Monday, October 31, 2016

Aftershock: photo gallery, Motionless In White... and how you can help them with the cover for their next album!~

Chris Motionless, vocals, Motionless In White
Chris "Motionless" Cerulli, Motionless In White

Ricky
Ricky "Horror" Olson,  Motionless In White"
Faces pale and white, black, gothic clothes and at least one zombie-esque character on stage, Motionless In White bring hard, gritty, gothic-tinged-with-an-industrial-core metal from Scranton, Philadelphia. As well as touring this year, and several major festivals including Sacramento's Aftershock, the band is working on a new studio album, to be released in 2017 on Roadrunner Records, and entitled Graveyard Shift... and right now, they are asking for help creating the cover. You have until December 19th to enter the competition... go for it!!!

Ryan Sitkowski, guitar, Motionless In White
Ryan Sitkowski, Motionless In White

Devin
Devin "Ghost" Sola, Motionless In White

Josh Balz, keys, Motionless In White
Josh Balz, Motionless In White

Motionless In White
Vinny Mauro, Motionless In White
Here's 570... (which happens to be the area code for Scranton, in case you were wondering). Something to listen to while you look at the huge Motionless in White photo gallery from Aftershock!!!!

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Aftershock review and photos: Meshuggah

Jens Kidman, vocals, Meshuggah
Meshuggah: vocals by Jens Kidman, art by Keerych.Luminokaya
If Frank Zappa was to reincarnate as a Swedish heavy metal musician, I have no doubt but that his new band might sound something rather like Meshuggah: totally-unique, incredibly complex, intriguing, sometimes-overwhelming, and it's not until you realise that you don't have sufficient free brain cells to figure it all out, that you start to really enjoy it. And that's what a huge crowd were doing at Aftershock last weekend: enjoying Meshuggah's wonderful and important brand of very, very, extreme heavy metal.

Meshuggah
Meshuggah, Aftershock 2016
Meshuggah hail from the university town of Umeå in Northern Sweden; band members are Jens Kidman (vocals), Fredrik Thordenal and Mårten Hagström (guitars), Tomas Haake (drums), and Dick Lövgren (bass).

Mårten Hagström, guitar, Meshuggah
Mårten Hagström, eight-string guitar, Meshuggah
Meshuggah released their latest album, The Violent Sleep of Reason, on October 7th this year, and you can find it here and here and here. The artwork by Keerych.Luminokaya is beautiful, and was on display in the backdrop of the stage at Aftershock.

Meshuggah have a few more tour dates in North America, and then they return to Europe for many dates in December and January. Find all the info here on their tour page!

More photos in the Aftershock 2016 Meshuggah photo gallery: just click!

Aftershock 2016: photo gallery, Parkway Drive!

Winston McCall, vocals, Parkway Drive
Winston McCall, Parkway Drive
These guys from New South Wales, Australia made the whole crowd mosh, dance, raise horns and crowdsurf, by the dozen! Check out the full photo gallery--just click right here!

Here's a reminder of what we're missing this weekend... Parkway Drive, Aftershock... grab some coffee, wake up, coz here's Bottom Feeder.


Parkway Drive are Winston McCall, Luke Kilpatrick, Jeff Ling, Ben Gordon and Jia O'Connor. Find out more on their website and Facebook. And don't forget the photos!

Look who's back in town... and with new music. The Soft White Sixties!

The Soft White Sixties at the Assembly, Sacramento
The Soft White Sixties, returning to Sacramento for a show on November 12th at Harlows
With their upcoming EP, The Ocean Way, due for release on 2nd October, the Soft White Sixties are heading to Sacramento for a show at Harlows on J Street on November 12th.

You can pre-order the EP on both Amazon and iTunes--if you order on iTunes, the song Sorry To Say  is immediately available... and it captures the energy and excitement of a live show. $3.99 very well spent... Can't wait to hear the rest!!!

Find out more about the Soft White Sixties on their website , Facebook, Twitter and Instagram... check out their live performances on YouTube... and see you at one of their shows!

Aftershock review and photos: Korn, and the Serenity of Suffering

Jonathan Davis, vocals, Korn
Jonathan Davis, Korn, and that Giger mic stand
And a week has gone by already since Aftershock 2016; we've had rainstorms here in Northern California, and there are more expected today. I keep thinking how provident the choice of weekend was for Aftershock this year, wrapped-around as it was by two other weekends full of much-needed rain. My spare minutes are filled with editing photos, listening to the music of the bands as I work on the images.

