Steve Vai Almost Without Cela!

Steve Vai (Photo: Budi SUsanto)

JAKARTA - Almost flawless! That sentence deserves the most attention to Steve Vai's virtuoso guitarist in a concert titled Inviolate Tour 2023 which was initiated by Lemmon.id and Nocturnal Blaze at Basketball Hall Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday night.

Menggeber three songs at the beginning of his performance, namely Avalancha, Giant Balls of Gold, and Little Pretty, the former Whitesnake guitarist and David Lee Roth were washing his guitar playing arsenal without mercy. His white Ibanez guitarII echoed in every corner of the venue.

No doubt, the crowds of viewers who are dominated by Indonesian guitarists applaud their idols. John Paul Ivan, Gugun of the Gugun Blues Shelter, Edo Widiz, Adhit Element, Jikun and Ovy /rif, Denny Chasmala, Taraz Bistara, Iman and Sony J-Rocks, Edwin and Ernest Chocolate, and many others seemed to be happy on their seats.

Before the Tender Subscription, Steve Vai did not forget to insert his friendly greeting to the audience. He looks intimate and communicative. Then, the song that was taken from the 1995 album Alien Love Secrets. The applause were made up.

Lights Are On, Bundlepower, Building The Churchgreenish Blues, Bad Horsie, I'm Becoming, and Whispering A Prayer sliding repeatedly from Steve Vai's guitar strings wrapped in slashing distortions. Fantastic!

One of the most anticipated songs, Teeth of the Hydra, finally reverberated. It was opened by Steve Vai's action, who pulled the cover of his triple neck guitar, the owner of Siro's middle name, released a song inspired by Greek mythology creatures with many heads.

"Ide for guitar and track came to me about seven years ago. I imagined writing and showing a piece of music on a multi-neck instrument where all the sounds came from that one creation with the exception of several keyboards and drums," Steve Vai explained on various occasions.

"I sent my ideas to Ibanez, and the creator sent this amazing wooden creature. I was dumbfounded. That was incredible. When I first saw him I was Hydra, and immediately knew the title of the song, Teeth of the Hydra."

Hydra is a dragon-like creature of Greek mythology that has various heads. For every head that is pinched, two will grow in place. Steve Vai then wrote a musical work that utilizes all the Hydra features, but also stands alone as a fun composition with hot melodies and severe dynamics.

"When I finally sat down with Hydra and began to reflect on writing this section and how I navigated the instrument in a smooth way, for a moment it seemed impossible. I just started slowly, and everything began to unfold very naturally," he continued.

"Things that seem impossible don't seem so impossible that you just start doing them. Every new discovery and achievement is treated as an encouraging win, even if it only involves finding a music bar."

Meanwhile, Steve Vai's latest studio album, which is the title of his tour this time, Inviolate, debuted at the top of the Hard Rock Billboard album charts. Cumulatively, this album is streamed up to five million times, of which one million are for the song Teeth of the Hydra only. Crazy!

This man who was born in the United States really shows totality. Not only from the various artistic guitar techniques he served but also through his gesture that resembles a model on a catwalk. Even though it's no longer young, it's still a flamboyant. Especially when playing Liberty.

Almost all the songs that Steve Vai performed that night were instrumental numbers, which were shown full of chemistry and extraordinary musicalship between him and his accompaniments. While the only song that was given vocals was For the Love of God, which was sung by his manager in Luciano Pavarotti's style.

The emotional weight of the song that was once chosen as one of the best solo guitar of all time by Guitar World magazine may be a little less than the recording version. However, more than enough to amaze the audience. After the encore, the song Fire garden Suite IV - Taurus Bulba was asked to cover.

As one of the guitarists who has the most complete guitar technique as well as a genius, Steve Vai started learning guitar in 1973 and gained knowledge from another guitar maestro, Joe Satriani, a year later. At this time he also started playing with several local bands, one of whom was named The Steve Vais.

In 1979 Steve Vai sent a transcription of Frank Zappa's Black Page's composition and slipped the recording of his guitar playing. Frank was amazed, then invited Steve Vai to write transcription of his guitar solos from Joe's Garage album to Yer Guitar's Shut Up And Play. For two years, Steve Vai has supported Frank Zappa both on stage and on record studios.

Armed with its expertise in playing guitar quickly and accurately, Frank Zappa even dubbed the guitarist who was born in Carle Place, New York, June 6, 1960 "Little Italian Virtuoso".

After leaving Frank Zappa in 1982, Steve Vai moved to California and recorded his first solo album Flex-Able in 1983 and released it in January 1984. A year later, he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as guitarist for vocalist band Graham Bonnet,omaz, where he was involved in the process of recording the album Disturbing the Peace.

In 1986, Steve Vai was involved in the creation of the fifth album of John Lydon's alternative rock band, Public Image Ltd, entitled Album, and then joined the supergroup formed by former Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth. David Lee Roth band - also known as Eat 'Em and Smile Band - from 1985-1989, featuring David Lee Roth (vocals), Steve Vai (guitar), Billy Sheehan (bass), and Gregg Bissonette (dram). The band spawned the albums Eat Em And Smile (1986) and Skystraper (1988). Entering the end of the 80'' era, Steve Vai joined Whitesnake replacing Vivian Campbell. When another Whitesnake guitarist, Adrian Vandenberg suffered an wrist injury shortly before the recording process of the album Slip of the Tongue began, Steve Vai finally played the entire guitar content in the album. In this period, he also contributed his guitar playing on Alice Cooper's album, Hey Stoopid with Joe Satriani on the song Feed My total.

In 1990, Steve Vai released his second solo album, Passion and Warfare, which gave birth to the song For the Love of God. And after leaving Whitesnake in 1991, he continued his tour regularly, both with his own band and with his teacher and instrumental guitar partner Joe Satriani in the G3 tour series. Other full solo albums produced by Steve Vai include Sex & Religion (1993), Alien Love Secrets (1995), Fire Garden (1996), Flex-Able Leftovers (1998), The Ultra Zone (1999), Real Illusions: Reflections (2005), The Story of Light (2012), Modern Primitive (2016), and Inviolate (2022).

In addition, the guitarist whose guitar playing was inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Brian May, Jimmy Page, Glen Buxton, and fusion jazz guitarist Allan Holdsworth co-wrote a track on Ozzy Osbourne's album Ozzmosis (1994). However, the guitar filling he created in the song My Little Man was replaced by Zakk Wylde.