Steve Vai HoB Chicago - EVO Experience

[drewiv]

I had the opportunity to see Steve Vai last night and did the EVO Experience with my friend 'Jerome Allen' before hand. Steve is a cool guy, seemed very interested in his fans and answering questions. He was a little late, due to a radio interview running over, but he stayed with us almost 30 minutes longer than expected, telling his assistant he could answer one more question, several times, adding stress to his assistant attempting to keep him on schedule. Answered questions from guitar techniques to spiritual, very in depth. EVO was also present during the Q&A session. From there we went to sound check, and Steve was a little late because he ran over with the meet and greet/signing/photo session and had to grab something to eat. Had the opportunity to chat with Dave Weiner about his rig - Friedman BE-100, which he RAVED about. Dave is quite a cool guy.

Bevery McClellan opened, which seemed odd, but she is very good and quite the performer. Rob (metalmaniac93) showed up, Jerome and I ended up passing on the Opera Box seats that came with the EVO Experience and hung out with him on the floor. He's a very cool guy and I always enjoy meeting fellow Rig Talkers.

Vai went on and was absolutely fantastic. I know some aren't fond of his "sex" faces while performing, but I must say, it's geniune. He's just very into playing guitar and I see nothing wrong with the passion of performing.

I had a damn good time and would recommend it to any Vai fan.

EVO

A friend of mine, Ed Spinelli, was the even photographer. I'll borrow one of his photographs since they are far superior to anything I could have taken.

 

[Metlupass2]

Damn Drew I wish you could have given me your box seats. I was back by the mixer.

I don't think Steve eats anymore. When he first came out I thought his fan was going to blow him over.

Did you see the pirate dude with the JEM70V-SFG?

 

[drewiv]

Damn Drew I wish you could have given me your box seats. I was back by the mixer.

I don't think Steve eats anymore. When he first came out I thought his fan was going to blow him over.

Did you see the pirate dude with the JEM70V-SFG?

Damn, wish I'd have known you were there! The Opera Box was a bit crowded, I enjoyed it for a bit pre-show, but it turned out to be about 14 people in a box made for 7. Not that the floor wasn't crowded. The waitress service was nice though. I'd rather hang on the floor with cool Rig Talkers than the people in my box. Not that they were bad, but Jerry and Rob were much more fun to hang with.

Oh, we had extensive conversation with "Sea Foam Green JEM Pirate Dude." My buddy, Jerry, shredded up the guitar for a bit. I think Mr. Pirate was a bit over-served or just crazy.

We also had a nice view of a couple.. well, "escorts" with their "dates." Wasn't all bad on the floor.

 

[Metlupass2]

Looked like a pirate version of Iggy Pop.

 

[drewiv]

Looked like a pirate version of Iggy Pop.

Yeah, a little bit. I got to hear all about how he works at Guitar Center, etc. Jerry stopped him, played his guitar and entered into conversation with Rob leaving me in conversation Mr. Pirate. It was a pleasure.

 

[geese_com]

I saw Vai on Thursday in Milwaukee and it was a spectacular show. Now I have GAS for an Ibanez JEM....

 

[metalmaniac93]

Looked like a pirate version of Iggy Pop.

Yeah, a little bit. I got to hear all about how he works at Guitar Center, etc. Jerry stopped him, played his guitar and entered into conversation with Rob leaving me in conversation Mr. Pirate. It was a pleasure.

Yeah, Mr Pirate was everywhere!! Hell, he was in even in the bathroom showing off his guitar and getting pics of it with the bathroom service guy!!! Drew, you forget to mention the bump and grind escort girls by the bar!!!

It was a great show though and Vai kicked ass as always!!! The bonus was that I got to hang out with some cool RT guys!!! Thanks Drew and Jerry!!

 

[drewiv]

Looked like a pirate version of Iggy Pop.

Yeah, a little bit. I got to hear all about how he works at Guitar Center, etc. Jerry stopped him, played his guitar and entered into conversation with Rob leaving me in conversation Mr. Pirate. It was a pleasure.

Yeah, Mr Pirate was everywhere!! Hell, he was in even in the bathroom showing off his guitar and getting pics of it with the bathroom service guy!!! Drew, you forget to mention the bump and grind escort girls by the bar!!!