Brian
Korn, Aftershock 2016, Sacramento
One of the albums that has been on strong rotation here-at-home is Korn's latest, The Serenity of Suffering, released just over a week ago. It's sublime.

Jonathan Davis, vocals, Korn
Jonathan Davis, Korn, Aftershock 2016
Korn are one of my favourite bands to photograph, and to see live. They are certainly not easy to capture inside a camera; the shifting lights, the rapid motion, the flying dreadlocks, the smoke and fog, and the reflections on that beautiful Giger mic stand. But... play the music, and take a look and see what you think.

Here's the full photo gallery:  Aftershock 2016 Korn

Jonathan Davis, vocals, Korn
Korn, Aftershock 2016
Korn's next tour dates are in Europe, with a whole string of dates in the UK together with Limp Bizkit, and then throughout mainland Europe with Hellyeah. Check out the dates here.

And if you haven't bought it yet, The Serenity of Suffering is available on iTunes, Google, Amazon and Spotify, and probably in your local record store too.

Korn

Friday, October 28, 2016

Sevendust, Red Sun Rising, Gemini Syndrome and FallRise... all in one evening! Ace of Spades Sacramento

Lajon Witherspoon, vocals, Sevendust
Lajon Witherspoon, , Sevendust
October 27th, and the doors open early, 6.30 pm on a rainy, northern California Thursday evening. And despite the rain, the room is packed, right from the start: Sacramento's own FallRise, together-again for this show, open the evening at 7 pm, followed by Gemini Syndrome, Red Sun Rising, and headliners Sevendust, with just a couple more dates left on this major tour.

Sevendust
Sevendust, Ace of Spades, Sacramento
Sevendust: always a pleasure to see and hear these guys. Much loved by the fans, and the band is truly appreciative of the goodwill and appreciation shown to them. So many in the crowd had spent all the previous weekend out at Aftershock, and here they were, on a rainy, weekday-workday night, filling the Ace of Spades to the brim and enjoying Sevendust and the supporting bands. Vocalist Lajon Witherspoon, visibly moved by the love and appreciation shown by the crowd, giving it back by the bucketful: setlist included Pieces and Hero from 2007's "Next", Face to Face from "Seasons",  Praise from "Animosity", and of course finished with Thank You from the latest album, Kill The Flaw.

Aaron Nordstrom, vocals, Gemini Syndrome
Gemini Syndrome, Ace of Spades, Sacramento
Gemini Syndrome: so good to see them playing to a packed house!!! Playing songs from both their latest album, Memento Mori, and their debut album, Lux, they are collecting new fans--Synners--at every stop on the road. If last night was the first time you saw them, you'll want to check out both of these albums ASAP. Also check other posts here, and here, and here, and here!

Red Sun Rising
Red Sun Rising, Ace of Spades, Sacramento
Red Sun Rising: setlist included a cover of Alanis Morissette's Uninvited, plus the single that is seeing a lot of radio airplay, Amnesia. Fans of Shinedown and Breaking Benjamin should check these guys out! (I would rather have liked the red sun to have been rising over the stage, because that would have meant some light... no light, no photos... the ones I have I am not pleased with, and if this Red Sun Rising gallery disappears from the website in a few days, it's only because I'm not happy with the quality of the images. Hopefully there will be another opportunity to see them sometime soon, with daylight.)

FallRise
Sammy Karlin, FallRise
FallRise:  good to see these guys again! Now do tell... what's the next step???

For the full photo galleries, click on any of the images above to be magically transported!

Alessandro Paveri
Alessandro Paveri "AP", Gemini Syndrome

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Aftershock reviews: Ghost. And a spiritual Sunday at Aftershock with Papa Emeritus III

Papa Emeritus III
Papa Emeritus III, vocals, Ghost
See the full Ghost photo gallery by clicking here!

Also from Sweden (Avatar and Meshuggah too), Grammy winners for best metal performance 2016, Ghost , took the stage at this year's Aftershock festival in Sacramento's Discovery Park at just-after three in the afternoon, on Sunday, but not before treating us to several minutes of beautiful, ethereal, plainsong chant, which added to the you-should-be-in-church feel of the stage backdrops; paintings of stained-glass windows... except the windows didn't depict saints, they were a tad darker and subterranean and more fiery than that.

