View Full Version : Steve Vai
GulDukat
09-01-2016, 09:35 AM
I'm generally not a huge fan of instrumental guitar albums, but I could listen to Vai for hours. Going to see him in Boston for the Passion and Warfare aniversary tour. Passion and Warfare and Fire Garden are my two favorites. I also liked his two albums with David Lee Roth.
onthewall2983
09-01-2016, 10:25 AM
I like some of his stuff, but especially the one he recorded with the Metropole Orkest. It brought his music to an epic scale that a lot of his recorded work scratches the surface on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IrWyZ0KZuk
allegro
09-01-2016, 10:49 AM
I saw him during the G3 tour of 1996 (with Joe Satriani and Kenny Wayne Shepherd)
He's a good guitarist, obviously (Zappa liked him, LOL) but I preferred Satriani since Satriani's songs are more like real "songs" that are memorable to me, later.
onthewall2983
09-01-2016, 11:57 AM
But Satriani has an awful singing voice. Vai's is actually quite good, in comparison.
He did a duet with Aimee Mann (I believe they attended Berklee together) on his last album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKxEdWzuXhw
allegro
09-01-2016, 12:45 PM
Neither Vai nor Satriani sang at all, from what I recall, for G3. I meant that Satriani has catchy songs like Surfing with the Alien (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoERl34Ld00).
G and I laugh about this Zappa audition interview (how hard it was to audition for Zappa)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx1RguHA4XE
Speaking of Zappa and that gang, better yet is Vai's story about the awesome drummer, Vinnie Colaiuta (https://www.reddit.com/r/Zappa/comments/1y2979/steve_vai_on_vinnie_colaiuta/):
"He's one of the most amazing sight-readers that ever existed on the instrument. One day we were in a Frank rehearsal, this was early '80s, and Frank brought in this piece of music called "Mo 'N Herb's Vacation." Just unbelievably complex. All the drums were written out, just like "The Black Page" except even more complex. There were these runs of like 17 over 3 and every drumhead is notated differently. And there were a whole bunch of people there, I think Bozzio was there. Vinnie had this piece of music on the stand to his right. To his left he had another music stand with a plate of sushi on it, okay? Now the tempo of the piece was very slow, like "The Black Page." And then the first riff came in, [mimics bizarre Zappa-esque drum rhythm patterns] with all these choking of cymbals, and hi-hat, riffs, spinning of rototoms and all this crazy stuff. And I saw Vinnie reading this thing. Now, Vinnie has this habit of pushing his glasses up with the middle finger of his right hand. Well I saw him look at this one bar of music, it was the last bar of music on the page. He started to play it as he was turning the page with one hand, and then once the page was turned he continued playing the riff with his right hand, as he reached over with his left hand, grabbed a piece of sushi and put it in his mouth, continued the riff with his left hand and feet, pushed his glasses up, and then played the remaining part of the bar. It was the slickest thing I have ever seen. Frank threw his music up in the air. Bozzio turned around and walked away. I just started laughing."
Andrew
09-03-2016, 10:48 PM
I went to see Steve Vai at Berklee here a number of years ago. Had six tickets: my wife, three co-workers, and a friend of a friend. 30 minutes in, one co-worker leaves for a bizarre reason. His friend stuck it out another 10 minutes and then left, said it wasn't his thing. Wife makes it 20 minutes after that, gets a headache, heads home. Co-worker #2 left 10 minutes after that. Co-worker #3 stuck it out a while longer and then took off. For the last 30 minutes of the show, it was me and five empty seats. I didn't give a shit, he was awesome. But a solo Vai show is not for everyone.
onthewall2983
09-03-2016, 10:50 PM
Solo as by himself?
GulDukat
09-06-2016, 12:00 PM
I went to see Steve Vai at Berklee here a number of years ago. Had six tickets: my wife, three co-workers, and a friend of a friend. 30 minutes in, one co-worker leaves for a bizarre reason. His friend stuck it out another 10 minutes and then left, said it wasn't his thing. Wife makes it 20 minutes after that, gets a headache, heads home. Co-worker #2 left 10 minutes after that. Co-worker #3 stuck it out a while longer and then took off. For the last 30 minutes of the show, it was me and five empty seats. I didn't give a shit, he was awesome. But a solo Vai show is not for everyone.
