[Bytor1975]

Hey guys, I don't post here all too often, but I though some of you might like to see these in here. I took these last night... bear with me as it will take me a few minutes to get these up here.

 

[Bytor1975]

I bought tickets a few weeks ago for Steve Vai/Eric Sardinas at Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, AL 3/10/05. This was my second time seeing Steve (caught a show on the first G3 tour) and my first time seeing Eric Sardinas.
Last week I won passes for an aftershow meet and great as well, so I had pretty high expectations for the night. I came armed with a camera, my Steve Vai: Passion and Warfare, David Lee Roth: Eat 'Em and Smile, and Billy Sheehan: The Talas Years CDs, and a BUNCH of pickguards that I picked up in Nashville last weekend.

Here is the opener Eric Sardinas near the end of his set playing his resonator with a beer bottle. He was damned good, and I liked him alot better than I thought I would. His vocals were kinda rough though. But his slide playing was amazing.

So after Eric, Steve came out with Billy Sheehan on bass, Tony MacAlpine on guitars/keys, Dave Weiner on guitar, and Jeremy Colson on drums. Here is Steve playing EVO and Billy in the back on bass. They were recording audio and video last night as well.

Here is Steve and the multitalented Tony MacAlpine tearing it up...

 

[DannyBoy]

sweet! bet that was a killer show . Eric is awesome . so is the entire Vai band . rock on!

 

[Bytor1975]

The MONSTER Billy Sheehan on his scalloped fretboard Yamaha bass...

A little acoustic action. Sisters and Rescue Me or Bury me were beautiful.

Steve played for 2 1/2 hours, and after the show I took a pedalboard shot.

 

[Bytor1975]

So after the show we had these passes for an aftershow meet and great. Well, the security made everyone leave and basically told us there was no meet and great. Then 2 minutes later they said it would be outfront. So they finally got us out there and the group of 14 of us realized we had been screwed, and all the doors were locked, so we headed for the buses out back. On the way back in an alley Billy Sheehan walks out of a side door with a beer in hand too cool off and starts chatting with us. What a down to earth cool guy. He autographed one of my Jazz Bass pickguards and my Talas cd's. Here I am shaking his hand.

We followed him over to the Vai bus and he chatted longer with us. Finally Steve came out of the building and was just as nice as Billy signing everything we had and answering gear and music questions. Here I am with Steve.

And after Steve left to take a shower we went to Eric Sardinas' bus and he autographed stuff and talked about his love of the blues. I happened to be standing by the glass cass at the front of the venue where they keep the posters for upcoming shows and snagged an Eric Sardinas poster when an employee opened it up to take them down. Here is is signing it for me.

 

[Bytor1975]

And finally back home at 2am this morning, with all of my autographed loot and the Dave Weiner pick I caught layed out on the futon in my music room!

A very cool night indeed! :thumb:

 

[mickey_g107]

thanks so much for the pics mate, looks like a killer time! legend

 

[DannyBoy]

looks like i commented a bit prematurely . looks like you had a great time bro . rock on with lil steve VAIII!!!! YEAH! lol :rock:

 

[jethro]

very cool!! I'm going april 7th.I cant wait!!!:jam:

 

[Stiglar]

that is aweomse ! ..

looks like a killer night !> .

i'd love to hear what the setlist was .. i bet sisters would've sounded awesome .. always been one of my vai favourites !

 

[Mondy]

Looks like a damn good night !

Thanx for sharing ! Billy is indeed a cool dude. Have never met Steve though.

Glad you had a great time !

:thumb:

 

[Bytor1975]

Don't have Birmingham's setlist, but here is Nashville's from the night before as it was posted on Vai's forum.

Show opener with double-neck then into Glorious
Building the Church
The Audience is Listening
The Crying Machine
Answers
Lotus Feet
Midway Creatures (Came out in “Bad Horsie” lighted helmet outfit)
Juice
Love Blood
Song Steve said was brand new; played before Whispering... Beautiful chord progressions and melody.
Whispering a Prayer
Tony Solo (Keyboards)
Dave Solo
Billy Solo
Jeremy Solo
Portion of Yai Yai in middle of one song
Portion of A Lighter Shade of Green in middle of one song
Get the ____ Outta Here
The Reaper

Acoustic Set list (played in song portions and not full versions):

Dying For Your Love
Sisters
Call It Sleep
Unknown Love song Steve said was new
Rescue Me or Bury Me
Bull Whip (Part of Fire Garden Suite)
What Am I Going to Do With That Girl/Boy
Possibly parts of Angel Food

Encore

Liberty
My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama
For the Love of God

 

[kudochop]

Those are awesome pics man! Looks like Vai has an EVH phase pedal on his board! :afro:

 

[Bytor1975]

Thank you....

HA HA! Yes he did have the EVH pedal... that was the first thing I noticed when his tech brought the board out after Eric's performance. It kinda stands out ya know?

 

[axeshredder]

great post ..Bytor...thanks alot...i won aftershow passes so can u go into anymore details on what and how long..thanks

 

[Stiglar]

wow ! seems like steves changed his setlist totally around ... i really wanna hear some of this stuff hope he comes to aus again

 

[Jedi McFly5150]

I'm amazed...no DS-1, and a cry baby instead of the Bad Horsie.Only things I can't identify is the pedal between the EVH Phaser and the Strobostomp, and what's above the Tube Screamer. Great pics, thanks for sharing!

 

[Bytor1975]

I didn't even notice the absense of the Bad Horsie. Interesting. I wish I would have taken a shot from the other angle, but it was a bit tough to get right there after the show from the onslaught of us guitar geeks!

 

[slimshady842]

Bytor, how did you get away with taking pictures during the show?

 

[Bytor1975]

Nothing to get away with... every other person had a camera, camera phone or video phone. In fact, it seems as if camera phones have replaced the timeless 'holding up your lit lighter' at the show now. I never hid my camera, and nobody ever said anything about it, so I snapped away until I killed my two batteries!