Ghost
Ghost, Aftershock 2015
Ghost are an anonymous band comprising several Nameless Ghouls playing guitars, bass, keys and drums, and lead vocalist Papa Emeritus III. While many websites and blogs have theories about who is inside the masks and behind the makeup, nothing is known for sure, and even the best-guess stories seem to have a mismatch of ear-sizes-and-shapes and eye colours... so we're not even going to attempt to guess here today, though it's very tempting to start a new rumor and say that Papa Emeritus IIII is Corey Taylor, Donald Trump tried out for a Nameless Ghoul but the mask didn't fit, and it was Hilary Clinton playing bass on Sunday. (See how silly it is to speculate?)

Nameless Ghouls, Ghost
Blue-eyed Nameless Ghoul... but are those contacts???
With a catalog of music ranging from melodic-yet-heavy doom metal to more radio-friendly songs like the recent Square Hammer, Ghost are wonderfully entertaining, a visual treat, and really good music. A wonderful, devilish way to spend an October Sunday afternoon.

Papa Emeritus III
Papa Emeritus III, Ghost, at Aftershock in Sacramento
The band members are Fire or Alpha (lead guitar), Water (bass), Earth (drummer), Wind (keyboards) and Ether or Omega (rhythm guitar). We think they must be magical, to breathe through those masks throughout an entire show... or maybe they are just Nameless Ghouls, and that's what Nameless Ghouls do.

To read more about the stories, history and intrigue, see Wikipedia's Ghost page.

Here's Square Hammer: enjoy!


Many more photos in the Ghost photo gallery: click here!

Find Ghost on their website, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And check out their latest EP, Popestar! Catch them on tour if you can--they are here in the USA until mid-November.

Out tomorrow: Dope's long-awaited new album, "Blood Money Part 1"!

Dope live in Sacramento, 2014
Dope, Sacramento, 2014
(This is a guest post by Jade Anna Hughes. Read more of her writing here. Thank you, Jade!)

We’ve been waiting a while for this one, but it’s finally here! Dope’s highly-anticipated and long-awaited sixth studio album, Blood Money Part 1, is out tomorrow, Friday October 28th! 15 tracks of that pure Dope power coming at you full force through your speakers, with some real stand-out beauties for your ears.




The brains and power behind Dope, Edsel Dope, is well-known for his ability to create a full, all-around experience, both sonic and visual, with his work, and Dope fans won’t be disappointed with this new endeavor. It’s been 7 years since the excellent No Regrets, and Edsel has been touring for most of that time, changing his line-up here and there, and currently finishing up the Die Mother Fucker Die Reunion tour with the classic Dope line-up on the 30th of this month.

Blood Money Part 1 is that anthemic Dope sound, industrial metal to the core, but it’s also a lighter, more emotional sound in parts. While the opening track, Blood Money, features hard-hitting lyrics, bloody images and some truths a lot of us like to ignore (and comes with an awesome video that makes the message even clearer), tracks like Hold On and Razorblade Butterfly show a more melodic side to the band. Edsel always has a lot to say and really puts his heart and soul into his work, and it shows. The entire album was really worth the 7 year wait.

Here's Blood Money:



Lastly, hearing the excellent cover of Hole’s Violet at the end of Blood Money Part 1, was an awesome surprise for me, being a huge Hole fan and a 90’s teenager. Like all songs that Dope covers, Violet sounds brilliant and super polished, the cherry on the icing of this Dope album cake.
Check out Dope on their website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Band promos, holiday photos, pets and friends and family (photo) shoots: trying a new calendar tool!


If you're looking for photos of your band (either promo or live shots for commercial use), or of family, your pet snake (I don't mind reptiles), dogs, cats or horses, I have a few slots open between now and the end of the year. I'm experimenting with a new calendar tool! Book a session directly online!

Note that the mini-sessions will be at a location of the photographer's choice... might be upscale and posh, might be grungy and shady, so put in as much detail as you like regarding your expectations from the shoot!

Aftershock reviews: let's begin. Avatar rule!!! Yes, they do.

Avatar
Avatar, Aftershock 2016, Sacramento
(To see many more photos, click here to go to the Avatar photo gallery.)

It's 2 p.m. on Saturday at Aftershock in Sacramento's Discovery Park; the sun has come out, the crowd has warmed up, and Avatar's freakshow is in town. Circus curtains and circus colours, confetti, a discreet skull-on-a-walking-stick; scary-circus-clown-makeup, old-soldier's uniforms, these guys bring real-heavy, Swedish metal to town, but with the showmanship of a travelling band of genius gypsies, charming their way into your ears and hearts and music collections. Artistic yet grounded; intense yet entertaining, Avatar bring meaning to the word, "performance". Top-notch, and I hope, or rather I expect, to see them headlining tours and festivals in the very near future.

