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8/4/98 Note from Mike Lerch - I decided to leave this page more or less intact from when it was first posted, just updating links and e-mail addresses and such. That means that this has about 2/3 more words than necessary. But hey! Anyway, enjoy the review of this unique BFD show.
Hey there! I saw BFD and Steve Vai at the Vogue in Indianapolis on December 9th, 1996 and would like to review it for you! I must warn you before you start reading that Bryan Beller is my favorite author. Well, Orson Scott Card is my favorite, but Beller's a close second. Okay, Dan Simmons is up there before Bryan, too, but you have to understand that I deeply emphasize Beller's love of LENGTH (of his writings, anyway...). This is a long, detailed, easily sidetracked review. I've read it over, though, and I enjoy it. I hope you will to!
Let me just start by saying that there's no real way to tell the size of Mike Keneally's nose. The reason is that the respective proboscises of Toss and Bryan completely ruin any perspective. As a man of large schnoz myself, I must tell you that I admire them (Bryan and Toss) deeply.
Let me continue starting by saying that I first came into Keneally awareness via Zappa's Universe video and then saw him with Z at the same Indianapolis Vogue that I'm about to discuss. Let me also start by saying that I've got all Keneally's solo stuff, even the Rosemary Girl single and I love the Mistakes.
Let me also start by saying that my friend Da9ve and I saw the G3 tour in Columbus, Ohio and was quite delighted and enjoyed it immensely. We ran into Keneally during the break and had him sign many CD booklets and even one of the EMG posters.
Let me finish starting (last one, I promise) by saying this: a few days after seeing G3 in Columbus my wife Nancy and I trekked up to Chicago (we're in Terre Haute, IN) to see G3 again (again for me, first time for her). We paid many dollars via TicketBastard and I was really hoping that seeing Keneally for the second time in like two days would get me around Steve Vai to have him sign the many Vai CD booklets I brought along. The rub is that Nancy and I COULDN'T SEE THE SHOW. I say this in all seriousness. Thanks to the FUCKING outer-Chicago traffic we were miserably late, knowing that we'd missed Adrian Legg (who I love). What we DIDN'T know was that the parking at the venue was so damn bad that we COULD NOT FIND A PLACE TO PARK. We could have ventured into the not-terribly nearby residential area, but there were very literally young guys with hoods on standing in groups on many corners; who needs that shit? It was a horrible trip and the only thing we heard was about half of "For the Love of God" wafting out of the venue while we sat for several minutes at a stop sign. Shit.
The reason I give you all this preliminary information (especially the last bit) is because you have to understand how INTENSELY I was going to enjoy this show, no matter what. Nancy and I had been to Phish in Champaign between the aborted G3 show and the Indy Vai/BFD I'm about to review; we had actually left because the sound was so terrible where our seats were (plus Nancy very rightly grew tired of my bitching about the sound). She and I were going to absorb every moment of this show, especially the BFD segment. We'd actually toyed (and still are toying) with the idea of vacationing to California just to see BFD; we wanted to see them in a BAD way. Now on with the review (thanks for reading so far, by the way...I really wanted to vent about the Chicago G3). Oh...one last thing. Nancy's birthday is 12/11 and this 12/9 BFD/Vai show was the bulk of her birthday present, though like an asshole I forgot to mention it to any of BFD when I talked to them (more on that later). She had a fine time. Fellows of BFD, thanks for the birthday bash on behalf of Nancy, even if you didn't know you were doing it. Forgive me, my loving wife!
We got there right on time (8:00 Eastern) but unfortunately the line just for ticketholders to get it was large (they were frisking) and so music started wafting out. We about shit, thinking we were missing BFD. It turned out that there was an opening act named Cory Stevens. He was a blues guy (let's make that face, let's make 1/4 bends on that fourth, etc.) that (opinion time) I thought was less than delightful. He sang just like Eric Clapton on "From the Cradle" and had a guitar sound that sounded just like Stevie Ray Vaughan (though he wasn't nearly as good or innovative as Stevie Ray). In fact, (rather offensively to me) he encored with Stevie Ray's cover of "Voodoo Chile (slight return)". Note my wording there, because that's what he was doing. Please understand that I give opening acts a huge chance and still didn't like him. I give opening acts a huge chance because after all, that's what BFD was, right? Always show up for the opening acts.
