I saw Steve Vai play at the House of Blues in Chicago a couple months back. Eric Sardinas opened for him (Sardinas rocks, check him out). Sardinas kicked @ss for about an hour... then there was another hour wait for Vai to come on.... I had already been standing for 2 hours to get into the concert... another hour and a half for Sardinas to come on... then another hour for Vai to come on. So at this point I had been standing for 4 1/2 hours.... In a hot, humid bar. Finally!!! Vai comes on and after about an hour of him playing, I was already bored... he IS amazing to see live. Perhaps I was upset that I had been standing forever... by the way. Vai played for 3 hours. which brought my time up to 7 1/2 hours of standing. At one point in the concert my friend looked at me and asked if I wanted to go... I was almost going to say yes... then Vai brought out his acoustic and did a 45 min acoustic set. It was a great concert. I got to see Billy Sheehan get down on the bass... Eric Sardinas play some bad @ss slide guitar... and Vais other guitar players are both really really really good. Either one could make a solo career. His drummer was a young dude and he could rock out too. So it was a good experience... but 3 hours is too long for a virtuoso set for me. You see all his sweep, tapping, and speed chops in the first 45 minutes of the concert. The rest of the time he's just going back through them.
Don't be offended, these are my thoughts about the Vai concert that I saw. I think Vai is an amazing artist and guitar player, nonetheless