Avatar
Johannes Eckerström, vocals, Avatar
In a Saturday that was heavily-weighted towards thrash metal, Avatar were my shining light, and by far my favourite band-never-seen-before of the entire Aftershock weekend.

I'd hoped to see them earlier in the year at Houston Open Air, but it wasn't possible. And while there were people in the audience who were already familiar with Avatar, in part through regular airplay on Sirius XM Octane, there were many who discovered the band for the first time, and who are now primed for a return visit to Northern California.

Avatar
Avatar, Aftershock, Sacramento
Frontman Johannes Eckerström leads you into the music, ringmaster-entrancing, and he has you buying snake oil by the gallon before you have the time to raise those metal horns in the air. The music is excellent: the show, divine. This is the kind of performance an audience craves.

Avatar
Avatar
Every little detail is taken care of; the makeup, the costumes, the beautifully-decorated Ibanez and Spector guitars and bass, the buttons, the lines-of-sight, the curtains and confetti, the pom-poms and red stockings, the hat, the dreadlocks, the blue eyes... and above all, the music.

Jonas
Jonas "Kungen" Jarlsby, guitar, Avatar
The was the show. This was my Aftershock. There will be more.

For many more photos, click here to go to the Avatar photo gallery.

Check out Avatar's latest album, Feathers and Flesh, which features the song that's seeing a lot of radio play recently, The Eagle Has Landed. (The vinyl version comes in beautiful orange and yellow pressings!) And here's the latest video: Night Never Ending.



Tuesday, October 25, 2016

People of Aftershock!!! You did it, again!!!! And here's the proof!!!

People of Aftershock

(This year's People of Aftershock gallery: click here! You might find yourself... Feel free to use the Share button!)

And what a weekend that was! You walked, for miles, and miles it seemed, from one stage to the next and back again, or you arrived really early and stood at the barrier, all day, waiting for your best band to be on stage.

People of Aftershock

You dressed as Jesus and you dressed as the Devil, and somewhere or nowhere in-between. You had mohawks and dreadlocks and shaves, and little buns like cats ears.

People of Aftershock

You wore black, white, this year's and last year's Aftershock T-shirts, T-shirts with bands' names on and T-shirts with messages that we agreed with or we didn't, or of bands that weren't there but you hoped that maybe, like magic, they'd appear. And you wore T-shirts with kittens on, and T-shirts with skulls and skeletons because after all, it's October and it's metal and it's Aftershock weekend.

People of Aftershock

You worked in the pit and provided secure arms for the crowdsurfers to land in, especially during Parkway Drive's set, when the surfers went berzonkers, or you stood at the barrier, watching the band, not noticing the bodies that flew over your head into the pit, so intent you were on the music, the music, the music.

People of Aftershock

You kindly watered the front row who had been standing in the barrier, in the sun, all Sunday, when suddenly it seemed like the 100-degree-plus Aftershocks of previous years, and you retrieved people twice your size who had just had enough of being right up close and personal with the barrier, in the heat, and those who had consumed more beer than water in the midday.

Catching the crowdsurfers

You worked all day and all night, and fed us a huge variety of yummy and delicious food, from gourmet food trucks and stands and ovens and grills, and you served us a river of liquids, from Monster to Jack Daniels, and all the beer and water in-between.

And you drank too much, or you drank too little, and you fell over just a little bit, and it was all just part of the fun.

People of Aftershock

You were on stage and you made the music, you kept us moving, dancing, circling a pit, surfing and singing and cheering and raising those metal horns, time after time. Or you gave children and adults alike the wonderful, unforgettable Music Experience, and the feeling of playing like the heros on stage, and you were the heros on stage who came down and met us, signing this and that and the other, and making us all very, very happy.

People of Aftershock

Did you ever look behind you, and see just how many you were??? It was stunning, amazing, gob-smackingly huge, the crowd you made, and you just kept on growing until there wasn't any music left, not one drop.

Sideshow Joe

And then, once again, it's over, and packed-up-and-done, the bands have moved on, the music is still ringing in our ears, but nothing is left but a few empty beer cups and a whole load of Sacramento summer dust.

Until next year.  Aftershock, we miss you already!!!  Come back, come back!!!

(Many more photos in the People of Aftershock 2016 photo gallery. And all the band photos will be coming soon... check back here often, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for updates.)

