Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Monday July 15, 2013 :
Guitarist extraordinaire Steve Vai is in town as part of his Rip It Up world tour, and is a regular visitor to Australian shores, last here in 2012 as part of the G3 tour. On this night there was no support, just Steve Vai and his select group of world class musicians.
Taking to the stage in sunglasses Via opened the evening with ‘Racing the World’ from the 2012 Story of Light album. The most impressive thing about this gig was Via’s talents as a guitarist which were on show from the beginning. There was no warm up, no settling in, the fans enjoyed a full throttle performance from the opening cord. Moving into ‘Velorum’ also from Story of Light, Vai then introduced his back catalogue with ‘Building the Church’ and ‘Tender Surrender’. It is too easy to forget Vai’s solo career began in 1990 with the release of the ground-breaking album, Passion and Warfare. This album drew critical acclaim as well as commercial success, and cemented Vai’s standing as one of the top guitarists in the world. This status continues through to today.
‘Gravity Storm’ signalled Via’s brief exit from the stage allowing guitarist Dave Weiner to display his skills behind an acoustic guitar. This solo was almost worth the price of the ticket alone. Vai returned to the stage delivering a constant monumental guitar presence with ‘Weeping China Doll’, ‘Answers’, ‘The Moon and I’, ‘The Animal’, ‘Whispering a Prayer’, and ‘The Audience Is Listening’. Another cleverly crafted break allowed full exposure to Michael Aarom and his keyboards.
On Via’s casual return, the audience was exposed to ‘Rescue Me Bury Me’, ‘Sisters’, ‘Treasure Island’, ‘Salamanders in the Sun’ and ‘Pusa Road’. Another well timed brief break drew drummer Jeremy Colson to the spotlight. Initially this was via a mobile drum set, this quickly turned into a display on the full kit located high on the stage. Via returned to the stage equipped in laser and metallic for ‘The Ultra Zone’, ‘Frank’ and ‘Build Me a Song’. At this point of the show, Vai developed a song entitled ‘new’ with two audience members drawn out of the crowd. Vai then promptly concluded, “this is my last song for the evening”. After a brief period of noise from the full house, Vai broke into ‘For the Love of God’ before departing the stage, only to return to play ‘Taurus Bulba’ from the album, Where The Wild Things Are.
In reflection, Vai’s prolific creativity has built an extensive discography of more than 60 albums featuring solo works, several musical contributions to film soundtracks. The thing that impressed me over the course of the night is Vai’s ability to engage with the audience on all levels. The power of his gutar playing remains unquestionable, the fact he can engage with the audience catapults him as the complete package. An excellent show.
Reviewer and Photographer: David Jackson
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzpjLx9BOvQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVeNR3X3GfI