After Cory Stevens broke down, Nancy, Da9ve and I made way to the front of the floor (we had one of few tables) by the stage and ended up being the third people back right in front of Beller. We kept this perspective throughout the BFD show, and let me tell you that it was fucking great to be that close. Here's something for you: Beller was carrying his own gear on stage. I don't know why this seems like a big deal, but it is just so cool and honest to me to see a magnificent musician who I know is going to rock my world walk around with an A.C. plug in his hand looking for an outlet. I mean, *I* do that, and I'm only a hobbyist guitarist/drummer/bassist/vocalist in a cover band! Very soon the band would stop doing anything that I could, though <g>.
Here's a couple of notes as to how close we were to the stage: Keneally and Beller were drinking Heineken. In fact, we heard Beller let fly with a beautiful eructation just before the show. We gave him a thumbs up as he wiped off the chunks. Also, have you ever wondered what Bryan's pedalboard was like? Let me tell you! He's got a volume pedal, an A/B push-button for his amp, a Boss chorus pedal, and a distortion pedal (which he only used once). It was angled as such that I couldn't read the brand name, but by the color and shape I'd say it too was a Boss. He also had a very shop-class looking A.C. bay where these things were plugged in.
Let me tell you something else: Toss Panos looks like a very average guy. He looks like someone who might be purchasing some olive oil and a T.V. Guide in front of you at Kroger. In fact, however, he is not a normal guy. He is a DRUM GOD. I found out later that he was quite sick during this show and went back to the hotel and was asleep right after BFD. You by god couldn't tell that by his playing. Bryan and Keneally do NOT look like normal guys because they were wearing Obvious Moose and Billy Ray Cyrus T-shirts, respectively.
As was noted in an earlier review, BFD had a long sound check while they worked on their monitors mixes. After a fair amount of experimentation Keneally had to dump his side-fill altogether, though Beller (the shmoe!) supplemented his bass cabinet (which was right behind him) with some more bass from his side-fill monitor. Their monitor mix worked quite well for us, as we were close enough that we barely heard any of the house mix...the stage mix is what we were treated to and the balance was quite good. Occasionally we could actually hear Toss' cymbals acoustically from the stage rather than through an P.A.
During the soundcheck we heard the only Zappa of the night. Keneally's guitar was causing massive noise in Beller's monitor's (a nasty sound which Beller called "sparking" and Keneally called "farting") and Keneally played several little things for Beller's benefit so he could check things. Mike first played either a bit of "The Black Page" or Moggio (I knew then but can't remember now) and shortly after played part of the demented xylophone part from "Montana". There was our Zappa. I have to admit like an earlier reviewer that I really hoped that there would be some Zappa in the show, what with a fine drummer and bassist in Vai's band and two Zappa guitar alums. (in a Jazz Discharge voice) Oh, well.
One more thing happened before BFD started. An acquaintance of mine and good friend of Da9ve's, Eric Tullis, was called to the stage by Beller. Beller asked us where he was and Da9ve went to get him. I was insanely jealous, trying to figure out why Bryan likes Tullis more than me <g>. Tullis extended the offer of Indianapolis Chinese Food to Beller before I did, and I think that's the key. (Note that Eric Tullis is a fine gentleman that, along with Da9ve, made a ten hour Frank Zappa show for broadcast on the radio station of the alumnus...I have copies and they're great) Bryan mysteriously told Tullis and company (me included) to "stick around after the show...you won't believe the day we've had." After my ego-deflating Tullis appearance <g>, and this mysterious disclaimer, the show started.
Keneally took the mic and added to the mystery by introducing himself and the band and saying that they would try to keep the day's event's from interfering with their performance. Our curiosity was definitely piqued. Here's the set list:
1) Career/Quimby ->
2) I Can't Stop
3) Ground Zero
4) Assholes (actually "Vent" from the disc two of the live CD) ->
5) So Tired (by the Beatles)
6) Uglytown
7) Lightnin' Roy
8) Immigrant Song
9) Breakfast
Here's my rundown:
1) Career/Quimby - This was very fine. It was very similar to the live CD; Nancy and I danced (we love fucking people up by dancing to odd meter and/or untraditional songs). Just like on the CD, this went into...
