When guitar-slingers seem a dime a dozen, and grimace over their fretboard shredding in OCD frenzy, it’s a relief to hear a talent like Steve Vai. Although he can fit notes in where you wouldn’t think there were spaces to play them, it’s his sense of melody and structure that wins. Add a sense of theatre and, as his show at Her Majesty’s Theatre demonstrated, you’re on a winner.
Vai has said he regards himself as more a composer than musician. Still, he has played with some of the best guitar-orientated outfits — Frank Zappa’s band, G3 (in its various permutations), Whitesnake — as well as with David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper, and Public Image Limited. His music is on PlayStation and Xbox games, and on film soundtracks. Other performances include work with symphony orchestras. He also has three Grammy awards, and more than 15 million album sales.
The man’s credentials are not in doubt. So, why does he come on stage looking like a cross between Prince and a ghetto pimp? Because it’s fun. In the various costume changes, there is even one where he appears to have stumbled through a bridle shop — and I do mean a horse outfitters, not a purveyor of wedding attire — since his trouser legs are festooned with belts and studs.
When he strikes rock-god poses, it’s with a pinch of comedy and tongue-in-cheek excess. What else would explain his subsequent suit of lights (lasers and LEDs everywhere, including from his weird “alien’s guts” guitar) which reeked of Spinal Tap envy? Mind you, drummer Colson had earlier stepped down from his monstrous riser to emerge wearing a strap-on electronic kit complete with lights and a talking skull.
Apart from the stagecraft, there was also musical pleasure a plenty. The initial squall of “Gravity Storm” settled into a monumental and beautifully textured force; one moment a thunderous engine with visceral grunt, a big angry animal of a tune, and then a thoughtful meditation.
You might admire Joe Satriani (Vai’s teacher and fellow-member of G3) for his restraint, but Steve Vai can also sit on a softly rising tune until it’s humming through you. Here, “Weeping China Doll” was a delight, blending majesty with grace, and showing that it is not all about fill. Vai knows the value of lyrical passages and balance in a set list. That said, his two-hand tapping didn’t always add much except to demonstrate his mastery of the instrument.
Throughout the show, Dave Weiner shone on supporting guitar (and twice on electric sitar), without upstaging his boss. Philip Bynoe anchored with a heavy beat on five and six-string bass, and Jeremy Colson was a dynamo on drums. Michael Arrom on keyboards added some colour but was rather superfluous, notwithstanding a little of “Flight of the Bumblebee” in his solo break. The sound mix was excellent.
Vai played an array of guitars, some in rather dubious decorative taste, although mostly his pair of white Evo electrics. He also trotted out “mojo”, with its inlaid blue LEDs on the neck, an acoustic, and a mirror-finish guitar that reflected the spot back into the audience.
Towards the end, three members of the audience got to suggest rhythms for each instrument, which, to their joy, were then combined in a brief impromptu jam.
Her Majesty’s is relatively small but it was packed on Friday night, and the audience was thrilled to hear a friendly, consummate musician at his peak.
