This clip from the Adelaide show of the recent Australia tour. Please watch this all the way through and acknowledge the genius that is Landau. Also listen out for the punter who yells out “look at his right hand!” and “volume swells – trademark” … classic!
Edit: Some videos are now popping up on YouTube from the Australian tour. My favourite is Soft in Blue Jeans (above) – check the Landau solo at 1:50.
Still quivering in delight / denial after seeing this show last night. As an exhibition of pure musicianship I doubt I will ever see it topped. Just to provide a little backstory I am a huge Michael Landau fan. I’ve come to him late but for the past year or so he has been the only guitar player I’ve been listening too. Its bordering on an obsession. He just does everything right, and in his own incredible way, and there’s so much to be gleaned by how he approaches the instrument. I’m less into Robben Ford but I still remember sitting down to learn ‘Talk to Your Daughter’ when it was released…that was quite a while ago now! In any case its pretty rare to be able to catch musicians of this calibre on one stage and not too far from home.
And some more videos from the tour…
By means of a quick bullet point review:
- Landau is IT. So much vibe, tone and such a unique voice on the guitar. The way he wrangles every nuance out of his guitar is ridiculous … melding Jeff Beck, SRV, Knopfler etc into something all of his own. Pure inspiration. And he seems like a great guy too. I spotted him outside the venue and gave him a wave (whilst holding two hot dogs and two beers … no mean feat!) and he seemed genuinely chuffed at my awkward enthusiasm. I dig that.
- Landau and Ford complemented each other superbly. The sweetness of Ford’s tone and playing set alongside the more gritty vibe of Landau just works so well. Ford mainly playing a Goldtop Les Paul and Landau on his sunburst Strat all night. When they hit big open chords together the tones meshed together as one huge sweet wall of tone.
- Ford’s voice is much better live than on record. I thought he delivered a great live vocal performance. I gotta give the guy more credit … he killed it.
- I’d also say the Renegade Creation material comes across much better live too. I haven’t played the record that much but live the songs really hit the mark. The way the band shifts dynamics is something to behold and this doesn’t really translate quite so effectively on record.
- The rhythm section of Jimmy Haslip and Gary Novak was insane. Hypnotically good.
- I’m getting too old for venues without seats.
If you have a chance to catch this tour do not miss it! Also, if you are a guitar player and you have not explored the work of Michael Landau or Robben Ford get to it … you will get schooled. I promise.
Its BB’s birthday today, so here’s a little flashback to some classic BB. This is a live performance at Sing Sing Prison in 1974 . The clip shows his sense of humour as well as his emotional intensity as a performer. Love you BB!
A new recording by Robben Ford titled “One Taste” is available to stream for free on his Guitar Dojo website.
Robben says, “A lot of great music is lost to the air when great players jam. And people often do their best playing in jam situations. (For those who are unsure of the term: jamming is slang for improvising; unscripted inspiration of the moment.) I decided to get some of my favorite players together, in a pro studio so that it was well-recorded, bring some simple ideas to start from and let it rip.”
New pedalboard for Matt Schofield put together by Vertex Effects. This board is right down my alley – a few quality pedals put together really well. Its a great setup that covers the blues rock tones. Of course the fact they are hooked up to Matt’s Two Rock amps doesn’t hurt.
The signal chain is as follows:
INTERFACE (Vertex input buffer) > Sonic Research Turbo Tuner > Providence SOV-2 FTT > KLON Centaur > INTERFACE (break-out to Wah) > Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay > INTERFACE (Vertex output buffer w/splitter to two amplifiers. Amp 2 is transformer isolated with a polarity switch on the back of the interface)
Gary Clark Jr at Crossroads 2010 with the equally awesome Doyle Bramhall II. Great song, great voice, tasty chops … This guy has IT!
Right now I’m going to head off and buy his new Bright Lights EP. More info available from garyclarkjr.com.
Richie Kotzen is one of the few guys that can shred but still has a great melodic sense and a really nice feel. The other thing I love about Richie are his bling-tastic custom Fenders from the Fender Japan custom shop. Just so beautiful. Anyways, here is his new video single. Like? Not like?
