Steve Vai
If you’re a guitar player then you probably know who Steve Vai is. If not, maybe you heard of his role in the 1980’s guitar movie “Crossroads”? Check out this YouTube clip to get all caught up, Steve Vai is the guy in the leather pants:
Anyway, Iggs and I worked for Steve Vai’s latest tour recently and it was a gig to remember. Mr. Vai travels with two tour buses, each pulling a trailer full of gear. These trailers were packed haphazardly and the ramp/door for each were on their last legs. I can’t stand unloading a trailer or a truck with a broken ramp. It adds a lot of frustration to my day. We got through it, loaded the band in and set up the stage.
One of the first things we noticed is that Mr. Vai tours with a gorgeous young Asian violin player (never a bad idea, I highly recommend hiring one if you can afford it). She was easily the focal point of attention throughout the day. Iggs and I were drooling over her skills as much as her curves. Her husband obviously knew how attractive she was, he never let her out of his sight. Oh well…
After we set up the fans for Mr. Vai’s hair (he likes his feathered locks to fly in the wind as he wails on his axe) we ate lunch and took a break in the spotlight booth. Time for the meet and greet.
Steve Vai is worshiped as a true virtuoso. His fans demand that he make himself available for technical questions, demos of his techniques and autographs. Mr. Vai tries to accommodate his fans by offering a meet and greet session before each show (for a substantial entry fee, of course). The fans love it, and get to bring in a guitar for Mr. Vai to sign. Iggs and I couldn’t believe why someone would pay several hundred dollars to get a guitar signed by someone who never played it, but I digress…
Showtime! Iggs and I ran spotlight, a pretty serious job on this particular evening. We were told to add 6 colored gels to the spotlight and often had to change them on cue with the live music. Pretty fun, but can be nerve wracking if you aren’t confident with that particular spotlight. I had a few issues with pan and tilt adjustments, but it went pretty smooth. Mr. Vai was hit with two spotlights most of the evening, just enough to show off his feathered locks blowing in the artificial wind. He put on quite a show, jumped around, played his ass off and had several costume changes. At one point Mr. Vai stopped the show for 10 minutes while his crew adjusted his guitar rig. He informed the audience that he wouldn’t let them pay for a ticket to a show that wasn’t perfect, then came back on and started the song over again. What a pro…
About an hour and a half in I had to pee. I knew there wasn’t going to be an intermission so I figured the show would be over soon. No way Mr. Vai can play that fast for too long, right? Just then a voice came over the headset: “Ok guys, we’re just about to the halfway point of the show”. We were stunned, to say the least. Mr. Vai played for about 2 hours and 45 minutes, including his 3-song encore. What a marathon performance. I ran to the bathroom and relieved myself… FINALLY.
At the end of the day the band and crew were really nice, the fans were thrilled and everyone got paid. Steve Vai was the last one out of the building after taking an incredibly long shower. It was a great day, incredibly long but filled with entertaining people and music. I love my job!