Location: Trieste / Teatro Politeama Rossetti / Italy
Date: Thursday, 14. 6. 2013
In the fall of 2012, Steve Vai toured Europe in support of his current studio album »The Story Of Light«. That brought him to Ljubljana, believe it or not, for the fourth time in his career. Memories were still fresh of the exceptional live experience he left behind last time at Cvetličarna, and nobody in their wildest dreams figured this one-of-a-kind musical virtuoso would turn up near Slovenia again in such a short span of time. This time around, it was on a tour fully backed by a 45-piece orchestra from Romania called Evolution Tempo Orchestra, with George Natsis commanding it with a conductor’s baton.
Anyone familiar with Vai’s 2007 release »The Sound Theories Vol. 1 & 2« will tell you that “Vai dressed up in orchestral arrangements” is no longer a revolutionary move for this guitar wizard. Vai had already tested how his music works in the hands of orchestral arrangements. But on this tour the man is even more frugal than ever before. The Romanians are surely cheaper than the Dutch, and no less versed in their classical training. In the show itself they were maybe even more agile.
The prestigious venue of Trieste’s Politeama Rossetti theater drew a hefty crowd of the curious. The stalls weren’t sold out, but they were solidly filled. All eyes were on the hero of planet-wide guitar excess. Where is he? When’s he going to stroll onto the stage? Not right away. The opening part belonged to the orchestra. The few-minute weave was cut in such a way that legendary Frank Zappa, Vai’s famous mentor, could have easily tiptoed onto the stage in his place. And then “little Stevie” finally shows up and introduces his guitar language in an awfully rough way! Through the opener Racing The World, a new track from the album »The Story Of Light«. The coinage “flex-able”, which has fatefully accompanied Vai’s artistic character since time immemorial, couldn’t have been more fitting than in the artist’s opening performance. Vai went all in on combining unbelievable fretting-hand grips on the guitar, which were anything but chord shapes, and he mixed all of that with the use of the tremolo arm, which he spun and bent in every possible direction. Right from the start he theatrically chased feedback around the room. And as mentioned, Vai came across as a very rough user of the guitar. Well, his roughness toward the guitar has been well known in the past, one way or another. Over the history of his stage appearances, Vai has smashed a fair number of guitars in his famous stage show theater.
The opening part of the concert hinted that Vai was somewhat buried in the sound mix. The drums, tuned way too loud, were especially cutting through. And when the orchestra headed toward a crescendo, Vai’s lead guitar playing “ducked” even further into the mix of the sonic picture! But Vai’s “super-alertness” wasn’t fooled by this time’s glitches from the sound techs. Right in the opening song he started whipping his left hand with an outstretched index finger up in the air, alarmingly signaling that the tech should please bring him up in the sound to a “normal” audible level of volume.
This time the Vai experience was once again exceptional. Nothing new, right? The man tailored the set list. He brought older songs back into it. Worth pointing out here is a nod to the set list presented on the aforementioned release »The Sound Theories Vol. 1 & 2«. There was Murder, Gentle Ways, in the second encore the only song from the EP »Alien Love Secrets« (1994), the thoroughly “wild” Kill the Guy with the Ball, and the ancient The Attitude Song. The superbly re-arranged »Passion And Warfare« classics Answer and, in the encore, Liberty, followed by the ultimate delicacy of Vai’s body of work, For The Love Of God, couldn’t be left out either. All these songs went through an almost eerie metamorphosis thanks to the arrangements being adapted for orchestra. Plenty of fuel on that fire was of course added by Steve Vai himself, who during the concert tacked extended outros and experimental solo sections onto the songs, creating a fundamental sense of a new musical quality in the room that only he can repeat. As we’re used to from him. No holds barred, in the glow of “American” mastery of shock-theater treatment and in the familiar axiom of “the impossible is possible”. Or, in other words: it’s impossible until you see what Vai does. In short, the miracle worker of 6- to 7-string theory was fully expressive in his stage sprawl! Like a crispy hot fresh bread roll. Except Vai simply doesn’t know how to cool down, let alone “oxidize” and turn into a “stale” rusk.
