I saw Generation Axe in Philly last night...

mystixboi1

mystixboi1

Kick Henry Jackassowski
Pretty crazy show last night. Here's a quick review on it:

Tosin Abasi - absolutely amazing player that I wasn't very familiar with. Insane chops but got boring after a song or two

Nuno Bettencourt - freakin amazing. His right hand is so insane. He played riffs and solos from Extreme songs and had awesome stage presence. Didn't show as much amazing technique was Tosin but was far more interesting and entertaining.

Zakk Wylde - played Sabbath, Hendrix and another tune. Can't remeber which one. He is more of a one trick pony and I kind of got bored after him playing penatonic runs after 10 minutes but he walked through the crowd and they ate it up. His vibrato is the widest I have ever seen.

Yngwie - another amazing talent with a giant row of Marshalls... That didn't work. He kept having technical issues and started getting booed by the crowd. To be honest, the noodling he did while trying to get his gear working was more enjoyable that his songs. Monster player though. His vibrato was gorgeous.

Steve Vai - truly the master of the evening. While everyone before him was great in their own right, his fluidity and command of the stage showed why he was the closer. He even shared the stage with Yngwie for a song and stood toe to toe and did the same kind of arpeggios and sweeps. It was inspiring.

The best part of the evening is how humble each person was to the other. Didn't really look like anyone tried to show up the other. I would go again in a heartbeat.
 
Out of those guys Tosin and Abasi are the only ones that would hold my attention. Did Tosin play a weird looking Ibanez that is supposedly the prototype for his next sig model? One with an asymmetrical body?
 
Yeah. It was wild. It was so far removed from any other ibanez I've seen that I thought he left them.

On a side note, nuno played a song with him and totally kept up.
 
This thing?:

tosin_guitar.png


here it is in grey:

CZAKuhOUoAAhQpA.jpg


I appreciate trying new things, but I don't care for the aesthetic. Tosin's a great player and surely does wonderful stuff with it though.
 
VoidTerraFirma said:
Nuno is amazing! Sounds like a great time.
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Yeah, Nuno is the really the only player on that bill that I'd love to see again. I would go see Tosin, but I'm particularly passionate about it.

I only saw Vai once, but it was on the Eat 'Em and Smile tour and I prefer him and think he's at his best as part of a band, at least when DLR could still "sing" or anytime with Zappa. I've enjoyed some of his solo stuff, but for my ears he peaked at Flexable...that amazing blend of Vai at his most Zappa influenced. I would have loved to have seen him with Keneally, but really I just want to see Keneally...really.
 
I have tickets for this Sunday's show in Providence, RI. Meet and greet package. I can't wait.
A few weeks ago, I decided I'd better listen to some Tosin and get familiar with some material. Believe me, I tried and tried...amazing technique but I just don't hear a "song" anywhere in there. It doesn't do anything for me.
I feel similar with Yngwie...monster player but I just don't think his songs are all that engaging.
 
Dogsinotpalc said:
This thing?:

tosin_guitar.png


here it is in grey:

CZAKuhOUoAAhQpA.jpg


I appreciate trying new things, but I don't care for the aesthetic. Tosin's a great player and surely does wonderful stuff with it though.
Click to expand...

I love the grey EXCEPT for the fucking hold hardware. Put that maplke board on the black one and I'm sold.
 
I almost bought tickets to see this but my biggest issue was... I really only wanted to see Tosin and Vai which would mean that I would have to sit through YaahVagueKnee and and Drunk Pentatonic boy to get there. Would have been nice to see Nuno I think though. He really is a great player but sometimes too sterile for me.

Maybe at some point Tosin and Vai will tour together and then I will buy tickets.
 
I've got Providence on Sunday also.
I'll be honest. I'm there for YJM and Vai. Kazz, I can deal with if he sticks to Book of Shadows stuff. Tosin? I'm going in with no expectations.

This is a bucket list show for me. YJM was one of those I told myself I'd see before He or I kick over.
 
gtrjunior said:
I have tickets for this Sunday's show in Providence, RI. Meet and greet package. I can't wait.
A few weeks ago, I decided I'd better listen to some Tosin and get familiar with some material. Believe me, I tried and tried...amazing technique but I just don't hear a "song" anywhere in there. It doesn't do anything for me.
I feel similar with Yngwie...monster player but I just don't think his songs are all that engaging.
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Hey,

I don't have meet and greet, but I do have 4th row tickets. We should meet up.

Edit:

For those going Sunday, and if we want to do a meetup, I'm in row D on the stage left side, Seat 110 I think I'm. I'm a big guy, even after the weight loss. I'm about 6-3, will have a Fender baseball cap on, black leather jacket and biker boots.

I'm the type that's there insanely early and I have no idea what parking is like there, so I'll probably be there around 5:30-5:45.
 
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So, a few random thoughts.

Tosin's set was hard for me to get into. I expected that, but man his chops are amazing.