2) I Can't Stop - Also very fine. In fact, I'm just going to tell you right now that thought the band apologized for their performance (for reasons I'll discuss in a few lines), EVERY song was very fine, maybe even absolutely FANfuckingtastic, so I'll guess I'll dispense with that. Toss and Bryan had some great interplay during Keneally's solo. During this song Toss was yelling at the monitor guy for something. Their monitors, especially Toss', gave them a couple of fits. At this song, I removed my earplugs to hear just every possible thing and damn the ringing ears. I have a hat just like Keneally's multi-colored one except that mine is actually longer. I rolled it so that two layers of the hat covered my ears and decided that was good enough. For Vai I put the plugs back in.
3) Ground Zero - Killer with tons of dynamics as you might expect. Mike's solo was especially fine. I have to tell you something about Toss. He was kicking my ass hard right from the start both from my perspectives as a drummer and as a music listener. One thing about him, though...for all his technique and taste, he does NOT practice economy of motion. He's a traditional grip drummer and during this song (guitar solo section) he spent some time with his left (snare) hand just hovering a foot above the snare drum and smacking it on two and four. His right hand, meanwhile, was all over the toms and cymbals (especially the cymbals). I was dying. How the fuck was he doing that stuff with one hand? And why? (though I think I know...he was winding his snare arm up for a fucking drumhead-splitting ass-whippin') I believe it was during this song where Toss' monitors REALLY pissed him off and he spent several moments indiscreetly telling someone to take something out of them. Keneally told everyone not to go to the next section of the song and asked Toss what he needed. I believe Toss had all the guitar, vocal, bass, tweeters and woofers removed from the monitors at that point, though it may not have been that extreme. This MAY not have happened in this song, but I'm pretty sure it was this one and it DID happen. Bryan asked Mike to tell about what had happened that day while they were fixing shit (note that vamping was happening here; they didn't stop completely); Keneally declined, though...
4) Assholes (actually "Vent" from the disc two of the live CD) - At least some of the day's mystery events were explained when Keneally dedicated this song to the fuckers who broke into their van. Ahah! Much was explained. Later Keneally and Beller told me that a bunch of Beller's CDs and a portable CD player were stolen, along with some of Toss' drum pedals. Something like $1000 bucks of stuff. Car thieves (particularly the one(s) responsible for this) can just kiss my feathered ass, goddammit.
As I've said, every song in their set was great, but I had only heard this twice before (I've only listened to disc two of the live album all the way through a couple of times). I listened to it just before I sat down to write this and I have to tell you: this live version was (opinion) much better than the studio version. I'm really glad I got to hear it. I mean, they fucking raged on this one, Keneally putting special vocal emphasis on parts of the song that were about assholes and fuckers and dying. His incredibly impassioned vocals were much cooler than the (admittedly cool) distorted vocals in the studio version. It was at this point that my ass started feeling pretty loose. This song had a great transition to...
5) So Tired (by the Beatles) - They did a pretty darn straight version of this, though theirs was heavier at times. I shouted along with Mike and Bryan during the "I'll give you everything I got..." part. I'm serious, having such a tender but intense version of this song follow Vent/Asshole was great.
6) Uglytown - Okay, folks, just look the fuck right out here. Again, with the mystery of the day explained, you have to understand how much pure tension these guys were removing from themselves while playing. They were musical as all shit, but they were definitely in attack mode. During Mike's solo, he did something that just had me laughing out loud with angst and glee (and I don't say that just to quote Spearmint Pup...I'm serious. They were kicking ass on Uglytown, I'm singing along, I'm wishing that we weren't so jam-packed in the crowd so that I could move my body some more (Nancy makes sure I don't bump into people by digging her nails into me anytime I move out of my imaginary circle <g>). Then comes the solo and Mike does some neat stuff for a moment, then he goes right up and just grabs some serious dissonance. I believe by the way his fingers were splayed that he was playing a minor second way up high...the distortion kept me from figuring it out exactly. He just strummed this nasty shit very gently over and over. Needless to say, the fantastic band that is BFD was adjusting to this right away and providing their own rock-solid accompaniment to this dissonant mess.