Marillion, first night of the tour, at the Regency Ballroom, San Francisco


Many USA and Canada Marillion fans have expressed a desire NOT to see the setlist for shows earlier in the tour, and while I really don't think it's possible to keep secret, I'm going to keep mum... and let the photos speak for themselves,

But yes, they played songs from the new album, F.E.A.R. And much more, too.

The tour continues through until election day, which I'll be celebrating (I hope), or planning my escape, with the band's final concert of this tour in Times Square, New York.

Here's the full photo gallery: Marillion 2016 North America tour, San Francisco. Look if you dare...

Preview: Bring Me The Horizon live at the UK's Royal Albert Hall, a video


And this, my dears, is music video production at its best...  check out this preview--"Doomed", with a full orchestra--from Bring Me The Horizon's upcoming DVD of the concert at England's Royal Albert Hall, one of the most prestigious venues in the world... somewhere where many bands dream of playing. One day.

Proceeds from the DVD and audio recordings go to the Teenage Cancer Trust. For more information, and to order copies, click here.

The video of the entire live concert was filmed and produced by Toward Infinity. Excellent work, can't wait to see the entire production!



Check out more of Toward Infinity's work on their Facebook and website.

Monday, October 24, 2016

... And wow, what a weekend that was!!!


Monday morning, and every single bit of me aches... clocked over 36K steps over the past two days, walking from stage-to-stage at Aftershock, and while those of you who didn't have the luxury of nipping through the VIP area probably walked a few more miles than I did, carrying around 16lbs of equipment and stuff I think we're probably about equal and I definitely earned those delicious fries from the variety of food trucks that you saw me scoffing on both days, so don't ask what happened to the diet this weekend, OK???

The weekend started with Marillion at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on Friday evening--did I mention they are on tour right now??--then a 6am Greyhound back to Sacramento (sleep? what's that?) in time for Aftershock's Saturday openers... and somehow now it's Monday, it's MY BIRTHDAY!!! and as a present to share I have about a million photos to edit. (There are one or two already up on the Facebook page so please follow it if you don't already!)

So much good music... Marillion were, as always, incredible, inspiring, wonderful. Aftershock was so many tens-of-thousands of people enjoying a huge variety of music in the beautiful setting of Sacramento's Discovery Park. Of the bands I hadn't had the pleasure of seeing live before, Avatar far-and-away were my favourites... I hope, no, I expect to see them headlining sometime very soon. The Mendenhall Experiment and Ghost, amazing too. Of bands I've seen before, Disturbed and Korn were incredible.

Overall, Sunday's Aftershock lineup was more my kind of music than Saturday's (apart from Avatar), but that just goes to show how there is something for everyone at these festivals: it's fun seeing your favourite bands, it's fun discovering new music, and it's great seeing other people really enjoying sounds that you might not always listen to yourself.

It's going to take a while to edit all the photos. First I have to go pick up the cat from the cat hotel... then the work will begin. I will start with Marillion, then Aftershock... please be patient and keep checking back here for updates! (And if you're heading to the Marillion gigs in Boston, Washington, Philadelphia or New York, I'll see you there!)

May the music be with you!

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Aftershock preview: get there early!!!!


And this weekend... AFTERSHOCK!!! Back at Discovery Park, close to downtown Sacramento, the river, and the place where it all started... headliners Tool, Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, Primus... such a huge lineup!

But don't forget the bands who are appearing earlier in the day. The show will be huge... so much good music (and a whole lotta other stuff going on too: don't miss the Music Experience and everything else)!

Here's a preview set of YouTube videos, for some of the earlier-than-the-headliners bands, in case you don't know them (yet). There are way more than these on the lineup... I got as far as adding The Mendenhall Experiment to the playlist, started reading the guitarist' and band's story, and it was so compelling and inspirational... so don't miss any of this festival, it's going to be brilliant!


letlive, Reluctantly Dead, and probably at the calmest that you'll see them at any point in the Aftershock set. Do not, and I repeat, do not miss this band!!! On stage on Saturday at 1.25 pm.

Whitechapel, Our Endless War: on stage on Sunday at 12.50

Avatar: Bloody Angel: can't wait to see these guys for the first time: Saturday at 2 pm.

Baroness: Chlorine & Wine: Saturday at 3.10

Parkway Drive, Vice Grip: currently seeing a lot of radio airplay, Parkway Drive will be on stage on Sunday at 2.30 pm.

Silver Snakes, Glass: check these guys out at 1.20 on Sunday.

Deafheaven, Sunbather: on stage at 4.45 on Saturday.

