I've been putting off joining the board for a while now simply because I've been trying not to distract myself by belonging to too many social sites already, but it's about time
Thought it might be a good idea to qualify with some background before joining the community discussions here.Like a lot of you here I've been a Vai fan since the mid to late 80's. I know some of you go way back to the earlier days with Zappa etc... but honestly didn't know who he was back that far because I was not a Zappa fan then (please don't shoot me!). After hearing some of his work in the 80's I bought my first Steve album - "Passion and Warfare" - back in 1990 and it was on CASSETTE TAPE no less LOL! As a guitar player myself (nowhere near the caliber of Steve by a longshot) Needless to say I was absolutely ASTOUNDED by everything I heard on P&W and have bought every release ever since. I even owned "the Secrete Jewel Box" which I treasured very much but unfortunately during a difficult financial time back around 2002 I ended up selling it - something I'll forever regret.
Now many years later, after hearing so many releases and having the good fortune to not only see Steve perform with G3 but also to briefly meet him at an aftershow (I was so nervous during that brief encounter that I could barely speak and I'm quite sure I was a blithering idiot lol), just when I thought there couldn't possibly be any more surprises I saw him on the "Where the Wild Things Are" tour and I was FLOORED.
I was used to seeing performances like he did with G3 and the "Live in London" DVD I must admit that I kind of felt like I could predict what future performances would be like. But then I got tickets to see the "Wild Things" tour and words can't even describe the affect that show had on me. To me it was like Steve kind of took a back seat in some ways and really made it a "band" thing rather than just a Vai show, and his vision for the show and the musicians he chose were all pure genius. The harmonized violins along with the guitar were a spectacular compliment to the whole ensamble plus the extremely entertaining percussion solo / interaction and great performances of Dave and Bryan just... wow... it just all took my totally by surprise to the point of being a very epic experience. Maybe I'm a little behind the curve in some ways, but to me it was like Steve really brought things to a whole new level by making it not just a "guitar show" but a full-on musical experience that hooked me into every part of the band / production.
I now own and still watch the BluRay DVD from the Wild Things show in utter amazement and I'll usually pop it in the player when I have people at the house just to see them go "whoa, what the hell is this?!"
Just when I thought I'd seen and heard it all, the man raises the bar another huge notch. RRRRAKA TAKA everyone, and cheers!
80sDave
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but sarcastic