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King's X
According to pre-tour announcements, Joe Satriani is slated to
close all shows west of the Mississippi, and Dream Theater to close the show
all shows east of the Mississippi this fall on what their calling the World
Tourbulence Tour. Consequently, Dream Theater took the stage last for the
show when TPRS.com caught up with
them along with Satriani and special guests King’s X in Pittsburgh at the A.J.
Palumbo Center.
After openers
King’s X performed a short and powerful set. It was why
this often overlooked band is well respected and praised by other musicians.
While known for their beatlesque harmonies, it is doubtful that many others
could grasp the same power found in Pinnick's soulful expressions or Tabor's
unique approach to the guitar.
Unfortunately King's X, featuring bassist/vocalist Doug Pinnick,
guitarist/vocalist Ty Tabor, and drummer/vocalist Jerry Gaskill, were not
offered the best sound of the evening as their percussion echoed off of the
basketball court rafters at the Palumbo (which is more often the case than
not). But as they offered up a set including the MTV favorite "It's Love,"
as well as other crowd pleasers like "Dogman,"
and "Lost In Germany" from the fan selected Best of King's X
release, their were no complaints.
Interestingly, however, one of
their best-known songs, “Black Flag,” was missing from the set, but as the
evening progressed, we found that the triple-bill didn't allow for ample
coverage of the lengthy careers of any of the bands.
While
TPRS.com has not had the opportunity to cover King's X performances in the
past we have had the pleasure of checking out a few side projects from Tabor
including the Platypus and the Jelly Jam "supergroups" for Inside Out
America, both of which also feature tourmate John Myung of Dream Theater. And, a new
release under the name Jughead with yet another tourmate, Matt
Bissonette. Check out our Jelly Jam interview with drummer
Rod Morgenstein, and check back soon for more coverage of Jughead.
Joe Satriani
Joe Satriani took the
stage second along with new addition Matt Bissonette on bass and longtime
drummer Jeff Capitrelli, as well as a rhythm guitarist whose name we didn’t
catch...
As expected, he
tore through instrumental groves like
“Satch Boogie” and “Always With You, Always With Me,”
from the famous Surfin’
With the Alien release with his unmistakable fluid style. But, Satriani also
weighed the set heavily upon material from the Extremist, closing things out
with the successful mainstream hit “Summer Song,” which remarkably still
finds airplay today in Pittsburgh, as well as the opening track from the
same album “Friends,” which he dedicated to the audience.
Most material selected for this performance was on the upbeat, but Satriani
did break mid-set for a lower key approach with “Starry Night” from his
latest release Strange Beautiful Music (as well as "Midnight" from Surfin').
And while Satriani's 2002 Epic release offers a softer, sentimental
and spiritual side to his artistic expression, it's still Satriani and
certainly worthy of the same praise found for previous releases...
Dream Theater
The content of Dream Theater's set was
surprising, considering they had a new release to promote. But, after the
band included a couple of tracks from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
(Elektra), which offered an unpleasant darker side that was difficult to
digest, some of the audience seemed grateful that the majority of the new
album was left unheard. It seemed that longtime fans were much more
responsive to old favorites like "Pull Me Under," and "Take the Time," or
perhaps the new material was just "Misunderstood" by those who haven't had
time to grasp its messages.
Dream Theater also
included a version of the "The Spirit Carries On" from Scenes from a Memory
that tugged at everyone's heartstrings, as well as other classics like
"Burning My Soul."
 When you consider the combined talents of
Rudess, Petrucci, Portnoy, Myung, and LaBrie, it seems only natural that
they would take the time to display their artistry with improvisation, as
was the case on this evening considering it took more than an hour and a
half to perform six or seven songs. But that is not to say that they took
everything seriously. With the inclusion of first piano lesson
favorites like "Heart & Soul" thrown in to a keyboard solo and Portnoy's
game of catch with an off-stage tech, the band got a few laughs along with
fan praise.
The stage set-up was also notable,
between the swiveling keyboards of
Jordan Rudess and the monstrous double drum kit display showed off by Mike Portnoy,
which featured not one, not two, but three bass drums and then some...Luckily, as
has been the case in the past, Dream Theater did not find themselves
crammed on the small stage of the Metropol, instead they had room to perform and showcase their impressive
artillery, and with sound issues resolved before either headliner took the
stage, it turned out to be quite an impressive evening.
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