Buckethead’s legion of fans wrapped around Variety Playhouse, eager to enter for front stage access, the latest merch and, of course, for the show! A late soundcheck extended the wait a bit, but starting around 8:20, fans got almost 2:30 minutes of Buckethead, less a 15 minute or so intermission.
Given the span, there were lots of highlights and lots of in-betweens. “Big Sur Moon,” “Gory Head Stump,” and “Buckethead’s Toystore” were standouts in the first set, though intermission would reveal some women complained of being groped. The audience was of all ages young and old, but not necessarily maturity as there was a bit of pushing and shoving towards the front of the stage.
The second set began on acoustic with “Waiting Hare,” inexplicably followed by the Backstreet Boys “I Want it That Way.” Fortunately, there was nothing else as egregious as that in the set. Buckethead broke a guitar string, set it aside and treated fans to a fairly lengthy slap bass solo. Obviously this wasn’t planned. And for a guy who can pretty well play anything he wants, it was a nonchalant few steps to the side of the stage to keep the music coming ala Bootsy Collins or Claypool. “Meta-Matic” was another highlight.
After giving out toys to fans at the end of the second set, he played a great (though disappointingly not extended) version of “Soothsayer” as the finale. However, while the sound was great and the lights were colorful and active, the humidity and press of people overwhelmed the venue’s A/C early on. For an artist who has stated that he wears a mask to control stage fright (or inspiration from Halloween), he was visibly sweating from his mask and his hands as the evening went on… and not observed to break for a quick drink. Despite all that, he still takes the time for the occasional nunchuck demo and robot walks. Those, the KFC bucket, and an expressionless mask, it’s all part of the Buckethead lore.
Buckethead is on the bucket list for many guitar fans and deserves it. For rock guitar god status, he belongs, but also because he can go – and does go – wherever he want, when he wants, pretty much non-stop. There were many, many medleys of familiar phrases that come and go before you can settle on what it was. No doubt pulling together ideas keeps the show interesting for him, and it certainly does for the audience as well. His drummer? The poor guy has a lot to keep up with.
Very rough setlist:
Intermission
Encore:
One Response
Thanks for the review. I had tickets for me and my buddy. Couldn’t make it cause my sweetie had a surgery I had to be with her for. Apologies for the bad grammar. I was really looking forward to the show. I live 3 hours north in the mountains now – stunningly beautiful, but I’m an Atlanta native. My amateur soccer team used to practice on the field behind the venue.