MASTER CHOPS
Generation Axe brings together five great rock guitarists
Scheduling a tour featuring five iconic guitarists is not an easy task.
That is why guitarist Steve Vai began booking the Generation Axe tour a year and a half in advance. Somehow, it all came together, and Vai will share the stage with guitarists Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt and Tosin Abisi.
“The idea is to have one backing band and five extraordinarily talented genre-specific guitarists to create a show which has sort of a rotating stage presence,” Vai said. “So the show, the way it is laid out; it opens with all five guitar players. We go through a set, and each guy is doing a set on his own. On a couple songs, we’re coming together on various ensembles with all of us playing together.”
A guitar jam show can sometimes get messy and chaotic, which Vai said he wanted to avoid at all costs. Instead, this tour is an orchestrated event of “beautiful guitar playing,” “amazing harmonizing” and “crazy guitar players resonating together,” he said.
“You’ve got to pick the songs you want to play,” Vai said of the set list. “Choosing the ensemble, that needed more care, and we do songs like on the last tour. We opened with ‘Foreplay’ by Boston with all the guitarists. It’s so beautiful. We do some larger ensembles, like “Frankenstein” (by the Edgar Winter Group). It’s just crazy. “Highway Star” (by Deep Purple) is one for the history books. It’s five extreme guitar players in an atmosphere that is completely controlled chaos. It’s remarkable when you listen to it.”
Vai was drawn to the guitar at a young age, when he was 6 or 7 years old, after seeing an older child in the third grade play guitar in his school’s auditorium. And after he heard Led Zeppelin at age 12, the rest is history. It also helped that Vai received lessons from a young guitarist named Joe Satriani, who has become a guitar legend in his own right.
“Joe grew up in the same town (in New York), went to the same school, and he was four years older than me,” Vai said. “Joe Satriani resonated this quality. He was just very high-quality. He could really play, even when he was 15, and I took lessons when I was 12. He was way more intuitive.”
GENERATION AXE
With Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tosin Abisi
WHEN: Doors at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11
WHERE: El Rey Theater, 622 W. Central
HOW MUCH: $34.50 general admission, $125 VIP tour package, plus fees, at elreyabq.com