Above all, it was a treat to realize that Vai’s genius radiates a different character than the one we’re used to from his “rock”-sharpened concert appearances. This time the emotions responded in a completely different way. The softness and subtlety of laying down extremely controlled movements of the left and right hand quickly washed all the opening gestures of roughness into oblivion. Especially the combination of the left wrist’s spider grip and the downright breathtaking drill of mastering the tremolo, which makes it clear that nobody on the planet has researched how the tremolo works as thoroughly as Steve has to this day. The obligatory solo bit played with the tongue at the end of For The Love Of God. Priceless. Every single time! Vai once again drew all the boundaries of the universe in guitar playing. Actually, he blurred them and somehow redrew them anew over the course of the show. The gentle songs were especially superb, like Whispering A Prayer, later Lotus Feet, and the almost gypsy-arranged, lightly seductive Salamanders In The Sun. But Vai saved the biggest voluptuous treat for the very end of the regular set.
Two pieces from the album »Fire Garden« (1996) followed. First Bangkok. Let me allow myself to stretch the report a bit. The song Bangkok is actually an overture to the famous song called “One Night in Bangkok”, performed as a duet by British actor and pop dance vocalist Murray Head and Swedish singer and songwriter Anders Glenmark The tune appears on a 1984 concept album that served as the music for the musical film »Chess«. The music for that album was created by ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The intro to the song in question begins on the album with an oriental instrumental called Bangkok, which Steve Vai adapted for his album »Fire Garden«, except that his version then spills over into the epic creation »The Fire Garden Suite«. The voluptuous treat we’d been waiting for all evening. An exceptional composition that actually demands a whole orchestra beside it in order to ring out as truly and authentically as possible in its musical and artistic message.
Maestro Vai, who strummed the opening Bangkok on an electric sitar, later had to swap it for an acoustic guitar (and of course an electric one) because of the suite’s special demands. He had no small amount of trouble with it, as the sitar was once again set too quiet, which visibly threw him off on stage! Later, once he’d picked up the acoustic guitar, he had to swap that one for another too, since he suddenly realized the tech had tuned it badly. Vai had a different guitar tech beside him, not the seasoned grey-beard who has survived all the ages since the era of Atlantis, the master Thomas Nordegg. And that was also the price of his “penny-pinching”. The Fire Garden Suite did come out superbly despite a few hiccups, but you could feel the guitar guru wasn’t happy with how the show was going. Somewhere in a pause you could even hear from the stage: “Get rid of this!!!”. Here Vai was aiming at the tech, telling him to immediately eliminate a sound detail that was spoiling the picture on stage. After the tech finally brought the acoustic guitar into Vai’s hands, he, for instance, forgot to also adjust the mic stand, which should have been set to the height of “seated Steve Vai”. The artist fixed that himself afterward, too. During the time it took the tech to walk from Vai to backstage and back, the orchestra routinely patched things up with their playing. Vai patched over the awkwardness with a few theatrical shrugs toward the audience and the conductor! Maybe the sound tech was also a little tired and, above all, flustered by all of Vai’s demands during the concert. But Vai deserves a flawless sound picture. Because he has actually pushed his genius to the maximum, like few other members of the human race in the galaxy.
But the crowd didn’t mind. They carried Vai on their hands, and the man, despite a few sound mishaps, thoroughly enjoyed performing the repertoire. His adapted For The Love Of God just wouldn’t end, so many embellishments and bits of improvisation did the artist pin onto its extended outro.
A master remains a master. He follows in the footsteps of the great guru Frank Zappa. He doesn’t copy him. He just picks the best from Zappa and channels it ideas-wise into his own musical expressive character. That’s how Vai keeps offering a one-of-a-kind musical adventure, tailor-made for the most demanding music gourmets. Steve Vai in the best possible shape, this time on the stage of Trieste’s Politeama Rossetti theater. Unforgettable! Where the limits of musical expression lie, only he knows. And that’s exactly what always draws us to Vai the most. A progressive blend of musical excess and the unpredictable evolution of his one-of-a-kind artistic character. Two hours flew by in the blink of an eye. Vai once again created the famous world of one-of-a-kind musical magic, which he carries, free-spirited and elusive, in his magical palms!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Jernej Vene
Setlist:
1. Racing the World
2. Murder
3. Velorum
4. Gentle Ways
5. Answers
6. Whispering a Prayer
7. The Attitude Song
8. I’m Becoming
9. Salamanders in the Sun
10. Crying Machine
11. Lotus Feet
12. Bangkok
13. Fire Garden Suite
—encore—
14. Liberty
15. For the Love of God
—encore II.—
16. Kill the Guy with the Ball
