Hi everyone (and hopefully the great Steve),
It had been a long time since I hadn't been to a Steve's concert. Last time was in (since then burnt, and renovated) Elysée-Montmartre, in Paris, in the early 2000. I've been supporting him for over 20 years, starting when "Passion and warfare" was released and astonished me.
I was first surprised to notice that only seats were open to sale! Is it a really a hard-rock concert I'm going to? And I must admitt that I was finally happy to seat after this 2 hours and 45 minutes show!
The Théâtre Sébastopol is a beautiful little venue (1350 seats), but I was a bit disappointed that quite a lot of seats remained empty on the balcony. What a shame!
Now, about the show:
After an anecdotal sound power cut, the whole thing started again from the beginning - giving Steve the time he needed to do what he had forgotten to do

. No problem at all about that. For the first time, and not the least, we can see that Steve is at ease and smily in any case...
Powerful! A good word to express the global feeling! I must confess I didn't know the first songs but was rapidly comforted when the 1st notes of "Tender surrender" came to our ears. What an extraordinary moment!(I think I might shortly be out of words to qualify Steve and the band's work yesterday...). Not only the composition is brilliant, the execution was just like it was recorded years ago, plus even more delightful details added by the master. Just like in a dream.
By the way, the lights were superb all through the performance.
I don't forget to mention that Steve is very nice and close to his audience. He often comes to play on the border of the stage and let the fans shoot him with their phones. He plays FOR them, for us, which is so kind of him.
The band played wonderfully, serving the leader and reacting to his so many different moods and kinds of playing. The osmosis was just perfect. And so on with the audience. A true moment of grace we had yesterday night. And of course, each musician is a virtuoso. The only thing I "disliked" was the balance of the law register. To me, there was a bit too much of bass drum and bass guitar. I mean those frequencies were too loud and it was not good for the sound.
Anyway, Steve and his mates are having fun when he plays and we all are!
I especially liked the "old" songs, "the audience is listening", "whispering a prayer" - a top performance again, and so many others.
The moment when Steve invited a couple of fans to join him on stage was also a peek. I hope he will laugh a lot and for a long time about that bloody idiot who understood nothing about what was going on! Who was that jerk who ignored what Air guitar is? But, it was so funny indeed: Hair guitar! Hahahaha! Please forgive him...
The show ended with a remarkable interpretation of what is maybe the most known composition of Steve's: for the love of God! I'm tired to write it, but it was again fantastic. Everything is just perfect, technically (of course like ever with Steve), musically...
So, thank you so much, Steve Vai, for your kindness, your creativity, your happiness to play for us, your joy of enjoying life.
Come back soon and we will all be there again, with more friends!
Rémy