My review :
Majorly disapointed.
I thought Fripp was interesting, it was relaxing and he was doing something that you're unlikely to hear very often. It was strange listening for sure, with that style traditional harmony does not seem to apply it's more like musical sound.
The first problem with the show : the volume.
Fripp's set was ok volume wise, although there were some moments when the red 'clipping' LEDs in my head were blinking.
After Vai's set I went straight to the information desk to ask about some ear plugs, thankfully they gave me a few free sets (noteably nice of the RAH).
All these people that have been saying that it was always too quiet because Vai was constantly getting the desk guy to push it up need to listen to their own ears.
It was literally a wall of blue noise with the instruments vaguely underneath, turning up the instruments won't make them cut through more, it just makes things worse.
The in the mix were poor at best, the cymbals were hardly audible.
Once I had my plugs the rest was SO much more listenable. If I didn't get the plugs I probably would have left after Joe, and would have had to use tissue paper instead.
What Vai and Satch don't realise is that they are not playing venues built for rock. This is not to say that rock can't sound good in them, it's just they are built for a different sound.
I have seen a large jazz band play at the RAH (20+ brass players, piano/keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, 10 vocalists + soloist) The guitarist played through a
fender twin with no micing. It cut through everything, it was completely audible by everyone. I moved around seating wise and could hear it well from a box and from the back. The RAH is designed to amplify natural instruments (such as orchestral ones). During the same performance, different song, my friend the keyboardist wasn't playing so picked up a tambourine and started tapping along, again so clear.
Many may doubt what I say but it's completely true.
OK so Vai likes to play loud, so I could accept him micing his amp up, but not blasting it out like that.
Bottom line, the sounds bad because of Steve/Joe.
The second problem with the gig, and the reason I probably won't go to see them again:
This applies to Steve much more than Joe, but after Steve's set my mood was lowered considerably.
A problem with musicians that is apparent with almost all technically able players is that they find it hard to hold back. Sure Steve does it better than a lot of guys out there but watching his band play one chord for 8 minutes while he widdles over the top is not interesting. Which causes infinite problems when it comes to the 'jam' a.k.a ChopsFest.
The reason that this becomes extra dull with Vai and Satch is that in many of their album songs, many sections are improvised, so we all know what their improvisational 'sound' is, so listening to it for ages is extra numbing.
I feel the audience agreed with me when it came to this boring weakness in the performance, even if they didn't want to. While the guys played _EVERYONE_ sat there completely deadpan not even nodding their heads, bar a few :
-The jumpy over excited kid infront of me, who eventually settled down and stopped tapping his friend and singing the tune.
-The drunk skinhead behind me who was either shaking his head to some techno in his earphones or had no sense of tempo. Who also said to his friend when Joe went on
"Dave I thought you said he was ****"
"Nah I said the first one, Fripp"
"Oh yeah, **** off Fripp I hate you"
Genius obviously at work
-The odd person in a box who felt uninhibited enough to headbang along to
Far
To
LOn
G.
-The only reactions from the audience were when songs would finish and people around me would start saying "wow, yeah fantastic, wow" or when Joe looked to the people in the choir seats and they started *we're not worthy*ing him.
All these reactions seemed to be the reaction that the audience/individuals felt they
ought to make, as (anomolies mentioned above excluded) the audience never reacted when not prompted by the performers, even when they were asked to clap to the beat they stopped after a few seconds. No one reacted like this to the music alone.
I will personally eat anyone's head who tells me that they were simply "mesmerised by the unbelieveable, intrinsic, beautiful music" or some other pseudo-muso intellectual bull****. [sarcasm]Yes I believe that everyone in the audience felt exactly the same and was hypnotised into not moving[/sarcasm]
I can't believe that these people would not even cheer after a Jam solo but would erupt after 15 minutes of fiddlywiddly.
I have to say that I enjoyed Joe's performance much more than Steve's. Joe was jumping up and down and obviously really enjoying himself in a relateable way, this excitement was reflected in the audience a bit aswell as the mood lifted a bit.
Steve's actions during playing seem too Hammed up, and rehearsed for them to seem real. Sure it's his way of putting on a show aside from his
guitar playing, but it's the same show....everytime...that we've all seen in all his videos.
I think Steve's choice of song was poor, he chose lots of shreddy improv songs which were boring for the above reasons, and the ballads that are so overplayed that most people could tell you what facial expression he is going to ham up at each section of the song.
He does have good songs, but he just chooses not to play them.
This is not to say that Vai can't do a good live show, far from it. When I saw him in Holland (aching hunger gig) he was great. Why? Because the songs were notated for the orchestra, giving no allowance for over the top self indulgence. I think there were 2 solo breaks in that gig, and they were only a minute or two long.
G3 for those guys means no time restrictions, especially in the jams, so they extend every song with overplaying. Fripp had the right idea with short solos that were all different. I think all those people who boo'd him ate some shoe leather when he pulled out a few fast riffs.
Sorely disapointed, it wasn't a bad gig, but it wasn't what it could have been. I can be thankful that Malmsteen wasn't on the Europe leg of G3'04 otherwise my brain might have melted.