Sacramento's own Some Fear None, Out of Our Hands... and opening the Sunday show at 11.50 a.m. See. You need to be there at the beginning of the day!

Aeges, Another Wasteland: see them at 12.20 on Saturday.

The Shrine, Coming Down Quick: Saturday at 11.15 Saturday. Again: be there when the gates open!

And last but by very means not least in this preview, The Mendenhall Experiment and Seize The Day. If you haven't heard about these guys before, check out the story... Courage, strength, faith in oneself... you can be who you are meant to be. What an inspirational story!!! Go see them, 12.20 pm on Sunday.

All times are subject to change: follow Aftershock on social media to keep up-to-date! I'll see you all there... but first I'm off to San Francisco for the opening of Marillion's North America tour, see you there too!

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Steve Vai, 25 years of Passion and Warfare: the world tour, Sacramento, California

Steve Vai
Steve Vai, Bad Horsie, Sacramento, CA
Want to see all the photos? Click here for the photo gallery.

It's twenty-five years since guitar virtuoso Steve Vai released Passion and Warfare, in itself the culmination of years of work--and yet, he didn't tour the album when it was first released. Now, with a superb band on stage to help, he's touring the world, playing the album end-to-end, already passing through Scotland, England, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, France and many other countries, and now here in the USA. with a few surprises, and some video, if not live-on-stage, guests: Brian May, Joe Satriani, a wookie-esque John Petrucci, and the late, great, Frank Zappa, whose music, in a past lifetime, Steve Vai transcribed to paper. I don't know how the heck he did that, but he did... The "guests" didn't steal the show... Mr. Vai did that himself, hands down.

Steve Vai
Steve Vai, Ace of Spades, Sacramento
Two-and-nearly-a-half hours of pure Steve Vai, played to a packed-to-the-rafters Ace of Spades. Probably not the biggest venue on the tour, but full of appreciation.

Steve Vai
Steve Vai, with Philip Bynoe on bass
The show opened with Bad Horsie, from Alien Love Secrets, Mr. Vai wearing a white hoodie with twin red lasers; Bo, the recently-stolen-and-returned mirrored guitar shining bright. (Check out the stories, and also read this article on GuitarPlayer.com about the fundraiser for Tony McAlpine, who happily is on tour supporting the USA dates and opened the show at the Ace of Spades with an hour of stunning guitar.) And then The Crying Machine, from Fire Garden, Gravity Storm, from The Story of Light, the dreamy, beautiful Tender Surrender, from Alien Love Secrets...  and only then beginning Passion and Warfare (there's a newly-remastered version available).

Steve Vai and Dave Weiner
Steve Vai and Dave Weiner
It's not a short album. Each song, played with the passion and warfare it deserved, and more. Steve Vai, ever impressive, ever fluid, and looking as if he was having a lot of fun on stage, and even though he must have played For The Love of God at least a million-and-a-half times in the past twenty-five years, he once-again made it sound like new, and broke everyones' hearts all over again. Especially if they were in part of the room, as I was, where you could see the backdrop movie, which just added another teardrop to the already-brimming eye. (I'm sure that in the larger venues, the video will be easier to see.)

The end of the album, stunning, but not the end of the show... after Love Secrets, the finale to Passion and Warfare, the band played at least three (four?) more ... What a huge show!!! ... and then took the time to thank everyone for being there. No, Steve Vai, we thank YOU, for the show, for the music, for bringing your show to Sacramento (again), and for everything you do to help and support other musicians. We know you care. It shines.

Steve Vai
Beautiful music, happy maestro
There are very, very few instrumental-only musicians who can keep an audience entranced and standing for hours. Steve Vai is one of those very few. To paraphrase someone overheard as we left the venue, walking to the cars... "My knees are hurting from standing on that cement floor for so long, but wow, I'm so very glad we were there, so very, very glad!!!"

The tour continues: check here for other dates. And for those guitarists out there, Mr. Vai is holding the third Vai Acadamy Guitar Camp in Carmel, CA, from January 2nd-6th, You can find more information here on the Vai Academy website. Nice start to the new year!

And all the photos are here: click! http://www.alisontoon.com/-/galleries/music/steve-vai

Steve Vai
Steve Vai, Ace of Spades, Sacramento
(If you love beautiful, instrumental guitar music, also check out The Ghosts of Pripyat from the Steve Rothery Band... oh and in case you missed it, Mr. Rothery will be on tour with his other band, Marillion, beginning on Friday!)

Jeremy Colson
Jeremy Colson, drums, Steve Vai