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Steve Vai / Photo – @petegardnerphotography

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Steve Vai
@ Perth Concert Hall, Perth,
11th November 2023
(Live Review)

Review and photos by Pete Gardner (@petegardnerphotography)

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Steve Vai / Photo – @petegardnerphotography

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Steve Vai, unquestionably one of the greatest guitar virtuosos you will ever have the privilege to see live, wound up his Asia Pacific “Inviolate” tour at the Perth Concert Hall last night to a capacity crowd.

I have been waiting for a long time for this. Vai’s seminal album Passion and Warfare, lived in my CD player back when I was a student in the 90’s, and having only seen him live once before, almost two decades ago, I was buzzing with anticipation for tonights show.

Vai is the guitarist’s guitarist, evidenced by the number of Perth’s musical community I bumped into in the foyer before the auditorium opened. As I chatted with one of the other photographers before the show started, he quipped if the building collapsed now Perth would lose over half of its guitar players… He wasn’t wrong…

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Steve Vai / Photo – @petegardnerphotography

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As the house lights went down on the wonderful concert hall auditorium Drummer Jeremy Coulson takes his throne behind the kit, swiftly joined by Vai’s long term bass player Philip Byrne, and newcomer Dante Frisello on guitar, open shirted and displaying an impressive pair of pecs! Vai himself started out playing with Frank Zappa in the early 80’s, and it is well documented Zappa only ever used the best. A tradition Vai has continued in his current band, 43 years later.

Vai enters the stage and launches straight into Avalancha from the new album. For the next two and a half hours, the auditorium is transported to another spiritual plane of existence as Vai and band show absolute mastery of their craft, sweeping the audience along in an endless wave of rock riffs, jazz, blues and everything in-between. The sound in the auditorium is absolutely on point, the acoustics suiting the band perfectly. The sound engineers for tonight deserve a huge shout out.

The set list is weighted heavily to the latest album, but with plenty of classics from his back catalogue. Giant Balls of Gold is welcomed with a huge cheer, and Little Pretty, another newer track, is absolutely sublime.

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Steve Vai / Photo – @petegardnerphotography

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Vai, centre stage, and changing guitar with almost every song delivers a masterclass in technical prowess and sheer raw talent, at the same time as making his playing look absolutely effortless, I’m not actually sure he even broke a sweat… he does however give plenty of room for his bandmates to shine, each taking their solo turn throughout the show. Lights Are On has Byrne delivering a see it or you wont believe it Bass solo, and Vai duets note for note with Frisello in a dazzling display of coordination before Dante gets his turn in the spotlight to demonstrate his skills with his solo Dante In Chains. Later in the set Coulson delivers a blistering drum solo, including a turn on the didgeridoo!

It’s difficult to pick the absolute highlights of the night, but Building the Church is a driving powerhouse of a track with Vai writhing back and forth across the stage, wringing otherworldly sounds from his guitar, and Whispering a Prayer is just achingly beautiful. The classic Deathless Horse is welcomed with another huge cheer as the song is introduced by a short video clip of Vai’s cameo as the Devils champion dueling with Ralph Macchio from the movie Crossroads, with Vai playing his guitar part live.

As Coulson concluded his drum solo, the stage crew bring out a mysterious object which is mounted centre stage, with a flourish, Vai removes the sheet covering to reveal the triple necked Hydra, as seen on the Inviolate album cover. Teeth of the Hydra has Vai’s hands moving effortlessly between the 3 fretboards and harp built into the body of the guitar. The spectacle is just hypnotic to watch.

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Steve Vai / Photo – @petegardnerphotography

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Liberty and For the Love of God from Passion and Warfare serve as a finale, the latter track having operatic vocal accompaniment from the Bands sound engineer and a final incredible extended solo from Vai to close out the set. The audience are very quickly on their feet, and don’t have long to wait for the Firebird Suite Encore, a last chance to soak up the music, before the inevitable house lights and a the cold return to reality.

Vai waves goodbye to the crowd with a promise of see you next time, his last visit down under was back in 2013, lets hope its not another 10 years to wait for his return.

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Steve Vai / Photo – @petegardnerphotography

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Set list

Avalancha
Giant balls of gold
Little pretty
Tender surrender
Lights are on
Candlepower
Dante Solo
Building the church
Greenish blues
Bad Horsie
I’m becoming
Whispering a prayer
Drum solo
Teeth of the hydra
Zeus in chains
Liberty
For the love of god

Encore:

Fire garden suite IV

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Steve Vai / Photo – @petegardnerphotography

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Check out Pete Gardner’s (@petegardnerphotography) full gallery of this event HERE

Check out Glen Morgan’s (@glenmorganphotography) full gallery of the Sydney event HERE

Check out Matt Young’s (@mattyoungpics) full gallery of the Brisbane event HERE

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Steve Vai / Photo – @petegardnerphotography

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AMNPLIFY – DB