Nuno's set blew me away. The first number was him playing, and singing, Get the Funk out and it was amazing. Had a great sense of humor.

I loved the parts of Zakk's set where he wasn't soloing. So, about 5-10 min worth. I was actually amazed at his vocal abilities. Thought he could sing very well. Loved the non-solo parts of NIB. The walking through the crowd part was cute, and then I noticed he wasn't wireless and was dragging 200' of cable with him.

Yngwie's set was disjointed. When he really had his shit together, it was amazing. I was actually thinking he was drunk at one point. He kept switching guitars. I'm not so sure the equipment issues he was having in Philly still existed, ever existed, or he just didn't know what to do with himself. It seemed a lot of the time he was just being Yngwie. The duo he did with Vai was amazing. The best part for me was you could tell that for Vai, this amazingly technical piece was the musical equivalent of beginner math.

Vai's set just rocked. I was close enough I could read the lettering on his guitars, and almost all the songs he played I knew. I loved seeing him play Gravity Storm and the BO guitar. Glad it got returned to him. At the end of the set, he was just getting sounds out of the guitar I had no clue how he got them.

They did Whipping Post for one of the encores and it was ok. They brought Yngwie out for Highway Star. It was amazing, but when Yngwie walked off-stage after he did his solo it hit me: Yngwie just doesn't play well with others. He's the only one who didn't come out and jam in a transition piece. I thought he and Zakk playing Little Wing might have been fun, but maybe Yngwie just didn't want to learn anyone else's stuff.

All in all, it was what I expected. The good parts were fucking amazing, and the parts I felt weren't going to be good, weren't. Vai for me was worth the price of admission.
 
BrammyH said:
So, a few random thoughts.

Tosin's set was hard for me to get into. I expected that, but man his chops are amazing.

Nuno's set blew me away. The first number was him playing, and singing, Get the Funk out and it was amazing. Had a great sense of humor.

I loved the parts of Zakk's set where he wasn't soloing. So, about 5-10 min worth. I was actually amazed at his vocal abilities. Thought he could sing very well. Loved the non-solo parts of NIB. The walking through the crowd part was cute, and then I noticed he wasn't wireless and was dragging 200' of cable with him.

Yngwie's set was disjointed. When he really had his shit together, it was amazing. I was actually thinking he was drunk at one point. He kept switching guitars. I'm not so sure the equipment issues he was having in Philly still existed, ever existed, or he just didn't know what to do with himself. It seemed a lot of the time he was just being Yngwie. The duo he did with Vai was amazing. The best part for me was you could tell that for Vai, this amazingly technical piece was the musical equivalent of beginner math.

Vai's set just rocked. I was close enough I could read the lettering on his guitars, and almost all the songs he played I knew. I loved seeing him play Gravity Storm and the BO guitar. Glad it got returned to him. At the end of the set, he was just getting sounds out of the guitar I had no clue how he got them.

They did Whipping Post for one of the encores and it was ok. They brought Yngwie out for Highway Star. It was amazing, but when Yngwie walked off-stage after he did his solo it hit me: Yngwie just doesn't play well with others. He's the only one who didn't come out and jam in a transition piece. I thought he and Zakk playing Little Wing might have been fun, but maybe Yngwie just didn't want to learn anyone else's stuff.

All in all, it was what I expected. The good parts were fucking amazing, and the parts I felt weren't going to be good, weren't. Vai for me was worth the price of admission.
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Nailed it. Pretty on point with what I thought. Vai was the teacher for the night. He could probably play during everyone's set and have no problem doing so. Awesome performer with making everything look effortless.

I agree about the Yngwie comment although on the G3 dvd with him, they play little wing and he has the best solo out of all of the players in it. Very melodic and soulful...
 
I was particularly impressed with Tosin...killer chops and even though he mostly seemed to kind of "keep to himself" I found myself drawn to watching him play....amazing technique. Again, I'm not a huge fan of his brand of music but as a player.....WOW!

Nuno, is my favorite of all of them. I met him 20+ years ago when I was just a kid and he was so cool to me. I've been a fan ever since.

Yngwie was pretty amazing too. He falls into the same category as Tosin. I just don't dig the songs that much. But that vibrato and when he bends that high note...it just sings for him like an angel...his tone is just amazing, and I'm not a strat guy but after seeing him I just might reconsider.

Zakk is cool as hell but seems to rely on 3-4 "signature" techniques. He sure gets a lot of mileage from them but he was pretty repetitive. His tone is thick as molasses too. I've never heard single notes sound as thick as chords...

And Vai, yeah the master....
 
Tosin usually doesn't use standard song forms, & that may be why some find his music hard to get into. He has a different sense of harmony- very jazz influenced, while not sounding like jazz really. He also likes to use odd time polyrhythms & variations within those ideas. Add monster chops influenced by bass playing, taken to a new level of complexity, & it's no wonder his music is not for everyone. These reasons may have something to do with how he's not really a showman- he can't just strut around, he's too busy. Even Steve Vai is blown away by what he can create & play.
 
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