It was a great show though and Vai kicked ass as always!!! The bonus was that I got to hang out with some cool RT guys!!! Thanks Drew and Jerry!!

I briefly mentioned the escorts in my second post. That was a show in itself.

Good time all around.

 

[metalmaniac93]

I missed that!!!

 

[Jerome Allen]

It was a great time hanging out with Drew and Rob...both awesome guys. We'll have to get together sometime and jam.

Vai...well...he's Steve Vai. He's one of the coolest guys I've ever meet.

 

[50MkII]

The Carvin Legacy's I take it were for looks and he was not plugged into them?

 

[Jerome Allen]

From what I saw during the soundcheck...He was running into 2 Legacy I's, with an AxeFx and TC G-Force (or TC something) in the rack. The Legacy III's weren't powered up, used, or tested during the soundcheck. He also had a Carvin power amp that he tweaked a couple of times, which I assume was for his stage/monitor volume. During the show, the Legacy III's were powered up on the Green channel. But I couldn't tell you if he ran a signal through them or not.

 

[metalmaniac93]

It was a great time hanging out with Drew and Rob...both awesome guys. We'll have to get together sometime and jam.

Vai...well...he's Steve Vai. He's one of the coolest guys I've ever meet.

Yes, we will have to get together and jam!!! Hopefully sooner than later.

 

[Metlupass2]

I really enjoyed the new one Gravity Storm. Its unusual seeing him using a single coil guitar.

 

[Jerome Allen]

The Gravity Storm guitar actually had dual blade single coil-sized humbuckers in the bridge and neck. I don't recall what all DiMarzio offers in that configuration. I know I've used their Tone Zone in single coil size. According to Vai's own transcription for Gravity Storm, he's tuned down to some kind of drop C tuning. That is an awesome tune. The guitar itself looked to be some kind of old-school Ibanez, pre-RG/S-series...early 1980s or so.

The slow bend/whammy bar stuff led me to ask him if he was deliberately going for some microtonal effects on this new album vs. his usual "anal" perfect intonation...his response was "no, it was just poor intonation" ...which it obviously was not.

Dave Weiner had both a Friedman BE/HBE and some kind of PRS head. He used only the Friedman. He was kind enough, during soundcheck, to give us a sample of the Friedman Simple Clean tone, which he seemed quite happy with.

One thing I saw Dave using, that I'd never heard of/seen before, was a Yahoo (or something like that) Wha Wha pedal. I'll have to look it up when I get the chance.

 

[drewiv]

The Gravity Storm guitar actually had dual blade single coil-sized humbuckers in the bridge and neck. I don't recall what all DiMarzio offers in that configuration. I know I've used their Tone Zone in single coil size. According to Vai's own transcription for Gravity Storm, he's tuned down to some kind of drop C tuning. That is an awesome tune. The guitar itself looked to be some kind of old-school Ibanez, pre-RG/S-series...early 1980s or so.

The slow bend/whammy bar stuff led me to ask him if he was deliberately going for some microtonal effects on this new album vs. his usual "anal" perfect intonation...his response was "no, it was just poor intonation" ...which it obviously was not.

Dave Weiner had both a Friedman BE/HBE and some kind of PRS head. He used only the Friedman. He was kind enough, during soundcheck, to give us a sample of the Friedman Simple Clean tone, which he seemed quite happy with.

One thing I saw Dave using, that I'd never heard of/seen before, was a Yahoo (or something like that) Wha Wha pedal. I'll have to look it up when I get the chance.

I will add that Dave also showed us the clean on volume pot rollback (on the guitar) on the BE channel, which is the input he was plugged into. He rolled back the volume and said something to the affect of he preferred that, but HE (meaning Vai) wants it real clean.

 

[Metlupass2]

That was the guitar he had Ibanez build for the Hendrix Experience Tour.

 

[drewiv]

That was the guitar he had Ibanez build for the Hendrix Experience Tour.

that's the one. It even has the JEM input route, I wish they all had that. I'd love to be able to purchase something like this.

 

[Metlupass2]

Me thinks it was supposed to be his version of Jimi's Monterey Strat. I think Steve painted it too.

 

[drewiv]

Me thinks it was supposed to be his version of Jimi's Monterey Strat. I think Steve painted it too.

Yes, Steve said he did the art himself.