Steve Vai
Concerto

He is a bit of an original. Just to understand who we're talking about and going back in time, the guy was in a sensational film, Mississippi Adventure (Crossroads). One of the pieces performed was Caprice Number 5 Op. 1 by Paganini. At the time, everyone went crazy trying to reproduce it. Then it was discovered that that bastard Steve Vai had added a fret to the guitar, using a copper wire, to play the last note! Okay, the name has been revealed. Moving to much more recent times, here are some details about the guitarist's summer concert. After the opening act by Gianni Rojatti and the Dolcetti, it was the turn of the American. Yes, but of Italian origin. The setting? Simple, the evocative Castle of Udine. On July 7, 2016, he appeared colorful, cheerful. Who are we talking about? About his greatness, Steve Vai. The guitar hero—perhaps one of the first and most eclectic in his shifts from Zappa’s madness to Whitesnake's melodic rock to then become a forerunner of prog metal—did not hold back, exceeding two hours of music. Always ready for a joke and highly skilled at engaging the audience, Vai performed in a pyrotechnic show, centered on the reinterpretation of the seminal "Passion And Warfare", 25 years after its release. "When the album came out, I didn't have the courage to take it on tour: it was too difficult to perform live, and I told myself that I would need a band up to the task before I could feel ready to do it. Here it is, the moment has arrived, and this is the band!" After half an hour of "warm-up" with a rundown of Vai's career—opening with "Bad Horsie" from "Alien Love Secrets", then "The Crying Machine" from "Fire Garden", "Gravity Storm" from "The Story Of Light" and "Whispering A Prayer" from "Alive In An Ultra World"—the masterpiece was performed from start to finish, with the fundamental work of the band indeed! The performance was one of those that shake, excite, and give chills and memories, thanks to the images scrolling on the screen behind the musicians showing videos from the time, between kitsch and a leap to the heart. During the concert, space for three tasty and entertaining virtual jams with Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, and Frank Zappa: in the latter case, on the big screen, images of a concert with a just twenty-one-year-old Steve Vai, catapulted on stage next to a genius of contemporary music. and right after "Stevie's Spanking", Steve Vai calls a woman and a man, volunteers from the audience, onto the stage to have them improvise a song they choose, performed "on command" by the musicians of his band. Vai closes with "Racing The World", only to be called back on stage for an encore, namely the monumental "Fire Garden Suite IV – Taurus Bulba": on the screen epic images of war and the serious and committed gaze of a musician who today, however, is capable of conquering not only with his technical skills but also with a great sense of irony, an essential ingredient for the complete success of a truly "beyond" concert.