I was late to the party. Somewhere back in 1985, I picked up the latest solo album from David Lee Roth, ‘Eat ‘Em and Smile’.  At that point, I was introduced to the master guitar works of Steve Vai. Reviews of this album were good, some critics claimed the best thing about the album was Vai’s incredible guitar. And that’s all it took for me to admire and respect Vai’s talent.

Steve Vai took the stage Wednesday night at Musikfest Cafe for a full crowd. I looked across the stage and immediately noticed that there were no mic stands. There was one mic, laid on top of one of the monitors on stage, certainly not of great importance for this concert. Vai later commented that he liked it that way, gives it a cleaner look, and later stated that his wife encouraged him to talk more during his shows. And there was some humorous banter during the concert, those moments few and far between.

Vai wasted no time getting down to business. Guitar changes happened often, but he started the night with one with a lit up fret board. This illuminated his shredding and breakneck movements all the more. It doesn’t take long to realize that every emotion of each song was being sung through Vai’s expressions and movements.

Earlier this year, Vai released his latest studio album, ‘Inviolate’, and there were several songs performed. A crowd favorite, “Greenish Blues” was hypnotic. Other favorites included, “Avalancha”, “The Lights Are On”, “Building The Church”, “Bad Horsie”, and for those die hard fans, “For the Love of God” was played towards the end of the set.