Steve Vai’s band entered the stage and slowly but surely out came the man himself, Steve Vai as he played from backstage to his rightful spot center stage, and it was kind of hard to concentrate on Vai because his guitarist to his right was showing off his pecs and mid riff and despite the fact I am a straight man, I could not help but be locked into the glory that are his abs. You son of a bitch.
Interesting being here tonight in a way, having known a lot of Rock Musicians in Perth for some time, if Steve Vai tore the roof off and killed us all, the Perth lead guitar contingent would be alive and well, because absolutely none of them showed up tonight aside from Guitar Virtuoso extraordinare, Krissy Sanfead who was my +1. We were baffled at the representation of Perth musos at this show!
‘Tender Surrender’ had a mean beat boy. As a non guitar player, how do I even explain what I heard and have seen without sounding like a cast member from Waynes World. Steve Vai really wails.
What Steve Vai does is tell stories. He conveys the emotion and story though his guitar wails and licks, to the point where you don’t need vocals and lyrics, because you can interpret to yourself what he’s trying to tell you, or what story the current song is trying to convey.
He talked about it being the final night of a tour since May, and that he was told that Perth was “hard to get to” and he still said he wanted to play Perth. It’s not hard to get here, you just gotta get on a plane. Thanks Steve! The banter was really funny at this point, Steve is a real decent guy, you can tell!
I wish I knew which song was which. It’s difficult to keep track when you don’t know the songs and had to go for a quick toilet break!
The VIP peeps got to hop up on stage with Vai which I’m sure was an amazing experience for them! What a super cool addition to their package. At times it was so mesmerizing, I felt like I was in a trance. This was like a show that was trying to tell you “look at how many things the guitar can do!”
‘Candlepower’ was nothing more than a beautiful echo through the building before Steve let his good looking solid chested guitarist Dante go ‘UNCHAINED’. He did a good job, flashing his pearly whites, couldn’t you at least be missing a tooth you sexy talented son of a bitch?
Honestly the highlight of the night was the band about to play a song and a random crowd member, as it was quiet yelled “Ah 1, Ah 2, Ah 1, 2, 3 ,4!” And the band burst into laughter.
‘Greenish Blues’ was cool as hell, before we hit up ‘Crossroads’ and ‘Bad Horsie’. Talk about a mean beat! This was a continuous onslaught of guitar mayhem for the rest of the set. It was fun the whole time. They finished off by having Danny G, his sound guy come out and sing some Opera along to the band and it was fantastic, the guy had some chops believe me!
It was never dull, they never relented, Steve Vai and his band put on a show at Perth Concert Hall that was certainly to be remembered, and a perfect way to finish off a 6 month tour.
Words by Tommy Gallagher
Setlist:
Avalancha
Giant Balls of Gold
Little Pretty
Tender Surrender
Lights Are On (Extended with Band Jam/Solos)
Candlepower
Guitar Solo (“Dante Unchained”)
Building the Church
Greenish Blues
Crossroads Bad Horsie Intro
Bad Horsie
I’m Becoming
Whispering a Prayer
Drum Solo
Teeth of the Hydra
Zeus in Chains
Liberty
For the Love of God
Fire Garden Suite IV – Taurus Bulba
