Now Playing: Manhattan Transfer -- Greatest Hits
So Friday night was the Buckethead concert in Santa Cruz. The four of us drove down the mountain and got there in plenty of time. Of course, it was general admission, which meant we would be standing for several hours. At first, we were near the entrance, which was a good view. We soon had an even better view, as a friend of ours, led us to the edge of the pit. Throughout the night, we felt the pit move towards us like the ocean waves.
Two of my friends actually crossed the pit on their way to the front. I found out at this concert that my cell phone, the Motorola V710, takes a lot crappier pictures and video than the majority of cell phones out there.
We did get some good clips.
overall it was a great show. The sound mix was off, as the vocals, whether it was the bassist/singer or the pre-recorded Disneyland Haunted Voice recording, were drowned out by the volume of the music. Of course, most of it was instrumentals. The bassist has a good voice, as evidenced by his turns at Stone Free by Hendrix and Wonderboy by Jack Black. The drummer, whose name I could not tell you, is amazing. Very entertaining and a great drummer to boot.
The most amazing moment came when Buckethead performed I Love My Parents. In this 10 or 15 minutes version, he had the audience in a trance. No moshing. Everyone was just swaying to the music. It was great.
You can really hear the influences on Buckethead's music, whether it is the blues or funk or Hendrix or even country. Then there are the other cultural references, such as the obvious Giant Robot, Disneyland and KFC.
Oh, and I wore my red contact lenses. I got quite a few stares and comments. The rest were too out there, being one with the herbal universe.
All in all, a great show.
Posted by bhagwanjoe
at 8:46 AM PST