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| Generation Axe: Nuno Bettencourt, Zakk Wylde, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Tosin Abasi (Photo: Ken McCain) |
A beautiful evening last night in Oakland, CA culminated in the joining of forces of five of the best rock guitarists of our generation at the
Fox Theater. It was
Generation Axe, back in action and kicking off their second US tour here in our back yard. Just after 8pm the audience was still gathering in the wonderful venue along Telegraph Avenue, so as the house lights dimmed and the stage lights came up, it seemed to prompt fans to take their places. The quintet of top notch guitarists were making their second run here in the US after their last visit nearly 2 years ago (find our review of that show
here). Generation Axe is made up of founder
Steve Vai,
Yngwie Malmsteen,
Zakk Wylde,
Nuno Bettencourt, and
Tosin Abasi. [Ed. note: you can find our recent interview with Steve Vai
here.] Each of the members of Generation Axe is a virtuoso on the guitar and could easily headline a show along with any backing band. The treat we had was that all five were together on stage playing for us for 3 full hours last night. Their backing band included a drummer (
JP Bouvet), a few bassists and a keyboard player. I have to say that the drummer impressed me as much as the others as he was the only drummer all night, playing on nearly every track the five different guitarists dished out.
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| JP Bouvet & Tosin Abasi of Generation Axe (Photo: Ken McCain) |
Reminiscent of their last tour format, the evening started off with the whole group taking the stage for a song. Introductions were made along the way, then four of the five left the stage giving way to the prog rock guitarist Tosin Abasi. Fans of Abasi were in heaven as he played some of his best tunes. He plays an 8-string guitar with such fluid motion and passion. His abilities eclipse anything I've ever attempted, and he is, as Nuno Bettencourt said, the future of prog rock!
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| Nuno Bettencourt & Tosin Abasi of Generation Axe (Photo: Ken McCain) |
Bettencourt came out and jammed with Abasi on his last song, and admitted to the audience that "that $#!+ is too hard!" Nuno's set of songs, about 4 or so, were some of the best of Extreme, his band he started back in the 80's with vocalist Gary Cherone. After the first song he took a chair in front of the audience taking up an acoustic guitar. He teased the crowd with the opening few chords of "More Than Words" stopping short and joking that it's not that kind of show, "no sing-alongs tonight." He banged out the instrumental "Midnight Express" to many in the crowd's delight. And a medley of other Extreme hits followed before Zakk Wylde came out to join Bettencourt for a cover of Citizen Cope's "Sideways".
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| Nuno Bettencourt & Zakk Wylde of Generation Axe (Photo: Ken McCain) |
After these two destroyed the stage, Bettencourt left Wylde on his own with the audience. Wylde is best known for taking over the guitar duties in Ozzy Osborne's solo band. Spending time with Ozzy certainly showed as the next two songs were both Black Sabbath songs. Fans watched Wylde trounce from one side of the stage to the other, all while not missing a note. He really got the audience going with "War Pigs". A staple amongst most metal-heads, the crowd knew when and what to sing, and clapped in time when it was their turn. Wylde disappeared into the audience halfway through the song emerging at the edge of the balcony above. The band on stage played as Wylde ripped off a 10 minute solo while up along the balcony edge and while returning to the stage, then finishing the song to a standing ovation from the crowd. The next song saw the return of Bettencourt to the stage, joining Wylde for the wonderful "Still Got The Blues (For You)". This was the highlight song of the night for me. Admittedly, I did not see this one coming since it's a blues song and isn't this guy metal?!?! It just accents the talent and diversity of these artists when they do play outside their box. This one also saw the return of Wylde to the audience where he spent a good 10 minutes or so trading licks back and forth with Bettencourt. Nuno on one side of the audience and Zakk on the other was unreal for fans who got close enough to touch these guitar gods.
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| Yngwie Malmsteen of Generation Axe (Photo: Ken McCain) |
The stage then gave way for the maestro, Yngwie Malmsteen, the Swedish born neoclassical metal guitarist. I originally saw Yngwie way back in 1985 at The Day on the Green #1 when his band, Rising Force, played the stage prior to Y&T (which we coincidentally caught this past weekend and you can find our review
here.) He was only known to me as Alcatrazz's guitarist who was amazing. But his performance that day was leaps and bounds past his former band, and he hasn't slowed down since. In fact, last night's show included two songs from that '85 show: "Far Beyond the Sun" and "Black Star". Always the showman, Malmsteen took over the stage with rising smoke, fog machines, guitar acrobatics, theatrics, and lots of red light; all of this while he played his Stratocaster to perfection.
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| JP Bouvet & Steve Vai of Generation Axe (Photo: Ken McCain) |
The virtuoso, Steve Vai, had the last set to himself where he dazzled the captive audience with his own brand of perfect. He treated us all to a cover of Focus' "Hocus Pocus" to start the set off, then went for a few of his own. Vai's lit-up fretboard was tame in comparison to some of the others, and didn't distract from his style or talent. I think it added to his "cool factor". His love for the music and his fans shown through as he seemed to be having the time of his life. He thanked the audience for coming out to see them and mentioned that it was a great way to kick off the new tour with that Oakland crowd.
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| Zakk Wylde & Steve Vai of Generation Axe (Photo: Ken McCain) |
Upon finishing his set, he was joined again by his mates across the stage. They finished up with Edgar Winter Group's "Frankenstein". That's a great song for 5 guitarists to play at the same time (no easy feat) since it is so multi-layered. And it's a cool song, to boot! The group finished a quarter after 11 o'clock with Deep Purple's "Burn". Another great jam song that got everyone up on their feet as Yngwie belted out the lyrics. It sent the fans out with a jump in their step, many hanging out after the show looking for something more to do. The 32-city tour across the US is just getting started, and will return to Southern California in mid-December. This is one not to miss if you're a fan of great music and guitar slingers, so be sure to check out the rest of their tour dates
here.
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