I can understand Vai not being your thing, but why leave early? You're watching one of the most gifted musicians of our lifetime, live. What the hell else do you have to do? Go home and watch Seinfeld re-runs?
thevoid99
09-06-2016, 02:04 PM
I like what Steve Vai has done with David Lee Roth as I thought it was a good collaboration that I wish lasted another album. BTW, I remember 20 years ago an old video he did in the 1980s for one of his instrumentals. It had a kid being Vai playing in a classroom going nuts with footage of Vai playing live. Anyone know what the track and video is? It's been bugging me for a long time.
Maximilian
09-06-2016, 03:15 PM
I like what Steve Vai has done with David Lee Roth as I thought it was a good collaboration that I wish lasted another album. BTW, I remember 20 years ago an old video he did in the 1980s for one of his instrumentals. It had a kid being Vai playing in a classroom going nuts with footage of Vai playing live. Anyone know what the track and video is? It's been bugging me for a long time.
I just looked and oddly enough the promo video for that song is not on youtube right now, but the track is called "The Audience is Listening".
thevoid99
09-06-2016, 06:05 PM
I just looked and oddly enough the promo video for that song is not on youtube right now, but the track is called "The Audience is Listening".
Oh, thank you. I found it on Dailymotion.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1p157_steve-vai-the-audience-is-listening_music
GulDukat
09-06-2016, 07:00 PM
I like what Steve Vai has done with David Lee Roth as I thought it was a good collaboration that I wish lasted another album. BTW, I remember 20 years ago an old video he did in the 1980s for one of his instrumentals. It had a kid being Vai playing in a classroom going nuts with footage of Vai playing live. Anyone know what the track and video is? It's been bugging me for a long time.
Eat Em and Smile is a classic, arguably better than any post-Roth Van Halen album. Skyscraper has some shitty moments, but is a fun follow-up with some very good, albeit dated songs. "Just Like Paradise" was the first choice of the producers of Beverly Hills 90210 to use as the theme song, fyi.
After Vai left Dave's band, his solo career started to crash. Dave's third album, A little Ain't Enough, featured guitarist Jason Becker, then about 20 years old, who was said to be the next Vai or EVH. Sadly he developed ALS before his career took off. A Little Ain't Enough was a decent, 80's style rock album with some solid playing. But by 1991, the party was over and then, well, Nevermind...
theimage13
09-06-2016, 08:38 PM
I can understand Vai not being your thing, but why leave early? You're watching one of the most gifted musicians of our lifetime, live. What the hell else do you have to do? Go home and watch Seinfeld re-runs?
If you like Seinfeld more than Steve Vai, then what's the issue? Would you sit down and watch one of the most gifted ice sculptors chip away at a block of ice for three hours instead of watching your favorite band in concert? Watching someone just because they're talented is worthless if they're not your cup of tea. They didn't write him off without even going. They tried, they weren't thrilled, they cut their losses. Different strokes for different folks.
Anyway....I saw him for the first time this year on the Generation Axe tour. The whole show was unreal. I couldn't really pick a favorite from the night - each guitarist brought something different to the table, and I loved each one of them. Definitely made me interested in seeing Vai again if the opportunity presents itself.
GulDukat
09-06-2016, 09:15 PM
If you like Seinfeld more than Steve Vai, then what's the issue? Would you sit down and watch one of the most gifted ice sculptors chip away at a block of ice for three hours instead of watching your favorite band in concert? Watching someone just because they're talented is worthless if they're not your cup of tea. They didn't write him off without even going. They tried, they weren't thrilled, they cut their losses. Different strokes for different folks.
Anyway....I saw him for the first time this year on the Generation Axe tour. The whole show was unreal. I couldn't really pick a favorite from the night - each guitarist brought something different to the table, and I loved each one of them. Definitely made me interested in seeing Vai again if the opportunity presents itself.
I say, if you are there, stay for the gig, but that's just my opinion. I think it's just kind of sad, and people are depriving themselves by leaving early.
theimage13
09-07-2016, 07:18 AM
I say, if you are there, stay for the gig, but that's just my opinion. I think it's just kind of sad, and people are depriving themselves by leaving early.
I agree that it's sad to see people leave a gig. But Steve Vai is a very distinctive guitarist, and it doesn't take two hours to decide you're not enjoying it. If you're miserable experiencing something, it's okay to shrug your shoulders and say "well, at least I tried".
GulDukat
11-25-2016, 07:29 PM
Boston show was awesome. The Wilbur in Boston is a really cool, intimate theater, and it was something to see one of the world's greatest guitar players from 20 feet away. Super nice guy too, very fan friendly, even walked into the audience and posed for pictures with fans.
Just a fantasy, but some kind of Vai/Trent Reznor collaboration could potentially be amazing.
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