Here's what was so cool (in addition to the music itself): as Keneally was playing this fucking cluster, his grim expression turned more and more into a grin and his grin turned more and more into a giant, head-splitting, teeth-showing smile. Nancy and I looked at each other and then cheered our fool heads off, encouraging him. I'd like to think he heard the audience approval because he just kept it up and pretty soon his head DID split and fell clean off. Well, not quite, but it was still great. I'll tell you what it was like (I told this to Mike later and he laughed and agreed): as Mike played this dissonance and smiled you could just see the catharsis flow from him; I swear it was like the beam from Independence Day in reverse. You could just see this green cloud of bad vibes rising from him and through the roof. Fuck it was cool.
7) Lightnin' Roy - Not a lot to say about this one...it was great and it seemed like a decent amount of people sang along with the chorus. Mike and Bryan sang the chorus better than they did on the CD, even! Oh, and I took advantage of the quiet parts to yell "TOSS IS BOSS", which he is and I hope such a silly phrase doesn't annoy him. It's true, though...hear for yourself sometime!
8) Immigrant Song - Hey, here comes the Zeppelin cover! The soundman/woman passed the test (see 1/2 Alive liner notes). Here's what you have to watch the fuck out for on this one: Keneally didn't try for the high notes in falsetto or by just going for it. Instead, he just fucking let out the most godawful/wonderful banshee yells you've ever heard in your worst nightmares. Frankly it gave the song a fairly authentic kind of invader feel than the original Tarzan-like yell <g>, and you just can't believe the energy coming off the stage at this point. I'm telling you right now, between Bryan's bass (which was SO room-shaking but VERY VERY pleasantly not overpowering anything else) and the earthy screaming and Toss's intensity and Bohnam-like use of the a single bass drum (I think...his high-hat was awful tight to not have a foot on it), it was at this point that Mike Keneally and BFD kicked my ass clean off. To paraphrase a very fine turn of phrase from Da9ve, I need to come back to the venue the next day to collect my ass.
9) 'Cause of Breakfast - Keneally dedicated this to his dad. I believe it was at this point (after the banshee yelling) that Beller AND Keneally apologized, though Keneally might have apologized after the song instead of before. I guess they were apologizing for the yelling and the dissonance, but as I told them later, I didn't see that they had a goddamn thing to apologize for. They rocked my ass with THE most honest performance I've ever seen. What a fuckin' great show.
I warned you about the Beller influence on my writing, right? I swear there's not a ton more. You're more than halfway there (though, frankly, not a LOT more than half)
After they played we went to the side of the stage and talked with Keneally for a few moments before he left to change. I think we saw Beller for a moment at this point but can't remember exactly.
I want to tell everyone something before I give my short review of the Steve Vai show. In high school (I graduated in 1989, I'm 25 now), I was a giant Satriani and Vai fan and also listened to much Metallica. Vai REALLY influenced my desire to play music in general and shift from drums to guitar in particular. I bought my first Zappa album (Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch) to see what Vai was like "back then". I voraciously read all Vai interviews. When I gave up my music career ideas when I had to drop out of music school to get surgery on my advanced Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, "Passion and Warfare" somehow gave me a peace of mind that nothing else could. What happened after that was basically that my tastes have changed. A lot of THAT has to do with that first Zappa album I bought to hear Steve Vai. Nancy and I have 30 or so Zappa titles now and I read and have read Zappa interviews and such with an even more voracious attitude than I read Vai's. I heard of Keneally, saw him on the Zappa's Universe video, saw him with Z, then bought Hat, then wrote him, then mailed him a certain multi-colored stocking cap (toque), bought Boil that Dust Speck, bought the Mistakes, etc. Basically my tastes have changed from Mozart and Metallica, Smetana and Satriani to Zappa and Stravinsky, Keneally and Vaughan Williams, and to Phish and the Dead the Naked City and Mark Ribot, etc. etc. Keneally's music is just exactly the fuck what I want to hear. If you had told me in 1988 that I would be more excited to meet a Vai sideman than Vai himself, I would have called you a goddamn fucking nut (well, I would have called you a weirdo because I was religious then). That's what happened at the G3 show, though. I loved the piss out of Vai and Satriani, but it was Keneally I watched a lot of the time. Finally seeing BFD was more of my dream come true than seeing Vai a second time. With that note, here's the Vai setlist:
1) Fire in the House
2) Animal
3) Greasy Kid's Stuff
4) Deepness
5) The Boy From Seattle
6) Little Alligator
7) The Crying Machine
8) Christmastime is Here (Charlie brown/Guraldi)
9) The Riddle
10) Vai's Fairy Dust/Band conducting thing
11) Drum Sola
12) Bad Horsie
13) Blues jam from Crossroads->Crossroads Duel->More Blues jam
14) I Would Love To
15) Brother
16) That song that has the "Money" (Beatles, not Floyd)-like riff from Fire Garden
17) Kill the Guy With The Ball
18) For the Love of God
ENCORE
19) Liberty
20) The Attitude Song
Here's some brief comments:
1) Fire in the House - just like G3
2) Animal - as I said, "Passion and Warfare" is a really special album to me (and I DO think it's a fantastic album), and so I love hearing it live. They did this at G3, too and it was damn good both times! The only thing that bothered me was that in general the sound was quite a bit better at G3. The whole show suffered from STUPIDLY LOUD bass. Not all the time, but occasionally, the bass (the SYNTH bass, I think), would completely overpower everything else in the mix. That happened on the first two songs a lot. Also, Keneally was WAY too soft through the first half of Vai but that was quite satisfactory later.
