I was new to the venue and couldn’t believe how small it was. I stood at the very back, right near the front. The stage would have challenged Mike Portnoy’s drum kit from his Dream Theater days. I couldn’t tell how big his kit was as it was kept under wraps until show time but I knew it wasn’t the three bass drum multi-faceted beast I was used to seeing him pound years ago. Everything was stripped down. Minimal lighting, no screens or special effects, just three musicians at the top of their game.
With a very well received album from last year I was curious to see it performed live. I knew they were going to play all of it so that element of surprise was lost. I’m not the kind of guy who checks set lists before going to a concert so I was interested to see what extras they would add. Opening Elevate and following with the Japanese bonus track Criminal it was obvious that these guys really enjoy playing with one another a fact not lost on the crowd who lapped it all up. Mike Portnoy was the first to speak thanking everyone for coming out and then it was heads down again with another batch of killer tunes.
As for the solo spots well Billy Sheehan’s bass solo was incredible and any wannabe bass player in the crowd probably shook their head and later trudged home and threw their instrument in the bin thinking they could never be that good. Richie Kotzen’s spot was the highlight of the night for me. He may be underrated as a singer but that is changing rapidly. With just an acoustic guitar he sang one of his solo songs called Doin’ What The Devil Says To Do and you could hear a pin drop in the place. The guy might not converse much with the crowd but boy does he show some emotion with that voice.
The band finished strong with I’m No Angel, Oblivion and an extended Desire before the inevitable and well deserved encore. I thought they’d played the whole album until I heard the opening chords of Regret followed by a balls out rocking version of Shy Boy sung by Portnoy and Sheehan that had everyone off their seats. Miss them on tour at your peril.
Richie.
