airpods to protect the hearing all thru the first set, so I didn't catch the poor sound quality. After the intermission, I forgot to put them back in at first and I thought the main vocal was a little too loud, but all in all, it was pretty good.
This was the first show of the tour, and they'd only been practicing the material for a few weeks. Granted Tony Levin and Adrian Belew wrote much of the original material, but drummer Dana Carey and Steve Vai had a lot to learn in a short time. For Vai, it's particularly hard because aside from the unusual time signatures and constant cross-picking, the 2 guitars and the stick often have melody lines that intertwine, so determining who is playing what is difficult.
I saw Steve Vai often shaking his picking had after songs. I hope he makes it thru the tour...Note: He's not one of my favorite guitarists. He's usually very flashy and show-offy which is totally out of place for this ensemble. But outside of his (my friend said "witch" or "Yoko Ono") costume, he, I think was too busy trying not to fuck up complicated parts.
He did alright. I know all of those albums by heart, so it was really great to see the played live. I think the only songs they didn't play were "two hands" "requiem" and "the howler" from beat and "nuages" and "no warning" from 3 of a perfect pair. They could have tossed in "dinosaur", "walking on air", "one time", and sex sleep eat drink dream" IMHO, but it was a great set regardless. So much guitar synth! Opening with Neurotica was pretty bold. Following Industry with Discipline was also pretty bold. Really great to hear these songs live. Hard to watch Tony use the funk-fingers without thinking of everything everywhere all at once. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/everyt...iverse.jpg
They've added a second show at the SJ Civic, but in November, so it might be interesting to see it again then and compare after they've have a bunch of shows under their belt.
--tg
PS: Also, no band members punched each other!