3) Greasy Kid's Stuff - great!
4) Deepness - quite nice. Extended from G3. I was hoping (especially after BFD) to hear a wildly different set from Vai than I heard at BFD but in fact it was very similar, even in the sequencing. They had more time to play here, of course, but that was still a bit of a bummer. This song WAS one where there was some nice improv.
5) The Boy From Seattle - fine.
6) Little Alligator - This is my favorite vocal song from the new album and it kicked my ass at G3. If I had an ass left at this point in Indianapolis it would have kicked it, too.
7) The Crying Machine - A couple things here. On the album, this song disappoints me greatly. This sounds, for all intents and purposes, like a Joe Satriani thing. When they did it at G3 I expected Satriani to walk out and play it while Vai sat down. With that said, it's a GOOD Joe Satriani song <g>. This was another song where there were differences between it and G3. The intro was great, with Keneally and Vai doing some call and answer scratch wah stuff. This degenerated quickly when Vai used his WHAMMY BAR to do some of the scratching (it sounded great) and Keneally used a drum stick. It was quite cool, but then the song started <g>. Keneally did get a couple solo breaks in here but at this point in the show he was still too soft to hear them very well when the whole band was playing. Keneally and Vai did a great unison whammy bar line.
In fact, I want to ask something of Mike Keneally at this point. Something that I haven't felt like asking him when I've seen him these last times because there were always crowds wanting him to sign stuff. Here's your interview question, Mike: How has playing with Vai influenced you? For instance, I don't know that you've ever used whammy, yet with Vai you have to and you do it fucking well! How do Vai's guitars feel? I think it's great that you don't "shred" during your own songs, but why is this? You shred in unison with Dweezil and Vai; do you consciously hold it back on your own (not that you don't play with plenty of pizzazz) songs or do just not feel that it's appropriate in your stuff? Interview over.
8) Christmastime is Here (Charlie brown/Guraldi) - This was quite fine and Keneally took a HILARIOUS solo break. It was tasty for a while, then it got INCREDIBLY silly. I missed a few notes from laughing so hard...Keneally did to. He was cracking up.
9) The Riddle - GODDAMMIT! Vai started off with some great odd-meter clean rhythm stuff, just riffing. Then he launched into a bit of Little Green Men and the crowd went insane. Then he went on into the Riddle. Don't get me wrong for a second; this is one of my favorite songs from "Passion and Warfare" and indeed one of my all-time favorite songs. It's melody is beautiful and I love the Little Green Men melody towards the end. But dammit, I wish they'd done Little Green Men. I would have shit NANCY'S pants.
While I'm on that subject, did you notice that "Fire Garden Suite" and "Bangkok" are missing from the set list? Those songs are SO good from Vai's latest. I figured he didn't play them at G3 because of time constraints. But why didn't he play them here? I would have shit someone else's pants on that, too.
10) Vai's Fairy Dust/Band conducting thing - This was neat and fun and was extended very considerably from G3. Maybe someone else can describe exactly what this is, but it IS fun.
