Steve Vai featuring Eric Sardinas. I've been excited as all hell about this concert, as had the six friends I went with- we'd been chanting "Vai on Fri" all week long and saying "Steve on Eve" that friday beforehand. The tickets were a mere $30, a bargain for the magnitude of musical awesomeness we were about to witness. We bought them two days or so after they went on sale and managed to snag some very nice second row balcony tickets. This was a smallish theater, so we had an absolutely wonderful view.
Some of you might be saying right now, "But wait Anti, just who is Steve Vai?" Well, shame on you. You should be aware of the man's musical genius. He's basically one helluva rock guitarist (I prefer to call him a rock "God"). He's been playing guitar since he was 14, he trained under Joe Satriani, and he's been touring with Billy Sheehan (extremely talented bassist) for 25 years this September. If you want to know more about the band or hear some samples (which I encourage you to do), go to his website, www.vai.com
Anyway. Eric came out first, kicked some royal ass. His music was a bit more country/blues-ish than I was expecting, but regardless, he was a very talented guy. At one point he picked up a beer bottle and started playing with it. Very cool.
He played for about half an hour, then intermission, then, of course, the reason everybody came: Vai himself.
Steve Vai is an absolute maniac. He puts on one hell of a show, and seems to have a helluva time doing it, as well. Absolutely flawless performance that lasted just over four hours. I'd definitely call that a $30 well spent.
After the concert, I picked up Sardinas's new CD, Black Pearls. He was signing autographs, so I grabbed one, but I was damn disappointed I wouldn't get to meet Vai. I mean, an unknown indie band is great to get a signature from, but Vai is famous, man. That would have really been awesome. Oh well, couldn't hope for miracles.
Could I? We were about to leave when I noticed some kids from school that I kind of knew. Turns out one of them was best friends with Vai's kid back when he lived in California, and they had the VIP backstage passes to prove it. I was freaking out by this point. Could it be we might actually be able to see Vai? No way. No possible way.
But this kid asked the manager if they could smuggle us back when they went to go say hi to him. She agreed.
Oh. My. God. I was backstage at a Steve Vai concert. I was going to see Steve Vai!
We walked along a long hallway until we got to a door. The manager knocked, and after a moment the door opened. Out stepped this guy, wearing this full length black trench with silver stripes. He had a black cowboy hat on, matching black gloves, and silver shades. He held out his hand to me and said "Hey. What's going on."
I stood there, dazed. Slowly, cautiously, I reached out my hand. He took it. I moved up and down automatically.
I shook Steve Vai's hand.
This was a life changing experience for me. Vai's actually a really cool dude, we were just chatting with him along with a few other people in the back for awhile. No way was anybody going to believe this incredible story, though. I had to bring back proof.
So he signed my iPod.
I'm now referring to it as my "Vaipod."
Some of you might be saying right now, "But wait Anti, just who is Steve Vai?" Well, shame on you. You should be aware of the man's musical genius. He's basically one helluva rock guitarist (I prefer to call him a rock "God"). He's been playing guitar since he was 14, he trained under Joe Satriani, and he's been touring with Billy Sheehan (extremely talented bassist) for 25 years this September. If you want to know more about the band or hear some samples (which I encourage you to do), go to his website, www.vai.com
Anyway. Eric came out first, kicked some royal ass. His music was a bit more country/blues-ish than I was expecting, but regardless, he was a very talented guy. At one point he picked up a beer bottle and started playing with it. Very cool.
He played for about half an hour, then intermission, then, of course, the reason everybody came: Vai himself.
Steve Vai is an absolute maniac. He puts on one hell of a show, and seems to have a helluva time doing it, as well. Absolutely flawless performance that lasted just over four hours. I'd definitely call that a $30 well spent.
After the concert, I picked up Sardinas's new CD, Black Pearls. He was signing autographs, so I grabbed one, but I was damn disappointed I wouldn't get to meet Vai. I mean, an unknown indie band is great to get a signature from, but Vai is famous, man. That would have really been awesome. Oh well, couldn't hope for miracles.
Could I? We were about to leave when I noticed some kids from school that I kind of knew. Turns out one of them was best friends with Vai's kid back when he lived in California, and they had the VIP backstage passes to prove it. I was freaking out by this point. Could it be we might actually be able to see Vai? No way. No possible way.
But this kid asked the manager if they could smuggle us back when they went to go say hi to him. She agreed.
Oh. My. God. I was backstage at a Steve Vai concert. I was going to see Steve Vai!
We walked along a long hallway until we got to a door. The manager knocked, and after a moment the door opened. Out stepped this guy, wearing this full length black trench with silver stripes. He had a black cowboy hat on, matching black gloves, and silver shades. He held out his hand to me and said "Hey. What's going on."
I stood there, dazed. Slowly, cautiously, I reached out my hand. He took it. I moved up and down automatically.
I shook Steve Vai's hand.
This was a life changing experience for me. Vai's actually a really cool dude, we were just chatting with him along with a few other people in the back for awhile. No way was anybody going to believe this incredible story, though. I had to bring back proof.
So he signed my iPod.
I'm now referring to it as my "Vaipod."
Comment