11) Drum Sola - Okay. There's a Mr. Boffo cartoon where he's holding up a T-shirt that says: "Drum Solos -- The reason Fast Forward was invented". I agree with that. (I got that cartoon from Nancy's dad, by the way; a many many-year big band drummer). Even when I was a full-time drummer I agreed with that. I've heard very few really musical drum solos. Toss didn't do one with BFD or I might have a different opinion <g>. I've heard Branford Marsalis' drummer do some great stuff, but that's about it. So I'm not a drum solo fan. With that disclaimer, I really, really didn't like Mike Mangini's drum solo. I found it quite boring. He DID do one really neat bit for a while where he set up a pattern on the bass and hi-hat and then played whatever the fuck he wanted on top of that. He has some great four-point coordination. But I wish he'd used it to make some percussion music instead of just showing off and riffing. (addendum...Joe Travers did a solo with Z when I saw them...that was actually one of the good ones).
12) Bad Horsie - My least favorite Steve Vai Song. I REALLY REALY like "Juice" from Vai's "Alien Love Secrets" (the album with "Bad Horsie"). I really like Kill the Guy with the Ball. I really think Bad Horsie is quite boring and way too long. Live, though, Vai did one really neat thing...he did a repeated hammer on and slid his tongue over the string up by the pickups. It brought him what I call a "harmonic series" much like what you get if you hammer on and slide your finger around up there. That was really neat and I have to try it (though I'm sure I'll slice my fucking tongue open and hemorrhage all over the fucking bar where we play)
13) Blues jam from Crossroads->Crossroads Duel->More Blues jam - This was pretty neat and had the same vocal sample from the movie that they played at G3. One thing you might not have guessed: Keneally and Vai played the Paganini caprice *in unision* together. They actually didn't play the whole thing, I don't think (I didn't hear the opening arpeggios), but it was still quite a sight.
14) I Would Love To - Another song from Passion and Warfare. Yay! Big BOO, though to the oppressively loud bass.
15) Brother - Vai promised that he was only slowing down a bit and not stopping on this one and did a bang-up vocal job. Big stupid oppressive bass was a problem again, though
16) That song that has the "Money"-like (Beatles, not Floyd) riff from Fire Garden - I have the disc but am almost done and don't want to go up and check it. This song sounds too much like too many other songs for me to really like it. They did a good version, though. The bassist really shook his hips on this one and was fun to watch. Keneally did many harmonies and I think played some of the Coral electric sitar on this one.
17) Kill the Guy With The Ball - They fucking ripped this one. Tons of energy.
18) For the Love of God - This sounded great, just like at G3, but just like at G3 a couple of the harmonics that he hits in the studio album were left out. This wouldn't be a big deal except the very harmonics that have been left out live are the very ones that send chills up my spine. I don't think he was playing the seven-string on this one (or any other one, actually), and did a big position switch to (what it looked like) compensate for the lack of the ultra-cool-and-fast-high-up-on-the-low-B run toward the end of the song.
ENCORE - They didn't make us wait too long.
19) Liberty - Several people, me included, sang along. I love that song, especially the studio version.
20) The Attitude Song - Another guy came out and played some rhythm guitar on this one. Keneally ripped it up; I say this because Keneally (by his own personal admission to me) fucked up some parts when I saw him do it at G3. This was great. To me this is one of the ultimate rock and roll encores. Again, Nancy and I danced.
Now, you did read my warning about Beller's influence over me, right? Well, I'm finally done. I'd love to hear what people think of the review, especially people who were at the Indianapolis show on December 9th with me. I hope I've performed a service to those who haven't been able to see the shows and maybe even those that have!
Mike, Toss, and Bryan...you guys rock and I deeply hope to see you again as soon as possible. Toss is Boss. Thanks for the double-live CD and for the video (the fucking *VF* warning KILLLLLLS me) and for kicking my ass. Mr. Vai, though my tastes have changed I still see that you are fantastic and I enjoyed meeting you (he signed the first guitar magazine I bought with him on it...I read it before I bought my first David Lee Roth album). You've been very inspiring to me and more importantly I've enjoyed your music! Same for you, Keneally and BFD.
If you'd like to read some more reviews of the current Vai/BFD tour, direct yourself to Obvious Moose! Feel free to experience some of The Shmeb Site, too! Thanks to Scott Chatfield (moosemeister) for posting my review on Obvious Moose.